Can remote working become a mainstream of work?
COVID-19 has been affecting the world. Many countries had to make cities locked down to prevent from spreading. Although many sacrifices were needed, there are counties which could start to suppress the speed of spreading COVID-19. Like some countries, Japan is under the same situation. Japanese government is calling for that people stay at home, offices are closed and restaurants serve take out, as far as the government does not say OK. Most people in Japan are following the request from government and staying at home. They understand that staying at home is necessary to defend lives of many people. It has already taken about 2 months since the Japanese government called for staying home. Although people are understanding the importance of life, they recently are beginning to feel tired for staying at home. As the impact on economy is quite critical, many companies lost their profits largely. There are also restaurants which decided to be closed. The Japanese government is facing the problem that it is hard for them to make the decision to stop the restrain which they are calling for. It is because the root of the problem is which Life or Economy should be preferred but either one cannot be selected. This time, work style as a viewpoint of Economy is focused on here.
COVID-19 had serious impact on work style. Many people are beginning to do work from home due to COVID-19 so that they do not need to work at office. Work from home was allowed also before COVID-19 but it could not be said that work from home is common. But it has already been common. People recently are beginning to feeling some things about work from home. There are both positive and negative comments. Some people are saying that they want to continue work from home after COVID-19 is gone. They got that work from home is the best way to be able to work while living for their family.
… 54 percent of the 25,000 adults polled would like to be able to primarily work from home and 75 percent would like the option to do it occasionally. … (posted on 04 May 2020)
On the other hand, some people are feeling negative for work from home. It is because they have a problem that it is inability to function teamwork well comparatively with the time of working at office. And, there are also people who are beginning to feel difficulty of work from home. At some cases, teamwork seems not to function well at the case that all team members are under work from home.
… A considerable task business owners face during the outbreak is keeping teams motivated and productive in the face of uncertainty. According to the people management and CIPD poll, around 63% of employers say anxiety is the biggest challenge facing their organisation right now, followed by the inability for their teams to work remotely. … (posted on 19 April 2020)
https://businessnewswales.com/sudden-rise-in-remote-work-self-isolation-and-health-related-anxiety/
GALLUP reported that the percentage of work from home in U.S has been increased due to COVID-19 but there are some issues which should be resolved to make work from home functioned well. Companies and/or managers have to know what is from the special situation that work from home had to be selected during pandemic and they will have to decide what is going to do after pandemic.
… But managers who take the time and have the patience to hold people accountable for the right things, who communicate expectations and individualize, will come to a very different conclusion. That conclusion will have an enormous impact on companies and the future of business. And a substantial percentage of the workforce is already wondering what leaders are going to do. (on 24 April 2020)
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/309170/remote-work-trends-guide-high-performance-during-covid.aspx
As people are feeling some issues while they are doing work from home, ideas to resolve or mitigate those are required. In Forbes, the article about new rules for remote working that employers should do was reported. According to the article, All companies are required to consider how remote work can be improved regardless of how companies had been thought working from home.
But remote work during this bizarre time, with so many people scrambling to get their work done while sharing close quarters with shut-in kids, spouses, and pets, is certainly not business as usual, even for work-from home veterans. While some of the typical remote work rules apply, others don’t. Business leaders need a new game plan. (posted on 27 April 2020)
While COVID-19 issue is remained, work from home is a good way that people can work with avoiding from getting infection. As some problems related to work from home have been found, companies need to find some ideas to resolve those. Although work from home could be new mainstream of work style after COVID-19, it is too early now to conclude which work at office or work from home is highly productive and it is not good time of now to conclude that. In order to do appropriate discussion about work style, we should continue to do work from home even after COVID-19 to get our experience of remote working. At the time that many people will be able to have had their experiences and understood what is remote working, it would be the first time so that we can discuss that work from home really becomes a mainstream of work style.
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