A POST-PANDEMIC FUTURE: WORK FROM ANYWHERE
Communication tools. File sharing. Task management. Productivity apps and hacks. Online training. Prototyping platforms. There’s an app or a platform for just about anything and everything. Is “zooming” a new-era verb for socializing yet? (hint: the answer is yes).
Given these modern digital capabilities, tech companies have been embracing the ability to work from home (WFH) over the years. More recently, companies have accelerated to adopting WFH out of desperation, but many are realizing the multitude of benefits. Studies have shown working from home to improve employee retention and productivity, reduce commute time and carbon footprint going to and fro work, and now, there’s the ability to hire people from other geographies — not just metropolitan areas (a bonus for those of us who are introverts and get hives from too much facetime).
Giving employees the ability to work from home is graining momentum and support: behemoth trend-setting companies like Facebook, Twitter, Google have decided to extend (perhaps forever) their work from home policies. Some are even providing their employees with stipends to adopt the shift and outfit their new home offices. The office-centric-culture seems to be losing its grasp as the norm.
While the benefits of WFH are obvious, there are still some unknowns around engagement, relationship building, and ultimately trust that keep some on the fence. Many office-based businesses have relied on their physical office environment to uphold their unwritten culture code. Office culture has long been synonymous with its physical space when it’s so much more. What a good workplace culture needs — from trust to mutual understanding and empowerment — is not dependent on location, but context, attitude, and approach.
The narrative continues to evolve with the pandemic and the success of other remote-first companies. Many companies are migrating to a hybrid model of sorts — a mix of WFH and on-site work. But, if we’ve learned anything from this great pandemic, it’s to be prepared for the unexpected. Going toe-to-toe with the unanticipated requires flexibility. Organizations and individuals are taking the next logical step: not just working from home, but working from anywhere (WFA).
What’s the difference?
A WFH employee may like to stay at home for a handful of reasons: caring for an elder or a child, having the flexibility to workout or take a longer lunch break to refocus, or simply work the hours they operate best. A WFA employee can do all the same while also having the option to relocate. Explore the world, move back to the hometown nest, get immersed into a new community, or simply live somewhere more affordable. The only essential thing these days is a good internet connection, and you can even get that in Bali.
Research by Havard Business Review analyzed productivity data for examiners who left work-from-home conditions to a WFA program. Results showed that the work output of those who switched increased by 4.4% after the transition to WFA. The takeaway: Slogging away at a designated desk day after day to perform at your job isn’t necessary anymore. While WFA is still trying to shake the conjured idea of the rich and privileged globe trotting — it’s becoming more inclusive as work policies become more flexible.
So next time you’re simultaneously working from home, vigorously cycling on your peloton, learning a new language on Babbel, responding to your coworker(s) slack messages, and trying to stay calm with headspace — consider what working from anywhere means to you. To Moblhom, it means breaking away from the static group-thinks, lease constraints, homogeneous tendencies, stale routines, and pursuing the ability to be home wherever you are (and keep your livelihood).
