Remote working: Is everything right with it?

Coronavirus pandemic has suddenly pushed people to a remote working environment. Even companies that had never tried work from home or kept a negative opinion about it were forced to adapt in their struggle to survive. Schools and universities had to invest heavily in new solutions to deliver learning at home.

Three months, or even more for some, of remote operations have now generated enough data for companies and institutions to start questioning their expensive offices and physical infrastructure. With operations almost unaffected, the grandeur of the offices of companies such as Apple does not look very appealing in comparison to the ease of working from a choice of your place and surrounding. Employers are not only looking to save on their office rentals but also the other associated running cost. One of the researches indicates that employers would be saving close to ￡6000 per year for every employee who works half of the time remotely. Organizations have now seen the benefits and since this remote infrastructure has a high set up cost and low running cost, companies would not be willing to part ways with what they have achieved in these troubled times.

But does remote working provides a workable solution for everyone? With all the cost benefits remote working brings in, it is easy to neglect the disadvantages it carries. Where does it stand in terms of equality?

Not everyone lives in a similar house setup. Some people live in grand houses with rooms more than the number of people while others live in large families with sharing rooms. Some people have quiet rooms while others don’t. Everyone is different and lives in a different environment. At times, these differences permeate work and affect productivity. But people cannot be penalized for not living in an office conducive environment. A physical office tries to provide a common working environment where productivity solely depends on you, your work, and not on your surroundings. If organizations decide to close down their physical offices, a prospective hire's ability to work from non-company premise might end up becoming a criterion for hiring and rejection.

While schools and universities have started looking into long term adaption of online courses, they would need to consider that campuses provide a peaceful and focused learning environment that is not always available for many disadvantaged children. Campuses help students forget the struggle of present and focus on improving their future. Schools are the pillars of a mission to achieve education for everyone and home learning weakens those pillars. Moreover, schools are the first place where kids go out of their family protection. They socialize, make their first friends, and create new bonds. Moving schools online would make this bond impossible and children would grow devoid of those human connections.

Companies would need to be more flexible and innovative with their approach towards remote working. One of the ways could be to implement something like "neighborhood working” in which people could go to a co-working environment in their neighborhood which might come at a substantially lower cost than running a huge office. Schools and universities are better with their physical setup and they should use new technologies to enhance student support.

Certainly, remote working and virtualization are amongst the few positives we have achieved in this otherwise miserable year but organizations would need to look beyond cost savings before establishing a new work culture around them. It should not be forced upon the employees; it should be a matter of choice.

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Rohit Anand