According to a Gartner Inc. survey done across 800 human resources executives in March this year, 88% of organizations have encouraged or required their employees to work from home.
Many organizations, which never have thought about this exibility were forced to do so, within a short timeframe to sustain their business under these dire lockdown situations. This not only impacted private sectors, but even government sectors also had to resort to a similar situation.
On the hindsight, indeed it is perhaps one of the positives of this pandemic – adaptation to digital technology has accelerated.
History reveals that home and work shared spaces have been present over many centuries, however the term work from home was introduced during the technology evolution in the 1970ies. Robert Half’s survey done in U.S.A. in 2018, showed that 77% of employees said that they would be more likely to accept a job if it oered the ability to WFH at least some of the time.
Further, 2020 statistics as reported in skillscouter.com in U.S.A., quotes that nearly 3.6% of workforce, approximately 5 million employees WFH at least half of the time. The number of WFH telecommuting employees (apart from self-employed workers) has grown by 173%within 15 years, which is astounding.
In Malaysia, as shared in the News Straits Times dated April 18 this year, WFH used to be a privilege oered by a handful of companies in the country, but now, with the Movement Control Order (MCO) in place, it has become the norm. More and more organisations are thinking of moving towards adopting WFH even after the MCO being lifted as they are able to see the benets of doing so.
Everyone Bene ts From WFH, If It’s Planned Well
WFH has tremendously reduced operating cost, such as lower utilities and lower space requirements, while still maintaining or even in some cases increased productivity.
According to McKinsey & Company in their report on re-imagining the oce and work-life after COVID-19, states 80 per cent of people questioned report that they enjoy working from home. Forty-one per cent say that they are more productive than they had been before and 28 per cent that they are as productive.
Whereas, for the employees it is better work life balance, reduces commuting time and cost, increased productivity, healthier and stress-free living. All these benets certainly provide a compelling reason to move towards WFH.
Though there are signicant drivers to push for WFH, which has been accelerated with Covid-19 pandemic, there are challenges which prevent many companies to adopt them.
