Working From Anywhere (WFA), Will It Be the Future of Working System?
On a scale of 1–10, how much do you like working from the office (WFO) and how much do you like working from home (WFH)?
Well, save your answer for later. Right now, we’re going to discuss a new chapter of a working system. Yes, it’s working from anywhere (WFA). Have you heard about the term before? Some of you must be familiar with it. Working from anywhere means you can get your job done at home or at the office. If we combine both working systems, it will be called “hybrid-working”. Since the pandemic of Covid-19 hit the universe in early 2020, many employees started to work from home (WFH) or we call it “remote-working”. The situation even got worse after the World Health Organization (WHO) announced some variants of the virus.
Therefore, working from home (WFH) or working from anywhere (WFA) became a choice for some workers in order to decrease the spreading of Covid-19. But, it all depends on the company’s policies. Many managers scrambled and stressed over how to ensure their staff was actually working while at home. As it turned out, the opposite problem arose more often than not. With workspaces at home, it has become easy to always be working. In a modern workplace like most startup companies, new technology and applications are appearing every day, enabling digital processes and improving the productivity of the employees, which supports the employees to work remotely. As employees increasingly take advantage of the freedom remote work enables, more are looking to not just work from home but to work from anywhere.
The concerns toward WFH or WFA
While working from home or anywhere, we bet most of us face some troubles. It could be anything! You can agree with 4 points written below (if you got any other than these, feel free to comment under this article!):
- Distractions. Some employees would be too easily distracted at home and their managers couldn’t keep an eye on their direct reports.
- Unstable internet connection. Yup, the WiFi at our home better not act up the online meeting and our work.
- Unsupported working environment. This happens a lot when your neighbors have babies or toddlers, and even do a house renovation while you’re working at home. Guess you should go somewhere similar to your workspace or you can just simply go to the office.
- The habit becomes exhausting and isn’t sustainable, so it’s important to remind workers frequently to step away to refuel and recharge.
What’s the Difference Between WFH and WFA?
It’s the place you work from. That’s it. Working from home or WFH is just simply working from your home, your place, your room. Meanwhile, working from anywhere or WFA is working while traveling. Not only traveling, it literally means anywhere you want, as long as you finish your tasks and your performance remains awesome. If you feel like working at cafes, working spaces, or maybe your grandma’s house is better than the office, it can be called WFA. Is it possible to WFA? In the fast-paced technology world, we’re living in, yes, it is possible. If you’re a king of multitasking and your company supports the WFA system, why not?
According to Harvard Business Review, millennials were excited by the idea of traveling the world while still employed. Research has shown performance benefits. A 2015 study by Stanford Business authors, found that when employees opted into WFH policies, their productivity increased by 13%. Nine months later, the same employees were given a choice between staying at home and returning to the office, those who chose the former saw even further improvements: They were 22% more productive than they had been before the experiment. This suggests that people should probably determine for themselves the situation (home or office) that fits them best. It’s a win-win solution for both the company and the workers, actually!
Meet the benefits of hybrid-working
For the company
- Creating a well-structured plan to work remotely will ensure that this new normal benefits everyone involved.
- Provide continuous training and personal development.
- Arrange for a face-to-face time between managers and teams on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis to help maintain workplace culture.
- Hiring from anywhere, anytime.
For the employees
The workers need to develop their work plans too, to ensure that they manage their time effectively, remain productive, and remain healthy. Achieving these goals requires choosing the right place to work on a particular day or the right place to work on a particular task. It means taking care not to overwork while also staying focused.
- Get geographic flexibility, such as live where they prefer to and eliminate commutes.
- Report better work-life balance.
- Proximity to medical care for children and accommodating their partners.
- The ability to enjoy warmer weather and prettier working views.
- Easier for working moms to take care of the household work.
Of course, further research is needed to determine whether WFA generates similar benefits for workers performing different tasks in other team structures and organizations.
Warung Pintar is currently hybrid-working as well as WFA
Yes, Warung Pintar as a growing startup company is applying the hybrid-working (you can WFH or WFO, depending on the pandemic situation) and working from anywhere! We do care about what happened to the world, especially in Indonesia. So we do the best we can to make our employees comfortable working here.
Based on the data from Data to Visual x Ecommurz, Warung Pintar is one of many startup companies in Indonesia that allowed the employees to WFA. While working remotely, we try to maximize all digital channels like Slack, Zoom, and Google Meetings to reduce miscommunication. Besides, every team at Warung Pintar has its own way to solve communication issues.
Sure, you can see this as a benefit, just like what we already explained above. You can also check our available job roles here. Apply now and be a part of an Indonesian WFA-friendly company!
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/346848
