The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the world in the short term, from both a personal and business perspective. Beyond this, it’s also becoming increasingly clear just how much it will shape our future, especially with regard to how businesses look to deploy and enable their workforces moving forwards. Life will inevitably return to some kind of normal but the way we work will never be the same, and that will be good for us all.
Sudden Change
Right now we are all getting used to the short-term policies being put into place by governments and businesses around the world to stay safe and reduce the impact of COVID-19. Many have had to adapt to working from home. Some may have already done so with great success.
While many businesses struggle to adapt to an event of this magnitude, some companies had already implemented changes which left them better positioned for this crisis. Having deployed cloud-based technology which enabled staff to work flexibly before COVID-19 emerged, some organisations have ensured staff are set up for successful prolonged remote working. Conversely, many companies still operate with primarily on-premise infrastructure, requiring staff to be physically in the office to access systems and data successfully. As a result, they have been slower to adapt to today’s unpredictable business environment.
However, no matter their previous technology set-up, many businesses have now been forced to make changes — shifting from centralised workforces to instead enabling all staff to work from home in self-isolation. Given the nature of the crisis we face, even those forward-thinking businesses with a modern working culture and technology in place that lets employees work flexibly and from any location may have to adapt to a new situation in which every single worker is now logging on remotely. Yet the coronavirus crisis is not so much triggering drastic changes as it is accelerating trends that were already happening. Changes that may have taken some businesses months or some even years to implement are now happening far more quickly. But what does that mean for the future of work?
The New Normal
A recent survey commissioned by Citrix showed that 65 per cent of UK office workers currently working from home due to the virus outbreak believe logging on remotely from home will become more common once the coronavirus crisis abates. The fact is this pandemic will encourage many businesses to analyse and subsequently rethink their expenses. For many, it will make a lot of sense to shift employees to remote work, not just as a benefit to the staff themselves, but as a significant cost benefit to their own bottom lines.
There are multiple reasons why this all makes sense. Businesses invest significant cost simply to have somewhere to put their employees for their working day. Floor space in prime real estate locations in major cities is not cheap. Imagine the savings your business could make with as little as a 5 per cent shift of your workforce from the office to working from home. This is revenue that could easily be used to offset investments in digital transformation and lay the groundwork for a more streamlined, agile and future-ready business strategy.
This new normal, whereby remote work is the norm, will also allow businesses to optimise their talent pool while creating more opportunities for prospective employees. Currently, the majority of high-paying jobs are based in major cities, forcing workers to move and impacting the makeup of local communities. Shifting to this new future where people can work efficiently from home will allow talent to choose where they wish to live and will allow businesses to hire people from outside major cities, opening up a wider talent pool and spreading revenue into more rural communities.
A More Flexible Future
Today’s enforced remote working shines a light on every business and its state of readiness for the future of work. We can no longer rely on cultures of ‘presenteeism’. The future workplace will focus on a fully tech-enabled, outcomes-led approach to work, where work is what you do and not where you go. As such, the home office will become an integral part of the British work culture. Remote work will be the new normal.
As organisations adapt quickly to ensure business continuity during this global pandemic, it is critical that staff are able to work flexibly and have access to intuitive, user-friendly systems that enable — rather than hamper — collaboration and productivity from home. Employee experience is key. Organisations will need to create both physical and digital environments that enable staff to perform at their best. This will require IT and HR to consider adapting both technology and working culture to underpin improved and more efficient ways of remote working.
Companies that embrace this now will gain the agility, speed and efficiency required to manage resources even during unpredictable business environments, as well as positioning themselves to capitalise on new opportunities in the future. Beyond the business benefits, they will also be supporting their employees to work productively from home now as well as offering staff the flexibility to work in the way that suits them once offices reopen.
