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The Covid-19 Pandemic has pushed companies to work remotely. Millions of employees started working from their homes, transitioning from the corporate offices and cubicles.
Kitchens, bedrooms, and garages have become the new station ground for home offices. Many employees embraced it, and benefits like increased work productivity, cost savings, a no commute, and a sense of improved work-life balance have all been documented and backed by researchers.
“Working nine to five isn’t a realistic model for most employees because of differing energy levels, task durations, and personal schedule needs such as childcare. Remote work allows employees to increase productivity by working within the hours when they feel the most innovative, planning the right amount of time allocated to a specific task, and having more control over their workflow – leading to a more optimized and accurate work experience” said Maayan Veltz Lampert, Human Resource Director at Testim.io, a test automation company.
Missing the Office?
The work-from-home benefits stated have led to a staggering statistic: Almost a third of employees worldwide are prepared to quit their job if the boss makes them go back to the office full time.
With that being said, some employees are suffering from working remotely. Especially workers who have small children and not enough home office space, not to mention the increased mental pressures of zoom fatigue and the longing for face-to-face human connection.
“Once Covid hit, I couldn’t wait to go back to the office. We have really good vibes at the office; there’s always a lot of laughter, we all eat lunch together every day. We’ve all become really close, and the team is very supportive not only when it comes to professional aspects of life but also personal. Returning to the office has been really good for my mental health, and it’s made me much more productive and has drastically improved my work performance,” said Ashley Katzeff, Content and Brand Manager at Bookaway, an online ground transportation booking platform.
The Proposed Solution: A Hybrid Work Model
With Covid vaccines starting to place their marks and restrictions being lifted, many business leaders are in a complicated dilemma. Should they force their workers to return to the office? Maybe each employee should choose for himself? Companies like Twitter and Upwork have permanently adopted a remote-first model, with remote work defaulting for all employees. In comparison, other companies have adopted a hybrid work model of combining office days with work-from-home days.
“When the government lifted off the quarantine restrictions, we returned to the office but moved to a hybrid work model that allowed all our employees to combine working remotely and coming to the office. The hybrid work model enables our employees to keep the flexibility in their busy daily lives and allows us to be more diverse with recruiting. This gives us access to candidates who can’t commit to the daily commute and are situated in more suburban areas,” said Omri Iluz, Co-founder & CEO at PerimeterX, a CyberSecurity company.
It is safe to say that the pandemic has caused a significant shift in the modern workplace. It will be fascinating to see how this will impact the next generation of workers, who will grow up in a more diverse, flexible, and advanced work environment.
Omri Hurwitz is a marketing and media expert who advises leading High-Tech companies. In addition, He writes for several Media channels and has a podcast that covers the subjects of technology, entrepreneurship, and more.
Forbes Israel Contributors are independent writers that were individually picked by Forbes staff. The writers are experts in their field and they provide professional commentary and analysis of current events. The Contributor’s content isn’t sponsored.
