Introduction
COVID-19 has substantially altered how people worldwide perform various daily activities. The sudden changes have led to multiple issues and chaos in a number of spheres. At the same time, millions of workers worldwide have discovered the numerous opportunities that telework provides. For instance, Nakrošienė, Bučiūnienė, and Goštautaitė (2019, p. 5) state that the reduced amount of time spent on communication leads to higher productivity. Thus, the tendency to shift to working from home may become a new, highly efficient norm.
It is crucial to realize that a relatively small part of the global population has the chance to start working from home. Moreover, not all white-collar workers believe the phenomenon to be a blessing and provide various factors that undermine its perceived efficiency. Nevertheless, I firmly believe that a wide range of advantages makes telework an essential advancement that promotes enhanced cooperation, safety, and sustainability while staying available for millions of workers worldwide.
Safety and Sustainability
Firstly, there are currently numerous health issues related to the pandemic that undermine the efficiency of working in an office. The population density in multiple urban areas continues to grow dramatically, which exposes millions of people to risks. Moreover, most cities worldwide do not have an extensive social benefits system and other features of a welfare state that Europeans enjoy. Thus, in most urban areas, testing positive for COVID-19 can lead to numerous economic and social repercussions alongside health hazards. According to Alipour, Fadinger, and Schymik (2021, p. 5), nations with a high percentage of teleworkable positions faced fewer COVID-19 cases. Therefore, governments should evaluate numerous ways of encouraging working from home in times of such crises.
The COVID-19 pandemic brightly illustrates all the issues that high population density creates. Thus, policymakers and business owners should develop a sophisticated framework that promotes working from home and reliance on local businesses. Moreover, Ipsen et al. (2021, p. 4) claim that people generally had more positive than negative experiences during COVID-19 lockdowns. Governments should assist entrepreneurs in developing precise guidelines that allow for the establishment of telework as a widespread standard form of work available for employees in various spheres.
Sustainability should be considered another crucial attribute of telework, as it allows to substantially decrease the number of rides a person takes in order to make the same economic input. Numerous cities in developing countries currently lack the efficient infrastructure that can minimize digestion. Thus, encouraging millions of city dwellers to stay at home can significantly reduce air pollution and decrease the population’s stress levels. Moreover, people who stay at home during working days rapidly start to discover various local shopping and recreation opportunities, which leads to the creation of various businesses. The phenomenon can substantially increase the quality of life in numerous neighborhoods and eliminate large inefficient areas consisting solely of apartment blocks or office buildings, promoting diversity in city planning.
However, some may argue that most modern business models lack efficient methods and tools for controlling employees. Although this may be true, working from home experience gained during lockdowns and other restrictions has proven beneficial for enhancing self-reliance and showing initiative. Nakrošienė, Bučiūnienė, and Goštautaitė (2019, p. 4) state that the supervisor’s trust was among the crucial factors that determined the sustainability of telework. Thus, remote work can significantly improve the performance of workers who become more responsible due to minimal assistance and supervision, as the recent economic repercussions motivate employees worldwide to value their current positions.
Efficiency and Cooperation
Secondly, when working from home, employees have the opportunity to prioritize their activities and efforts independently, which allows for managing time in a most efficient way. The amount of time spared due to the lack of necessity to commute and attend numerous meetings can substantially enhance the quality of living. Palumbo (2020, p. 772) pinpoints that balancing daily life activities with job duties should be seriously considered by many employees. Millions of people in Western societies rediscovered various aspects of family life when they were granted the opportunity to spend more time with their relatives.
Emerging evidence suggests that modern equipment and tools help to create a proper working environment. Unlike office workers of previous decades, most modern employees do not need expensive data machines, fax machines, or printers. Moreover, the dramatic decrease in the amount of paperwork help to store all the necessary information solely in digital form, on a personal computer, or in cloud services. Toniolo-Barrios and Pitt (2021, p. 4) underline that most workers can create special home office spaces and overcome inconveniences when working from home. Thus, it has become essential for businesses worldwide to redevelop the current cooperation networks to make them more efficient whenever switching to a remote format occurs.
