If you’ve ever seen the Hanna-Barbera cartoon “The Jetsons,” you may have noticed that much of the technology showcased in their animated vision of 2062 is now around today. Okay so, we don’t have flying cars, but we do have remote physician consultations, video conferences, attending online workouts, and yes, working from home, things found in the cartoon.
Unfortunately, we have one thing the Jetsons didn’t have: a dangerous worldwide pandemic that’s turned society and businesses on their collective ears. COVID-related lockdown and distancing measures have turned the “work from home” concept into a major pandemic player, saving people’s jobs (and in some cases, the companies they work for), while we all wait for this thing to blow over.
So, wash those hands and let’s take a deep dive into the work-from-home world.
Working Remotely Isn’t a New Concept Everything old is new again.
Did you know that the concept of working from home’s been around for quite some time? If you’ve ever heard of the term “telecommuting,” then that fact probably didn’t surprise you. According to Webster’s dictionary, the term “telecommuting” has been around since the mid-‘70s. In the interests of full disclosure, “telecommuting” and “working remotely” are often used interchangeably, but they have some minor semantic differences.
Anyways, some businesses have long offered the “work from home” model as an incentive for prospective employees. IBM experimented with the idea in 1979 by allowing five employees to work from home. Bear in mind that, in the ‘70s, people were dealing with the energy crisis, oil embargos, overcrowded highways, and other hurdles that made working at home seem viable, convenient, and cost-effective.
Less than five years later, the number of companies rose to 2,000. And who can forget the impact of the dot-com boom of the ‘90s? During that decade, thousands of start-ups sprang up in old, refurbished industrial buildings. These spunky innovators hired professionals who, armed with laptops, Internet connections, and work log-ins, slaved long hours to get the companies up and running and secure venture capital to stay afloat.
Of course, many of those companies went belly-up in record time. After all, not every idea was a world-beater. However, the dot-com boom showed many people the appeal and convenience of working at home, so most of those poor companies didn’t die in vain. During these disruptive days (Weeks, months, years? It’s all blurring together) of the pandemic, many businesses have turned to remote work solutions to stay afloat. For instance, my job has gone remote since mid-March of 2020, with all my editing and writing duties handled at home thanks to remote terminal connections, group communication platforms, and a seamless team workflow.
According to Pew Research, 71% of employed adults surveyed are working from home. And even when we finally beat this thing and stagger back to what we hope is normal, the work-at-home model won’t necessarily go away. More on that later.
There are good and bad points regarding working at home (or telecommuting, or teleworking, etc.), as we are about to find out.
Advantages and Drawbacks of Working from Home We have some good news and some bad news.
Let’s sort the good and bad into separate lists.
Pro Flexible Hours. Unless your job is specifically time-dependent, you have a bit more of a say in your start and stop times. If your company has HR/time-clock software such as UltiPro, you can keep track of your hours worked. Fewer Expenses. Buying lunch and breakfast always costs more than making it at home. Also, you save on gas because there’s no commute involved. Furthermore, it means less wear and tear on your vehicle and your clothes. No Distractions. Annoyed by that constantly coughing co-worker? Not anymore! Now they’re working from home, driving their own families crazy instead of you! Fewer Absences. It takes less effort to work from home than it does getting dressed and driving in. So, even if you don’t feel 100%, you can usually make your way to your desk and log in. Greater Productivity. Contrary to some supervisors’ fears, most people end up more productive working from home. When you take the pros of working from home as an aggregate, it makes for better morale and incentive, thus more productivity. You Learn Technical Skills. If you weren’t familiar with remote log-ins, Citrix, UltiPro, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Slack, and Outlook before the pandemic, you probably are now! And all that means more skills in your portfolio. You Don’t Have to Wear Pants. And that pretty much speaks for itself. Cons Unclear Boundaries Between Work and Home. The great thing about working offsite is that you leave your job behind when you arrive home. If you work at home, that line gets blurred. This blurring can lead to burn-out, morale problems, and managers taking advantage of you by passive-aggressively suggesting it would be “really great” if you logged in late at night “just to check on things.” And while you’re there, clear up any issues you may find. Isolation