WFH: The new urban work culture

Work from home,  now a ubiquitousphenomenon, abbreviated as WFH, is a system that works for many white collar workers but is an unlikely option for most blue collar workers. The system which seemed like a change to come about in five years, has been enabled by the pandemic in just five weeks

While the world can only guess when the pandemic will come to an end, many white collared workers are already predicting the new office routine. With companies forced to keep their employees home, everyone has gotten clarity on a few things. As soon as the pandemic driven lockdown is relaxed and everyone gets back to their routine of travelling to the office daily, some might stay home and work from there. This ‘work from home’ culture is now being defined as the new normal for many industries and opening opportunities for many to work in a global market. But the new culture in which we all are trying to blend in has its own complexities. 

All that glitters is not gold!

The work from home culture is now being seen by many individuals as a new way forward to work in the globally digitalised world. Where many individuals are now able to give more time to their families, they are also saving up on the cost of commute financially and otherwise. Even some large multinationals and early-stage start-ups are looking at it as a way of cost-cutting. However work from home which is seen by many individuals as beneficial has created health problems for some.

A 2019 survey by Airtasker revealed that 54 percent of remote workers felt “overly stressed” and 45 percent “experienced high levels of anxiety” during the workday. Before the pandemic, people working in offices had fixed hours of work; as the clock hit a particular time, it was a signal for pack up, which means shutting down your computers, leaving the work desk and going back home. Working from home has taken away that demarcation, and employees feel they are working 24×7 at home.

While many large corporations like Twitter, Facebook, and JP Morgan have begun to introduce new HR policies for work from home, some have shown their concern for the employees’ health and well-being if work from home continues even after the lockdown. Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft has warned that permanent work from home can have serious consequences on employee health and company culture. Nadella said all virtual setup of office space world is “replacing one dogma with another dogma”. 

While there is a tiff between the opinions of large & small corporations, employees, doctors, and others, many new giants have stood up in the video conferencing industry to provide a seamless option to make remote working smooth.  

Virtual the New Normal

With the ongoing pandemic forcing the world into a cage, and putting a stop to many industries, one industry/market saw a surge in the user base and the number of stakeholders in the market. During March 14-21 videoconferencing market saw its biggest boom when they topped 62 million downloads across IOS and Google Playstore. Apps like Google Hangout Teams, Zoom Cloud Meeting and Microsoft Team saw the most growth with Zoom topping the worldwide chart in February and March. Not only the video conferencing apps which are used for conducting office meetings and other official work, HouseParty a social video conferencing app saw rapid growth in Europe and other markets among Gen Z users. With more use of video conferencing apps by everyone, the large players in the market introduced new features or free options in their software. Google announced an advanced version of the Hangouts Meet video conferencing feature to its G Suite clients. Microsoft has rolled out six month trial for its higher version of Microsoft Team. Cisco and Zoom lifted the time limits in their apps on meeting for their free users. Eric Yuan, CEO, Zoom said, “The growing epidemic has broadened my view on what it means to be a video communications technology provider in times of need”. Not only the companies providing the video conferencing application are looking at it as the new routine for everyone, many individuals working in IT and ITES industries see this as a better option. According to a survey conducted by Udemy an online learning platform, at least four in five working Indian professionals are likely to work in a remote setup more often. Not only Indians, as per a survey conducted by IBM, 54 per cent of 25,000 adults polled in the United States want to work from home and 75 per cent want to do it occasionally. Some companies especially the small ones see work from home as a boon for them. With people now getting comfortable working from home, small scale companies are looking at it as a medium to reduce costs. As the employees are getting comfortable with striking a balance between working and their personal lives while at home, start-ups which rent out office spaces are looking at it as a way for financial and operational cost-cutting. Though WFH the new shift in the market is liked by many employees, companies, and businesses given its financial and other advantages to both employees and corporates, it is not something which can be enforced in every industry.

Is WFH for everyone?

Work from home might sound a good option for new parents, people with disabilities, and others who don’t blend in the traditional office work culture but this might not be for everyone. Some services can be done from home like human resources, consulting, or some tech role, but when looking at the cross-section of the industry, some roles cannot be performed from home like delivery agent job, people working in beauty salons, or people in restaurant service. Aman a food delivery executive said, “There is no work from home for us, either I can sit at home and do nothing or I deliver your food on time to earn bread and butter”.  The work from home option might be the most feasible for people working in IT/ITES industries, as at any given time 20-30 per cent of people working in these industries are working remotely, with COVID-19 situation this might have risen upto 90 per cent. But the same thing cannot be a feasible solution for employees working in the manufacturing and service industry. As per the experts in the manufacturing sector, only a few functions such as human resources, finance, and planning are amenable to work from home. But most manufacturing units cannot give their employees the option to work from home, given that work from home is not an evolved model and this concept is not widely practiced. Further, while some bigger companies who have the IT infrastructure would be able to exercise WFH for their employees, it may not be possible for smaller units.  

The Corona virus pandemic has brought about many transformative changes in the way we go about our day-to-day lives. WFH is one. How durable this trend becomes, how widespread across industries, and how businesses reinvent the architecture of ‘work’ all remain to be seen. However, in many settings, WFH is likely to become a new way of life soon.