Work from home during COVID-19 When COVID-19 hit, governments around the world enacted restrictions to limit community spread. Borders closed, travel was limited, and social distancing or full lock down was implemented. Due to these restrictions, the risk of companies failing was real. To survive the pandemic, companies needed to adapt to these uncertain times. Although most businesses require employees to be working at the office, employees were forced to work from home. A term that has been dubbed “WFH”. In this blog post we give you insights into some of the advantages and disadvantages of your employees working from home as well as ways to mitigate these disadvantages. What is WFH? WFH is like remote working. This is allowing employees to work from home or outside a designated office. Although many people may be excited by the prospect of working from home, there are a lot more “temptations” that could distract employees from their work. When deciding to allow employees to work from home, it is important for companies to consider the immediate and potential long-term benefits. During the worst of COVID-19 the less interaction employees had with each other, the better. This meant that regardless of the potential risks involved, it became a necessity that needed to be implemented. During this time, many companies discovered benefits by allowing employees to work from home. Benefits of working from home Allowing employees to work from home reduces operational costs, such as electricity bills, water bills and even rental fees because the designated office is used a lot less or not at all. For employees, there are benefits too. Despite being longer hours at home, employees save on transport costs and have more time to spend with loved ones without having to commute. Working from home also provides employees a more comfortable workplace and flexible working hours. Some employees enjoy the structure of working at an office within specific hours, but many are happy to have more flexibility when it comes to their location and working hours. This leads to happier and ultimately more productive employees. Potential disadvantages of working from home Managing employees may present a challenge when employees are in different locations. It may be difficult to manage employees outside the office when working from home, as managers maintain less control over their employees’ time and quality of work. Working from home may not work for all employees, especially those who find it difficult to stay focused. Organizing meetings or updating colleagues on developments may present a challenge. Mitigating these disadvantages If your company requires its employees to work from home, make sure to use an online workplace forum. This recreates the offline working environment of the company, ensuring a smooth workflow. Software programs to consider using are Microsoft Teams, Trello, Zoom, Slack and Google Drive. For management to keep track of employees’ productivity, it is useful to arrange periodic meetings for employees to check in and discuss progress. Remote working and WFH Ascension 6 is an outsourcing provider that does remote work for external companies. Working from home for employees comes with its benefits and remote work is the same. Although our offices are here in Vietnam, our offices are essentially a comfortable place for your offshore team to work, much like your employees working from home. With the concept of WFH now becoming more popular it may be time for you to consider outsourcing your company’s non-core tasks to external teams. It is becoming evident that you do not need all teams at a designated office. Outsourcing is a great way for your company to cut costs and increase your company’s productivity. If you are interested in finding out more about our outsourcing services, email us at [email protected] for a free assessment.
