As the pandemic is spreading its tentacles in every nook and corner of the world, many employees especially in the software services sector, are forced to work from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In India itself, nearly 3 million workers have already began to work from home. Reports says that if this continues for a few more months, IT companies are likely to conclude that 20-30% of their workforce can operate remotely.
At Cisco Systems Inc, for example, the number of requests for security support to support remote workforces have jumped 10-fold in the last few weeks.
Even those companies who were hesitant towards the work from home culture are left with no choice. Many of them are still struggling to get accustomed to this “new normal”.
According to a Reuters sponsored poll conducted in 2012, about 17% of all workers telecommuted for at least some portion of their workweek. In 2016, some estimates put that number closer to 37%, making it clear that telecommuting is no longer reserved for just management positions.
Why are businesses encouraging work from home culture?
Apart from public health experts who are advising businesses to encourage employees to work from home to prevent the potentially deadly coronavirus from spreading around offices, public transit and elsewhere.
Even bigger firms like Apple, Microsoft, and Google, are following up with the advice.
In America, around 47% of workers from the age of 25 and above works from home.
The IT industry is known for its flexibility and telecommuting opportunities, which makes sense, considering most tech companies are web-based and technology is the greatest resource when working from home.
This ability to create a more accessible work-life balance is becoming an important asset for the companies, allowing them to invest more and more in cloud-based solutions.
With cloud-based solutions, employees are being able to enable a single access point from any location with an internet facility.
So whether you are working from your home or a coffee shop, your user experience will be the same.
How is work from home culture productive?
It is actually reported that work from home culture encourages more productivity among the employees, who are less likely to quit their job and reportedly have better job satisfaction.
A case study performed on this subject actually suggests that employees who worked from home for 9 months were 13.5% more productive than their office counterparts.
Another survey reported in btod.com says that around 91% of the workers who worked from home believed it to have better productivity.
Experts are saying that “flattening the curve” is working for public health but also giving a great benefit to the traffic.
We get traffic jams because we have too many cars trying to use a limited capacity of road space at the same time.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission said, “If we increase telecommuting by a comparatively small percentage — let’s say 3 percent — that will create a noticeable difference on our most congested corridors,”
How to find the balance between work and home life?
While technology has indeed made it easier to work from home, it has also blurred the line between work and family life.
For some employees, there is no clock time which means having a more fluid day from beginning to the end. However, this blurring of lines can also create longer working hours.
Also, companies who encourage work from home invokes employees to work even when they are sick. Instead of or calling in or taking the day off to care for a sick child, they continue to be productive.
To find the balance is heavenly crucial.
How can work from home increase the risk of cybersecurity?
One of the major concern of work from home is that the sudden transition makes a lot of room for mistakes more strain on information technology staff, and more opportunity for cybercriminals hoping to trick employees into forking over their passwords.
Criminals are very smart and they can be prepared to take advantage of any given situation!
They can dress up password-stealing messages as coronavirus alerts, warnings, or apps.
In the U.S, researchers have found that some hackers are posing as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a bid to break into emails or swindle users out of bitcoin.
To prevent this, many companies are moving their employee data from professional setup corporate networks to a more basic home Wi-Fi set up. Some organizations are loosening restrictions to allow employers to access work-critical information from their bedrooms or home offices.
The future of work from home revolution
Companies are certainly trying to get on-board with the new shift in order to protect public health, especially the tech world.
And while jobs like doctors, emergency workers are still working day and night as a community it is essential to do our bit. And for some employees, work-from-home benefits may be the difference between enjoyable and stressful work life.
The point is to be responsible enough and find the right balance. Technically more security by businesses is needed to ensure that data, password, client details do not fall into the wrong hands.
How are you planning to encourage work from home culture?
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Stay at home, stay safe.
