04th August 2020
Concerns regarding remote working for employers and employees
Remote working has been one of the core consequences from the Covid 19 pandemic. For many organizations, this will be the first time that a wave of employees have worked outside of the office.
Whilst, flexible working has its share of positives, it is important to notice the real dangers of working from home, not just for employees, but also employers.
From the Article:
But Netflix isn’t the real danger. The real danger is that without a physical separation between work and the rest of life, people won’t ever stop working—risking burnout, which has huge costs for employees and their organizations. Wise managers address this, rather than worrying that people will slack the second they aren’t being watched.
It’s hard to quantify this fear of slacking, but consider this: One Gallup poll in mid-March found that only 31% of U.S. workers had ever worked remotely, despite a majority of workers saying in various polls that they would like to do so occasionally. By the beginning of April, the proportion of workers who’d ever worked from home had risen to 62%. Clearly, many more jobs could be done from home than were.
This fear of slacking is also reflected in which work-from-home requests are granted. I’ve studied thousands of time logs over the years for my books and time diary projects, and I found that, pre-COVID, Friday was by far the most common work from home day. When people ask to work from home one day a week, Friday is generally the day managers agree to. One survey from Accountemps found that Friday is seen by HR managers as one of the least productive days of the week. I don’t think this isn’t a coincidence. If we assume that people who are working from home aren’t really working, best to minimize the opportunity cost.
You can read the article in full online: Working from home poses serious dangers for employers and employees alike
Make sure to explore Inspiring Workplaces for other content and insights about covid-19 and wellbeing.