The Future Of Employment Is Flexibility. Do You Agree?
As Unfortunate As COVID-19 Was, It Made All Of Us Scramble For Options To Continue Our Life And Provide For Our Loved Ones. Many Corporations Asked Employees To Work From Home To Maintain A Degree Of Productivity, And, For The Most Part, It Was A Success.
The Lingering Question Is What Happens In Post COVID Era. Many Of Us Discovered And Invented New Ways Of Doing Our Jobs And Balancing With Family Needs. Options And Tooling For Virtual Meetings And Collaboration Grew By Leaps And Bounds, So Is Our Familiarity And Comfort Level On Utilizing Those Tools.
Following Factors Will Be Crucial For Our Post-COVID Back To Work Plans–
Convenience
With All The Available Productivity And Collaboration Tools, It’s Clear Employees Can Work No Matter Which Planet They Are On (Ok, All Right, Planet Earth For Now. Mars Has A Signal Transmission Delay Of 20 Min).
No Commute And No Daycare Expense; It’s A No-Brainer People Would Prefer To Work From Home. The Bigger Question From The Employer’s Perspective Is Whether The Employee Will Perform At The Same Level Of Productivity. In Some Instances, Employers Have Seen Productivity Gain From Employees Working Remotely. The Improvement Could Be Because Of 1—Added Peace Of Mind 2. Flexibility To Arrange Work Around Various Day-To-Day Life Events/Demands. On The Flip Side, Productivity, As Subjective As It Is, Is Not Always An Easy Thing To Measure
Security And Privacy
Data Security And Privacy Could Be A Big Challenge For Small And Mid-Size Organizations Whose Infrastructure Is Not Up To Date Or Adequate To Deal With Today’s Cybersecurity Risks. VPN Networks And End-To-End Encryption Is Becoming More Mainstream, But Other Elements Are Challenging To Mitigate. For Example, An Employee Working From Home May Leave His Computer Unattended And Expose Critical Data To Other Members. It May Not Be Practically Possible To Separate The Work Area From The Living Room In A Household With Many People.
Side HustleRisk
While Most Employment Contracts Prohibit An Employee From Taking Up Additional Jobs Or Side Gigs, Today’s World Is Well Connected. It Is Challenging For An Employer To Determine If An Employee Is Doing Side Hustle At The Employer’s Expense. Such A Scenario May Lead To Productivity Loss To The Employer, But An Employee May Benefit By Having Two Different Earnings. Employers Will Have To Put The Proper Checks And Balances To Identify Such Leaks And Address The Situation Quickly.
Market Forces
Remember, We Are In The Employee’s Market These Days. The Work Held Up During The COVID Shutdown In 2020 Is Now Being Released. And, Labor In Short Supply Isn’t Helping. The Supply-Demand Ratio Will Continue To Dominate And Favor Employees In The Foreseeable Future. Some Employers Are Adopting Remote Work As Their New Way Of Doing Work. This Flexibility Proves To Be A Great Weapon To Hire Talent Away From Competitors Who Require Or Mandate Employees To Work From An Office. It’s A Fine Line, And Rigidity Will Likely Lead To Talent Loss.
Conclusion
It’s All About Flexibility And Accommodating Your Employees. COVID-19 Brought Up Lots Of Options For Both Employers And Employees To Get The Work Done, And Those Options Are Growing Every Day. Employers Will Have To Ramp Up On Infrastructure, Privacy, And Security Elements To Enable Remote Work For Employees. And, Employees Will Have To Incorporate Strict Discipline In Their Daily Schedule To Ensure Employment And Life Remain In Good Balance. The Onus Of Work-Life Balance Has Now Shifted From Employer To Employee. Are You Ready?