The new normal for home grown companies

The world is witnessing a tremendous transformational event. Life has come to a standstill as the scare of the spread of coronavirus keeps mounting. Suddenly, the wild pace of the average urban office goer has changed irrevocably.

There are no more rush hour traffic jams and no need to travel for back-to-back meetings. The meetings and seminars have moved online, and hours of commuting have been replaced by endless hours of video conferencing calls.

The times are challenging for organisations that need to ensure that remote work does not result in employee disconnect and employees stay productive, engaged, and motivated. Managers are learning that virtual management techniques are way different from the ones followed in the traditional office set-up.

However, many organisations world over are reporting improved productivity and better results during the crisis infused work-from-home. Although it is too early to predict, it will not be shocking to see the crisis revolutionising the future of the corporate working landscape.

Major world changing events are often seen as an inflexion point for rapid innovation. Likewise, a new work lifestyle might emerge from what is happening around the world.

Work from home: A shocking success

With the far-reaching consequences of coronavirus, we are now at a crucial crossroads in the fight against the disease.

The virus has crippled economies across the globe, shut down countries and pose enormous healthcare challenges. Amidst this chaos, we got access to our new workplace and a new desk in the comfort of home.

But, as lockdown restrictions ease, the question remains, is work-from-home a fad, a forced-choice that companies made due to the pandemic. Well, that might not largely be true as what was often scoffed at as an impractical experiment, has become a successful reality.

Post the pandemic, it just might become the new normal for the companies. Against the general perception that work from home cannot be productive and it hampers the employee performance and overall growth of the company, it has delivered unimaginable results to various organisations.

Leading companies across the country are embracing flexible workplace arrangements as it saves time on commuting and provides relief to industry infrastructure and resources.

Many established companies and startups like Google and Twitter have already asked their workforce to continue working from home for an indefinite period or till the end of 2020.

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Technology continues to be an enabler

According to a Gartner report, since the coronavirus outbreak, 88 percent of organisations globally have directed their employees to work from home and 91 percent of teams in the Asia Pacific have implemented work from home arrangements. Additionally, 81 percent of companies now have a crisis response team in place.

By now, most of us are used to teleconferencing platforms and virtual meetings. Corporate houses and startups are leveraging the crisis as an opportunity to refine or develop remote work policies to be better prepared to deal with unprecedented situations.

They are becoming more cautious to adopt newer technologies and measures to ensure that work-from-home is as productive as on-site work and employees do not feel isolated.

There is an increased concern about maintaining data on cloud and g-suite and companies are investing more in video conferencing tools and security so that data and information are not compromised.

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Summing it all up

The unprecedented situation has compelled companies to re-define their infrastructure and look at alternative ways to keep their business going. In the wake of the pandemic, companies welcomed many new ideas - online birthday celebrations, online social interactions, virtual onboarding and off boarding, digital attendance and use of cloud-based software.

After the pandemic is gone, we might see it leaving a multi-fold impact with companies becoming more open to a diverse workforce with a combination of part time, WFH and gig workers.

The common driving force is to ensure they are well-equipped to manage effectively from home. There is a possibility that remote work might be the way forward, breaking free from the hassle of commute and cost savings on the part of both the companies who save on infrastructure and rental costs and employees who save on travelling and rental expenses.