The future of the home office depends on your present
The home office, or telecommuting, has increased in popularity thanks to the global contingency and the need to stay home; But it is the new technologies that made it possible for practically overnight, millions of people to move the office to their home. This landscape raises a host of questions regarding how the future of work will impact.
Remote work brings with it various advantages, both for the employee and for the employer. From simple aspects such as having more free time due to the reduction — or total elimination — of journeys by car or public transport, to the increase in productivity during working hours.
Due to the positive impact of telework on work culture, it could become a more common situation in years to come, even becoming the current trend in different organizations; This is indicated by a study carried out by Owl Labs called “Remote Work Status of 2019”, where 1,200 American workers between 22 and 65 years of age were surveyed, resulting in the home office having more advantages than disadvantages.
The results of a company depend, to a large extent, on the productivity of its employees. And when employees are happy, it stands to reason that their job performance will be even better. Avoiding the traffic or crowding of people during the trips home — office or having more free time, could be some of the reasons why those who work from home claim to be 22% more satisfied than those who work from an office.
Although the home office has become a trend in recent years, and some of its benefits have been confirmed and verified, there is still a long way to go before this work scheme becomes widespread. In Mexico, for example, only 2 out of 10 companies are prepared for this type of work. This contrasts with the figures that studies prepared by the Secretary of Labor and the World OCC have produced; which refer that 70% of work activities could already be carried out remotely.
To implement the home office it is necessary to get rid of prejudices and ideas of harmful work culture. A study carried out by Erika Villavicencio Ayub, researcher and coordinator of Organizational Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), revealed that 8.5 out of 10 companies are toxic. That is to say, these organizations “maintain erroneous paradigms” such as believing that workaholics are better workers or seeing badly that an employee leaves at their agreed and established departure time in their contracts.
So, the home office of the future, to be successful, not only requires getting rid of prejudices and obsolete paradigms. You also need to implement and make use of the correct technologies so as not to jeopardize the integrity of business information or sensitive personal data of the company or the employees themselves.
A recommended option for safe browsing is to use a Virtual Private Network or VPN. VPNs are, in simple terms, an intermediary between the computer and the service or site to which you want to connect; This network creates an encrypted connection between the computer and the VPN server.
In the future, the use of VPNs at home will increase as the home office becomes more popular. Currently, due to the contingency situation for COVID-19, the use of VPNs shot up around the world. NordVPN Teams noted a 65% increase in the use of business networks in the US, while in Canada the increase was 206.2%. Globally, the increase has been up to 165%.
Currently, the culture of prevention in cybersecurity remains almost non-existent. That is why, so that the home office of the future can be carried out without risks, it is important that both employees and employers keep in mind the use of software tools to prevent any security breach that could be very expensive (in terms of loss or leak of information).
In addition to the use of corporate VPNs, it is imperative that each employee has a computer security solution (antivirus). It is also recommended to make regular checks of the state of the computer equipment from where you work (to avoid damage that could paralyze that person’s productivity). Likewise, it is necessary to keep your eyes wide open and not access links, download files or open emails of dubious origin.
The home office is a work scheme that shows growth trends. The global contingency has accelerated the adoption of this way of working. The only thing left for us, as employees and employers, is to make sure we do it in the best and safest way possible to avoid unpleasant situations. Here the last question is: how ready do you feel to work from the comfort of your home?
