Work-From-Home | Work-From-Anywhere
Work from home is becoming a normal state today with the outbreak of the pandemic. Before the pandemic, there were only about 20% working from home. The present number has moved up to 71% in this pandemic.
After the pandemic, it is believed to be about 54% of the workforce that will still work from home (Pew Research Center 2021). There has been an insurmountable surge in companies' making changes and exceptions to people working from home quickly. To explain how work from home is affecting us, we will explore:
- Maximize Productivity
- Influence on Retention
- Impact on Stress and Work-Life Balance
Maximizing productivity working from home
The first reported case of the Covid19 happened in February 2020. This started a slow spiral in how things function for the United States, cases kept rising, and things changed quickly. To prevent the spread of the Covid19, employees from various job sectors were made to transition from in-person to remote work. This has proven to be a great thing because employee data revealed that they are more productive while working from home. A research study on work from home analyses shows that work from home productivity increases from 24% in 2019 to 47% in 2020 (Stanford University 2020). The three things that support maximizing productivity while working from home are getting comfortable, setting boundaries, and reconfiguring the water cooler. To get comfortable, you should choose a proper space to do your work, set boundaries by having a set schedule for your day, prepare a to-do list, designate work, break times, reconfigure how you interact with your coworkers, take the time to make connections. By doing these three things, you will give yourself every opportunity to succeed.
Influence on Retention of Employee
By 2020, organizations that support a “choose-your-own-work-style” culture will boost employee retention rates by more than 10% (Flexjobs 2018). The companies and employees face many obstacles while working from home. Rather it’s a temporary or permanent decision by companies to support a virtual workforce; the rising necessity is here. Retention in the workplace varies for all types of businesses and impacts employees and the business. If you can retain employees for long periods of time and have fewer turnovers in your workforce, your business will thrive. Remote workers have many different benefits that companies can see and use to their advantage. Remote workers are more likely to stay due to various benefits that are given due to remote work. 74% said they would leave their job for another, which offered remote work (Flexjobs 2018). Remote work saves on fuel, car maintenance, commuting time, parking, childcare, and lunches. (The rise of the remote workforce: Benefits, behaviors, and best practices 2020).
Impact on Stress and Work-Life Balance
The recruitment and HR community have discussed work-life balance for years with no solid answer. Working from home/remote workers can and has had a big impact on daily lives. We all must have some separation of the work-life balance. The daily get up and go to work leaving home, and gear into work mode then get off and leave work at work has disappeared.
Some people cannot handle the stress of working from home because they cannot distinguish between work-life balance clearly. Work-Life balance has changed with remote work; it cuts down on commute an average of 5.5 hours a week (Pew Research Center 2020).
The work-life balancing act can be very challenging when working from home. Working from home is relevant to many of us because of its flexibility. Work-life balance and working from home go hand in hand. The combination of working from home plus self-isolating is the perfect recipe for stress. However, there are ways to reduce it - step away from what you are doing, move around, change your surroundings, call a friend, and be compassionate with yourself.
Conclusion
Explaining some facts that working from home is actually a good choice. This shows that it maximizes productivity, positively affects employee retention and positively and negatively impacts stress and work-life balance. Working from home might not be for everyone, but being in a pandemic and finding alternative ways of doing things shows how most employees are precious.
References
Archer, S. ( 2021, January 28). 30+ Work From Home Statistics | Remote Work in 2021 from https://www.yourbestdigs.com/work-from-home-statistics/
BEST Blogger. (2020, March 17). The Rise of the Remote Workforce: Benefits, Behaviors and Best Practices [Web log post]. Retrieved March 05, 2021, from https://bhcagroup.com/remote-workforce
Birkinshaw, J., Cohen, J., & Stach, P. (2021, February 01). Research: Knowledge workers are more productive from home. Retrieved March 05, 2021, from https://hbr.org/2020/08/research-knowledge-workers-are-more- productive-from-home
Kovachevska, M. (2020, June 20). 30 Home-invading work-life Balance statistics for 2020. Retrieved March 05, 2021, from https://healthcareers.co/work-life-balance-
statistics/#:~:text=The%20Top%2010%20Work%2DLife%20Balance%20Stat s&text=66%25%20of%20American%20workers%20lack,on%20personal%20 care%20and%20leisure
ORS. (2020, June 16). Employee retention strategies for a remote workforce. Retrieved March 05, 2021, from https://orspartners.com/remote-employee-retention/
Parker, K., Horowitz, J., & Minkin, R. (2021, February 09). How coronavirus has changed the way, Americans work. Retrieved March 07, 2021, from https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/12/09/how-the- coronavirus-outbreak-has-and-hasn't-changed-the-way-Americans- work/#:~:text=Now%2C%2071%25%20of%20those%20workers,new%20Pe w%20Research%20Center%20survey
Prossack, A. (2020, April 29). 5 ways to reduce stress working from home AND SELF-ISOLATING. Retrieved March 08, 2021, from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashiraprossack1/2020/04/28/5-ways-to-
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Reynolds, W B. ( 2019). Career Development Manager FlexJobs 2019 Annual
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