FUTURE OF THE WORKPLACE?
A detailed report based on the analysis of a survey conducted, across 2 technology dominant nations, by Brayn https://brayn.ai
Anonymous survey conducted between April 28th 2020 and May 5th 2020 during the COVID-19 Quarantine.
OVERVIEW
On the occasion of the European and Indian Labor day, we dedicate this article to all in the workforce. During the COVID-19 quarantine period, team Brayn conducted a survey among 100s of participants both in the US (dominated by participants from the West Coast) and in India (dominated by participants from Bengaluru). Questions were mainly related to productivity, career improvement and work life balance in a Work From Home setting. The responses to the survey were very interesting and the analyzed results are published below. Feel free to write to hello@brayn.ai if you need more details.
Here are the top inferences about working from home (WFH) based upon the responses received from the participants of the survey:
- Felt that their productivity had increased as they were now able to utilize their daily commuting hours
- Felt more committed to the profession, with a significant number of people expecting no salary change
- Have more time on hand to spend, both on hobbies and career development
- People using Spectrum (TWC) broadband in the US and ACT broadband in India felt more comfortable working from home
- Online meetings work great but prefer to meet the team in person once a week — White-boarding and brainstorming sessions demand F2F meetings. Virtual, Flexible, and Floating offices can become the new norm.
A nook for my work
Having a dedicated place to work at home with essential peripherals (like monitors, desks, and keyboard), helps people focus and enjoy their work better. People with more work experience (better financial stability) are usually able to afford a dedicated office set up at home and are hence able to work more effectively from home. In addition, employees in the US tend to favor maintaining an office space at home.
Laptops have changed the lifestyle for everybody. But now it is not about thin and light laptops anymore, laptop accessories are gaining their stardom back. Long working hours demand these office essentials. Home architects will now have to consider the prospect of including home office space planning. It can no longer be just a 2 bedroom apartment. We will need an office space too. Internet speed and stability matter even more than just the competitive pricing. People with stable broadband connections like Spectrum (TWC) broadband service in the US (Chart 1) and ACT broadband in India (Chart 2) are more comfortable WFH compared to people using other internet service providers. Mobile internet users in India that include Reliance-Jio, Airtel Mobile, and others are labeled as ‘Mobile users’. They are preferring to work from the office probably because of their spotty hotspots.
Doing more these days
Clear compartmentalization of work schedules and personal pursuits, has opened up more avenues for mental growth and physical well-being, in addition to aiding in better work productivity while WFH . People are able to channel the day’s energy towards career development prospects while also conducting their regular office work effectively (Chart 3). It is interesting to see that more people are focusing on developing new professional skills while WFH. People using this quarantine period as an opportunity to switch jobs are less significant in number and those who are looking for a change, claim that their workload has reduced during this quarantine period.
It is interesting to see the time allocation of work hours between the two countries discussed here. Is it surprising to see that India has no early birds (Chart 4), or has it always been this way? Do teams in India start late and stretch till later so as to coordinate with their foreign counterparts or clients (Chart 5)?
A boost to family values
Fortunately the rise in domestic violence due to WFH has not been significant (outside the scope of this survey). In fact, married men mostly prefer to work from home (both countries) and tend to spend more quality time with their family and kids, which had otherwise been restricted to just the weekends. WFH reduces non-productive hours like commuting and gives a person more family time and also an opportunity to kick-start new hobbies or to restart hobbies that were discontinued. But this does not necessarily mean that they are not loaded with work. An interesting finding is that the people who have picked up new avenues (hobbies or skill sets) are also the ones who are doing more or are on par with respect to the workload they had before beginning to WFH (Chart 6).
On a side note, those who had picked up hobbies have spent more time on this survey and a significant number of married men who prefer to work from home have picked up cooking as a hobby!
Missing markers and whiteboards?
Virtual offices are already a booming thing now. People, however, still want to meet and greet co-workers, have whiteboard discussions, chat over coffee once in a while or have face-to-face meetings as the situation may seem fit. All of this could probably be hinting towards a floating office concept. Is this a new era of “floating offices” where employees work at the office only once or twice a week (Chart 7)?
This could pose a big challenge to logistics teams. There is no doubt that floating and shared office spaces save costs with its plug-n-play flexibility and lower infrastructure investment, but with the current worldwide threat of COVID19 and the new norms of social distancing, it will be interesting to see how the logistics teams plan for a versatile and yet hygienic physical work set-up. Are we going to see restrictions in the number of occupants or will there be a shift towards the cubicle model of work-spaces again in order to maintain social distancing?
It is not surprising to see the acceptance and willingness of people to work from home, however it is interesting to see a higher ratio of people preferring to work at the office amongst the group of employees with a spouse and/or children, as compared to the group of employees who are single. Is it because WFH is taking a toll on them to manage their kids? Is it because they miss socializing (Employees who are single might have more avenues to socialize)? Do they miss office facilities like the Gym, game rooms etc?
Loyal to the company
Do you really need to be physically present at the office to feel part of the company? Well, many people feel thankful to their companies for enabling them to WFH, and also continue to pay their salary. It doesn’t seem to be boredom or fear of the recession that is driving their productivity higher, loyalty towards the company is keeping them motivated. With extra time on hand, although many people are working on learning new skills that would aid their professional development, not all are looking for a career change. It is safe to say that a lot of pre-conceptions about working norms (that include physical meetings) can be dismissed and technology can effectively assist in working more productively and reduce wastage of time.
Also, a shift towards remote working will open up job opportunities across geographies, and working with a geographically distributed team with effective collaborative tools will assist many, especially women who tend to quit their jobs due to family and travel challenges.
Companies on the other hand can recruit qualified professionals with no constraints of location restricted hiring. It is worth noting that Indian employees are more inclined towards switching jobs while those in the U.S. are seeking to improve their skill-set.
CONCLUSION
As CIDRAP, WHO, Gate Foundation and other institutions predict more pandemics in the upcoming decades, WFH will be the new norm. Corporate logistics teams should start seriously considering the prospects of floating offices. Automobile and life insurance companies might have to draft newer policies to accommodate the new trend in lifestyle. We will definitely see a surge in online classes, online coaching and mentoring. More hobbies will be explored by more people; is this the birth of a new breed of youtubers? While https://brayn.ai accepts that the volume of data is very limited, we clearly see a positive tone towards WFH options amongst all the employees who work for technology based firms.
REFERENCES
- https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/
- https://www.gatesfoundation.org/
- https://www.who.int/
- https://www.actcorp.in/
- https://www.spectrum.com/
- https://www.regus.com/
- https://www.wework.com/
- https://www.airtel.in/
- https://www.jio.com/
- https://www.vodafone.in/
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