Accelerated adoption to new normal: “WFH”
Do employees really need to go to an Office? These initial stages of Covid-19 have given rise to questions about what office space is for and what people might lose if these spaces become non-existent. During these times experts are sharing views about organisational behavior, workspaces, productivity, collaboration, and what leaders need to give their thoughts for new normal. I’m writing this in my sweatpants, sitting in my new workstation. I am like every office worker, just a small part of an accidental WFH situation.
The Efficacy:
The globally forced remote working experiment is impacting employees, the way people grow their careers and negotiate, handle work engagement, look at job satisfaction and performance analysis, resolve conflicts and manage stress. The situation has its own pros like more focused time due to less commute, shorter meetings, an increase in productivity, flexibility and spending more quality time with family.
Surveys have given remarkable positive results. This is majorly due to the organization’s WFH experiment and their strive to overcome the challenges.
I would say it is the perfect combination of leadership, organisational support, and impressive human inventiveness that has made this virtual work a success.
It was just a learning process for individuals and once they got into a rhythm, there was no productivity loss.
What is there to loose? Can WFH a permanent option?
I was thinking and imagining the possibilities about why should we think twice before taking this path.
One important reason is the loss of unplanned interactions that leads to important outcomes, innovation, and the birth of sparking ideas.
The long-term relationships are at risk. It is difficult for leaders to nurture relationships among the pools of talent that indirectly affect the future of the organisation.
Ws and Hs for organizations and employees
• How to have a permanent WFH conversation with your boss?
• What impact WFH has on productivity and creativity?
• How to create safer spaces for employees?
• What should be employees to dos for reentry?
• How to prepare the employees mentally for reentry?
How could organizations resume the work after a pandemic?
Firstly, conceptualising office space as an addition to the virtual workplace.
Secondly, organizations should increase the investments in communication to provide more clarity for employees to ease out all the ambiguities related to hybrid work environment.
Thirdly, recognizing that proportions matter when segregating the team under a hybrid environment.
Truly necessity is the mother of invention. We could improve the effectiveness of work in the WFH environment and solve the problems of both virtual and hybrid work across the organizations. What we learn about these changes will be very important for organizational flexibility in the years to come.
