Remote Working Trend or Will It Stay As Is?
Remote or non-office working has been a trend since couple of years ago. We can see it from the emerging of shared workspaces, such as WeWork. This, for sure, has been adopted by self-employed guys, usually for those working in IT, services, marketing, designs and arts etc. Though, it was still not the majority of cases for companies worldwide.
The concept, indeed, is not always be easily adopted for all sectors. Mining and manufacturing sectors might be slow to adapt due to the nature of their operations, which requires direct involvement from the boss, supervisors, and down to the labour in running the day-to-day work. (But this may change tremendously with the implementation of digital factory, thanks to the Internet of Things. Machines can be connected to supervisor’s PC hence they do not to be presence in the field 24/7. All they need is the internet to monitor the report from the workfloor)
Corona virus that initially hit China in the early 2020 has forced the world to stay at home. This is necessary to limit human interaction to prevent the virus to spread even further. What is left for the companies is they are forced to shut or slow down the operations temporarily. Among those are Apple and Ikea in China since the first outbreak in last January. Alternatively, companies may implement remote working policy for the employees whose work can be done remotely, which has been the case for the majority worldwide.
In early March, Indonesia has announced the first (and second case) of Corona virus. More cases were revealed ever since. Government persuades the citizen to stay, work, and pray at home to minimize the virus spread. This movement, for sure, has enforced companies to implement WFH (Work From Home) policy. Though, it was not the case at the beginning, now it is. Even now, we can see that it has been implemented for public servants and private employees.
It was our first move for massive remote working. The implementation was not so smooth at the beginning, which is understandable considering the infrastructure readiness and change of habits from working under direct supervision to less supervision. Some finds it is also hard since they have to manage home vs work related jobs. Being at home with kids while working seems to add more complexity in the implementation (which I am about to face in the near future :D).
From my standing point, things that actually difficult to manage is the change of habits. Though not all companies have incorporated online communication platforms and cloud data sharing earlier before the outbreak, these are not difficult to deploy. What is left then how to manage the way of working.
For example, changing the way of communicating. Firstly, nothing beats direct communication, where you can tap someone on their shoulders and do some wishy-washy before asking for a favor (this isusually the norm for Eastern countries). Negotiation is also way more easier to be done directly. Secondly, more challenges are faced during online presentation. As a presenter, there is no way to communicate with your eyes and gestures. The presenter needs another way to engage the audience. While as an audience, it is way easier to lose attention during online presentation. It is also more tempting to multitask, which attracts our attention even further down to zero.
Another example is the way of working from direct supervision to less supervision. It is mostly the case that we sit in an office, with our boss is just around the corner. In a way, it affects our moral to behave in a different manner compared to when our boss is not around. (Though it is not usually the case in consulting and IT companies who have adopted this method earlier before the pandemic).
It has been almost a month since the first implementation. Despite of challenges we are facing, there are some benefits that all of us feel. Some of them are more flexibility, no traffic-hassle, even some begins to feel more productive while working from home.
Sooner or later, we become more accustomed to this way of working. The question is will it be here to stay, even after the pandemic is gone? What I can tell you is some may still feel skeptical about this hence reluctant to adapt. But, it is possible that the number of remote working practice will increase in the near future. Not only in some fancy areas, such as Silicon Valley, but worldwide.
Will it expand even further to another sector that is currently cannot implement the policy, such as healthcare and hospitality? I can say there is a potential. I used to think that healthcare sector might be the last to adopt any tech-advancement or digitization. However, we even have seen a real breakthrough where healthcare can be digitized, with the raising of medical platform such as HaloDoc, which allows patient to consult with their doctor without coming to a hospital or a clinic.
All I can say is our way of working is for sure different from the past. And it may also get evolved even further in the future.