Moreover, teamwork has changed substantially recently, as numerous ingenious software solutions, including mobile apps, allow various teams to continue interacting at any time. Some may argue that the absence of clearly stated working hours and the ability of an employee to stay online throughout the day substantially undermines the benefits that are traditionally associated with telework. They claim that people working from home tend to feel constant pressure and never experience freedom from their job duties, as managers may suddenly call and ask to do extra work.
Although this may be true, recent cases featuring the above-mentioned diminished quality of working conditions can be attributed to the lack of experience in telework. Companies that have long been relying on numerous employees working from home have all the necessary policies and regulations that protect workers’ rights concerning the number of hours. Remote work used to be a new and utterly irrelevant phenomenon for most companies three years ago. Thus, they are yet to develop new strategies that allow for efficient cooperation between managers and other employees.
Availability
Thirdly, the number of workers worldwide that can switch to a remote format is substantial and continues to grow. According to Gottlieb, Grobovsek, and Poschke (2020, p. 3), 40% of the urban population in rich countries can work from home. At the same time, Bonacini, Gallo, and Scicchitano (2021, p. 305) claim that it is crucial to distribute benefits from telework more equally among workers. In contrast, some may argue that not all workers may use the opportunity to work from home, as their presence is often desperately needed.
Although this may be true, the structure of the world economy rapidly changes, with the number of white collar-workers constantly increasing. Moreover, college graduates have more opportunities to work from home than other types of workers (Hatayama, Viollaz, and Winkler, 2020, p. 3). Thus, telework becomes another essential factor that promotes higher education, which helps the economy to benefit from human capital. Moreover, the worldwide shift to remote work will encourage hundreds of millions of people in low-wage countries to learn foreign languages and coding, which will lead to multiple benefits for the global economy.
Conclusion
In conclusion, working from home is destined to become the norm. Although a large percentage of employees will not have such an opportunity, the growing popularity of the new format points to remarkable advances in the structure of the global economy. The above-mentioned phenomena prove that telework is a broadly available form of work that promotes new types of cooperation while representing a safe and sustainable alternative, which is highly valued during current turbulent years.
The new format can lead to the introduction of new ingenious solutions. For instance, Waizenegger et al. (2020, p. 430) claim that digital team collaboration has been enhanced rapidly due to recent lockdowns. Therefore, increased productivity is a significant factor that immediately makes telework a viable solution in purely economic terms. Policymakers and entrepreneurs should cooperate in order to develop a sophisticated framework that encourages working from home by making it a convenient option for millions of employees worldwide.
Reference List
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Bonacini, L., Gallo, G. and Scicchitano, S. (2021) ‘Working from home and income inequality: risks of a ‘new normal with COVID-19’, Journal of Population Economics, 34(1), pp. 303–360. doi: 10.1007/s00148-020-00800-7
Gottlieb, C., Grobovsek, J. and Poschke, M. (2020) ‘Working from home across countries’, Covid Economics, 8, pp. 71–91. Web.
Hatayama, M., Viollaz, M. and Winkler, H. (2020) Jobs’ amenability to working from home: evidence from skills surveys for 53 countries. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 9241. Washington DC: World Bank Group.
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Nakrošienė, A., Bučiūnienė, I. and Goštautaitė, B. (2019) ‘Working from home: characteristics and outcomes of telework’, International Journal of Manpower, 40(1), pp. 87–101. doi: 10.1108/IJM-07-2017-0172
Palumbo, R. (2020) ‘Let me go to the office! An investigation into the side effects of working from home on work-life balance’, International Journal of Public Sector Management, 33(6/7), pp. 771–790. doi: 10.1108/IJPSM-06-2020-0150
Toniolo-Barrios, M. and Pitt, L. (2021) ‘Mindfulness and the challenges of working from home in times of crisis’, Business Horizons, 64(2), pp. 189–197. doi: 10.1016/j.bushor.2020.09.004
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