Leads to Low Morale, Loneliness. I know some people who were ecstatic when they realized they’d be working from home thanks to the lockdown. Nowadays, many are saying, “Please God, make it stop!” There’s something to be said about informally socializing with co-workers, experiencing changes in venue, and moving around more. Work-Life Balance Out of Whack. If you can’t separate work from home and set good boundaries, you will crash and burn eventually. People working from home need to be vigilant and disciplined in this regard. Non-Work Distractions. Someone’s knocking on the door, selling vinyl siding. The cat just threw up on the kitchen floor. An innocent, well-meaning attempt to look up something work-related online has turned into a two-hour-long YouTube rabbit hole, and no manager is looking over your shoulder to stop you. Home life’s distractions may have a way of messing up your home office plans. Less Exercise. All those steps you take when you’re at work add up over the week, at home, where everything you want or need is no more than 30 feet away, not so much. If walking around and getting in steps makes us feel better, then the reverse is true as well. Not only can this play havoc with your morale, but the lack of exercise (and proximity of the fridge) puts you at risk of gaining the dreaded “COVID 19”. Good thing about that not needing pants, eh? A Threat to Productivity. Yes, we’ve already said that working at home can help productivity, but there’s another side of the coin. Perhaps you’re feeling lazy, apathetic, bored, uncaring, burnt-out, or just outright resentful - time to open a bottle of wine and binge-watch something on Netflix.
Remote Working Tools This isn’t your father’s AOL chatroom!
Lucky for us remote workers, technology has a vast selection of tools to facilitate the process. Here is a sample and a brief description of some of the more popular resources. Basecamp. Project management/team collaboration solution ideal for organizing conversations, sharing ideas, and managing projects. Slack. Slack is a great utility for team/co-worker communication. It helps bring everyone together to share ideas, make comments, and it features different channels for remote communication and instant messaging. Google Drive. This cloud service lets you create documents that can then be edited by team members who have access permission. Great for slide presentations, spreadsheets, and documents. Zoom. This group-calling app has gained increasing popularity throughout the pandemic. It’s easy to use, offers great quality video, meetings, Zoom rooms, webinars, voice sharing, and IMs. Asana. Asana is a remote work tool that helps teams plan and execute their work, everything from daily jobs to far-ranging strategic initiatives. It offers boards, lists, Gantt charts, calendars, and more. Microsoft Teams. The software giant’s entry into the world of remote communication and collaboration features video conferencing, phone calls, IMs, calendars, and more. Splashtop Business Access. This remote desktop solution lets you access your work from any computer or mobile device and features perks like remote file transfer and remote printing. Trello. Trello is a project hub that can be customized and designed to fit any team's needs and work styles, regardless of the company type. It’s a powerful cross-team collaboration tool with over 100 integrations with related tools like Jira, Slack, and Google Drive. Jira. Another great project management solution with tons of integrations with other software products. Popular amongst agile software teams, Jira is a leader in the market for a reason.
Is This the New Normal? The virus may dwindle, but its effects?
More people are getting their COVID jabs every day, and we see hopeful signs that the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t an oncoming freight train. Inevitably, the restrictions will ease and hopefully even go away. However, it’s certain that the way we work has been changed forever. Rumors abound of companies saying that they will keep letting people work remotely, possibly even encourage it. But this report from Gartner is no rumor; over 80% of companies surveyed plan to allow remote work once the pandemic goes away. Wha
t’s more, over two-thirds of the companies included in this S&P study expect remote work to be either long-term or permanent.
And some people would be happy to work remotely indefinitely. An associate of mine has been working remotely since a few years before the pandemic even hit and loves it, though he will love it even more when he can frequent coffee shops and use co-working spaces again. Perhaps we’ll see more of a hybrid setup, where employees work from home a couple of days, then come in on other days.
However it shakes out, it’s clear that COVID has changed the workplace rules, possibly our societal norms as a whole. Fortunately, as far as remote working goes, we have plenty of resources to draw on to make the entire process less painless. Just don’t refer to Alexa as “Rosie the Robot,” and everything should work out fine!