Goodbye, WFH?
No more Zoom meetings in pajamas? (Photo: Unsplash)
At the onset of the pandemic, many companies were forced to shift to a remote working setup. Over the last five years, remote work has grown by 44%. By 2021, 58.6% of the American workforce was working from home and now, 16% of companies worldwide are now operating in a fully remote setup.
But as we all continue to adjust to this post-COVID world, we’re about to see another shift in work setup.
According to the US Bureau of Labor, 7.7% of employed people reported working remotely in April, not including those working at home for reasons unrelated to the pandemic. This is the first time this figure has dipped below 10% since quarantine restrictions were first imposed in 2019.
Interestingly, one of the predictors for remote working is level of education. Workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher are five times more likely to be working remotely than those without– and are twice as likely to report working remotely compared to the average American.
Your type of job is also a major predictor, as those with white-collar occupations were more likely to work remotely– but, as the data shows, even those people are coming back to this office. So what does this mean for remote working?
The good and the bad
Generally, the WFH setup proved to be beneficial for both employers and employees. Some studies have found that employers save an average of $11,000 per half-remote employee, and employees are equally productive and generally happier in the WFH setup. In fact, a survey from Jobstreet shows that almost 50% of Filipinos prefer to work remotely.
But a good amount of people think otherwise. Working at home can be convenient and comfortable, but it can also be isolating, as some polls are showing. While it’s nice to take Zoom calls in pajamas, not actually physically being around your co-workers for days to weeks on end can be lonely, can cause some extreme burnout, and can even drive some people to consider quitting.
The remote setup has also revealed some security risks. The pandemic has pushed digital transformations in the way that companies operate, accelerating the shift to cloud-first networks. But this also opens up opportunities for cyberattacks, which have spiked in the past two years.
Hello, hybrid
Considering all of this, the first question to ask is what direction are we really going, remote work, or back to the office? Well, experts are saying both.
Some people are more productive in the quiet of their own home, and are more comfortable not having to commute to work. Others are happier to actually have a separation between work and their personal lives, which is why experts are urging companies to consult their employees and adapt a hybrid setup.
The data shows that employees actually expect hybrid setups now, with workers now placing work-life balance at the top of their criteria when choosing among job opportunities. People enjoy the comfort of working at home, but they also like being at the office for collaboration and social enjoyment. In other words, the best of both worlds.
