Work From Home- Not a solution in the long run

Covid19 has changed the way we survive. No one could have imagined, that suddenly a series of Lockdowns would be announced and the global economy would come to an unprecedented halt. Many things have changed in these past six to seven months, people have adapted to changes in their personal and professional life, industries have taken a leap of faith and accepted work for home culture and intend to continue doing so. But work from home hasn't been easy for all to adapt to. Firstly, it started with a compulsion since the lockdown stopped public transport, shut down offices, and companies and individuals had no other option but to adopt this. Many organizations that didn't have that culture earlier in the system, especially had to undergo digital transformation to enable a sizable percentage of their workforce to migrate to work from home culture. Right from buying or renting out laptops to wifi allowances, arranging transportation of the systems to residences of the employees, sometimes even transporting desk and chairs, the industry saw a rapid change in mindset. Those who couldn't work from home or people who's work was primarily not dependent on computers or laptops had to, unfortunately, be laid off in most cases or go on a long Furlow.

This article focuses on those who migrated to work from home. We saw pictures on social media where many people displayed their new work desks, decorated them, named them as "my space" or "my corner", and tried to make business as usual. We all talked about the future of work, how workspaces have changed, how organizations are working to keep their teams together in these tough times through video calls and virtual team meetings. Initially, it seemed too easy because people were really enjoying the new method. Social media was buzzing with various posts on how people were adjusting and enjoying WFH, how work-life balance was better. It felt nice to be with family, cut down on travel time, relax and work, work in the kitchen, spent time with children and loved ones.

But these things have now started creating fatigue after six months. Various reports have started surfacing now about how even larger organisations who earlier also had a flexible work from home policy are suffering due to a dip in the productivity of employees. Now, questions are raised if the earlier system of flexible work from home option was much better than the compulsory work from home environment. Let us explore that... While WFH has several benefits, it can also be said that there are various shortcomings. The interpersonal relationships have taken a serious hit. Human beings are social animals and the one to one meetings and interactions are an essential component of our existence. Just confined to the four walls of one's home, limits the growth of the person. Workplaces are full of energy, interactions, brainstorming sessions, and have an environment that is conducive to work. Even observing our colleagues, superiors or team members make us a better person, we can learn from their actions and their mistakes. Working in a team inspires each other, motivates each other, and leads to excellence. Probably that is one reason why work and home are two different concepts altogether. Besides that studies have shown that working from home hasn't been easy for all due to lack of adequate spaces, family problems, ergonomic conditions. (many people work from beds, chairs which are not ergonomically designed, many houses do not have air conditioners), low bandwidth, and such other reasons. Data Security and Privacy also is a major threat for companies to allow continuous work from home policy. Several other infrastructure breakdown issues also affect the smooth functioning.

Business owners will candidly confess that the commitment levels of employees who are working from home can be a challenge and hence the deliverables have taken a hit. There is no certain way to verify and measure the productivity of people working from home except in certain cases. Trust and empathy are how businesses have run in the past six months. Remodelling of the performance appraisal matrix is the biggest challenge for entrepreneurs. Uncertainty and health infrastructure concerns may still take some time for businesses to fully come back to the old system, but companies surely are looking at a hybrid model now. Many companies have opened up now and are having workplaces open where employees can book their seats in advance to ensure that social distancing norms are met and companies are more prepared for a safe working environment. This includes many large organisations globally who had earlier predicted that employees will be allowed to work from home for the next 3 to 5 years. Many of such organisations have started acquiring physical workplaces, in smaller towns and cities to get local workforces.

Corporates and employees now cant wait to go back to work and let us hope that this happens sooner than later. What is needed is a planned strategy to Reboot the employees and workplaces to gear up to the upcoming challenges. The role of HR is very important here to bring back employees to the workplace and re-energize the system.