Remote work was something introduced, primarily, through the pandemic. Industries that had no intentions of operating remotely were forced to do so. Today, remote work has been largely reverted with many workers returning to the office. This trend is worth analyzing. What are the effects of remote work, do people like it, and should it be promoted more?
Starting with the first question, remote work has been found to produce a range of effects. On the employee side there are a range of positives. First and foremost remote work completely eliminates the commute to work. No commute means more time in the day, for productivity or pleasure. It means less money spent on gas and on meals. And it means more time spent around and with one's family and loved ones.
These positives have made remote work extremely popular to the public. In 2023, 98% of people want to work remotely, at least some of the time. Of course, remote work is not all positive, even to employees. There are serious concerns around social isolation. Already people are spending more time than ever on digital devices, and this only accentuates that trend.
Another concern are issues with communication. While programs like Zoom have only become more effective in recent years, they're not perfect. Employees connect less with their peers and employers have a harder time utilizing supervision. This issue can be especially troublesome for industries which require high levels of collaboration.
Moving to employers, many businesses have a largely negative perception of remote work. The first big issue that the pandemic revealed was how remote work affects physical workspaces. New York found itself with entirely empty skyscrapers, employers lost thousands on office space, and cities were empty. These issues are still relevant today in certain places. Consequently employers have been desperate to get people back, bringing life back to office spaces.
Outside of this employers cite concerns such as remote work reducing inefficiency and disrupting communication. Interestingly, this first claim is not settled. Remote workers can be more efficient or less efficient, all depending on management and specific conditions. The concern around inefficiency is real, but not at all unmanageable.
On the other hand, disrupted communication is much more undeniably negative in impact. Employers who are looking to manage their employees are going to have a really hard time doing so remotely. Fortunately, many businesses are looking to solve this issue through the use of connectivity platforms. While these can never fully substitute for physical communication, they can be effective alternatives for work.
It's solutions like these that can start to promote remote work in a positive way. Even for employers who opt to use hybrid or physical workspaces, connectivity platforms can be useful. The advancement of communication technology is useful for anyone and everyone, but it's particularly important for remote work.
Another important step in allowing remote work to reach its potential comes in strong cybersecurity. Cyberattacks are a rising worry for any business which has digital components. The worry for any business with weak security is that operating remotely opens the business up for even more risks.
The final component to helping remote work prosper is adequate scheduling software. Inefficiency represents the single biggest worry for employers, and is much of the reason that remote work is declining. Any attempt at making this less of an issue will be important in promoting remote work. Scheduling software, specifically AI powered scheduling software, is a practical solution to this issue.
AI scheduling software can create work schedules for the employee which are the most efficient. These can be important for all workplaces in a similar manner to connectivity platforms. The unique aspect is AI powered software can optimize for remote work specifically. This brings to mind something important about remote work at large, it's fundamentally different from physical work.
The most important step moving forward is to keep this in mind. Employers have to understand that the issue is not remote work, but how remote work is implemented. Employees, in a similar sense, have to learn how to more efficiently work as remote workers. These are the fundamental changes and mentalities that will promote remote work. Remote work is not perfect, and it's not for every industry, but it still has room to grow.
