Once COVID-19 is behind us, companies should apply what they have experienced and learned during this process to continually improve their remote work policies for the long term. In fact, a survey conducted by globally research company Gartner with 317 CFOs and business finance leaders found that 74% plan to move their previously on-site workforce to permanently remote positions post-COVID-19. Predicting the future of work is hard when you’re still in the midst of the catastrophe. Managing a remote team usually requires changes in how managers communicate their expectations and instructions, as well as customized approaches for optimizing each employee’s productivity. How will entire organizations be transformed from this period? Put bluntly: while many employees thrive in a less structured environment with minimal supervision, others require more frequent “intervention” to keep them focused and engaged. 74% of the CFOs surveyed said that they expect to move previously on-site employees remote post-COVID-19. Among this group, the biggest factor driving this permanent change was the cost-saving benefits of working from home — a factor that they have gotten clear insight on during this current outbreak. Investing in remote working will have far-reaching consequences on the way we work after the crisis. Join other leaders, and receive our hand-picked publications, Contact our Knowledge Center for additional information on IMD publications, Contact our Media Relations team to republish, Ch. The difference in the pre-COVID remote work numbers and post-COVID plans – and the large number of businesses who moved some or all their workforce to remote during the crisis itself – tells us that COVID-19 not only is a significant catalyst in shifting to remote, but also heavily impacts future plans around remote work. For many companies, this is the first time where teams are having to collaborate, operate and communicate virtually through the power of technology. The coronavirus is forcing enterprises to rethink the way they do business and dust off … Before COVID-19 hit, co-working spaces were projected to increase more than 40% worldwide. From the 1840s to the 1950s, the length of the average American workweek (for manufacturing workers and nonsupervisory personnel) dropped from 70 hours to 40.5 hours. 1. The pre-coronavirus crisis focus on supporting mental health among employees will adapt, establishing new avenues of support as employees are managing large changes in their work and personal lives (health, financial, changed caring arrangements for children and parents) at the same time. Remote work itself presents a new set of challenges for talent development and individual ... is poised to be a leader in the new post-coronavirus world. Let’s explore three common predictions. ... (74%) of companies plan to shift employees to remote work permanently after the COVID-19 crisis ends. Deloitte Services. The concept of work as being something primarily done within the four walls of a company’s office will be regarded as outdated. An article by the New York Times on the topic suggests that many firms will resort to a hybrid approach, saying “There could be A teams and B teams working [remotely] different days.” This would then call for companies to introduce proper remote work policies to ensure a strong workplace culture and efficient operations as they work with distributed teams. A new report from MIT Technology Review, which explored the extent to which different jobs could be supported by AI, found that “between 32 and 50 million US jobs could be increasingly assisted by technology to reduce health risks posted by human interaction and safeguard productivity in time of crisis.” In the longer term, “where AI assistance is currently less feasible […] roles such as cashiers, servers and drivers, whose constituent tasks can be fully automated, may be at risk as retailers and restaurants […] seek to operate with fewer staff.”. The technology to support remote work has been around for over a decade, and COVID-19served as a "trial by fire," both for the technology itself, as well as users and support staff. For corporate wellness programs to reach the same level of engagement as before the pandemic, providers will need to utilize robust, interactive technology to keep remote employees engaged. Box 915 CH-1001 Lausanne, Switzerland, IMD SE Asia Pte. Sixty percent of businesses surveyed by McKinsey in early April said that their new remote sales models were proving as much (29 percent) or more effective (31 percent) than traditional channels. On the other side of the coin, there is also a huge amount of employees who don’t prefer to work from home, whether it’s due to the various distractions in their house or their preference to commute to a physical work space. Building a sustainable post-COVID future. Although work-life balance has long concerned US workers, especially Millennials, only sporadic gains were achieved prior to the pandemic. In 2012, just 39% of US employees worked off-site at least some of the time. What is your work-from-home forecast for after Covid-19? Flexibility and choice to work from anywhere is accelerating The truth is somewhere in between, but a greater proportion of organizations are clearly opting for the benefits of virtual offices. The goal of the union was, essentially, to provide workers with greater work-life balance. How does the huge shift in workplace behavior that we are seeing now impact how we work in the future? By 2016, that figure had risen to 43%. But today – thanks in part to the ubiquity of the (now endangered) “open-office plan” – millions of workers have had their hours cut in order to maintain social distancing in the workplace. Outside the US, a big victory occurred in 2018, when Europe’s largest industrial labor union, IG Metall, negotiated the right to work as few as 28 hours per week for German metal workers. It is clear, though, that “futuristic” trends are emerging, having been catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The message was clear: the future of work is not pre-determined, it is up to us to shape it. How COVID-19 caused the future of work to arrive early. As remote work becomes increasingly necessary across America and around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s no shortage of advice on h ow to be your “most productive” self while toiling outside the office. Many may resist returning to the 40-plus-hour workweek – with limited paid vacation and sick days – when the crisis passes. In addition, there is ample anecdotal evidence that hiring more workers to each work fewer hours increases individual productivity, making those companies more attractive to top talent. Remote and flexible work environments were on the rise prior to Covid. Similarly, social workplace activities and water cooler chats are finding their online version through employee-driven group chats and virtual happy hours. All rights reserved. Pre-COVID-19, remote workers were more engaged and had a better workplace experience than office workers; During the pandemic, effective team collaboration has reached new heights, through better leverage of remote collaborative technology, and the ability to focus was upheld; 2. Remote working on a larger scale also offers companies the flexibility to deal with unexpected events in the future, such as the COVID-19 crisis. Learn how remote work may become the "next normal." Acceleration of digital, tech, and analytics. On the plus side, there is more freedom, more flexible hours and more streamlined morning commutes. The workplace of the future: The post-Covid-19 wave of remote working By Sampath Sowmyanarayan 08 July 2020 CIOs need to adapt quickly and plan for the new, flexible remote … During the two years the program was in effect, public satisfaction with government services went up, and most employees reported improved work-life balance. In the meantime, here is our current work-from-home forecast: Remote working has further blurred the line between work and personal lives. Expect remote work to continue. These financial gains, when paired with the minimum disruption or effect on productivity levels and staff wellbeing, leaves little reason for many companies to move back to traditional working styles even after the pandemic ceases. On the minus side, there are possibly more distractions and disruptions, and the lack of physical interaction with colleagues could lead to anxiety, grief and even depression. Most employees like the idea of breaking away from the typical 8- to 10-hour day in an office, and it doesn't take a master's in accounting to understand the benefits of removing a large Real Estate line item from t… With the digital workspace able to truly replicate all the elements of working together in an office, more companies are likely to stick to this as a long-term solution and method of working together as part of their “new normal”. The big question is to what degree they will survive the crisis. Humans are inherently social animals who are biologically hard-wired for spending quality time with each other, and who typically don’t fare well during prolonged periods of extreme isolation. None of the materials provided on/in this website/publication/document may be used, reproduced or transmitted, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or the use of any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from IMD. And some employers may adopt the same attitude. As the COVID-19 pandemic drives profound societal and organizational shifts, leaders have the opportunity to return to work by designing the future of work, building on the lessons and practices their organizations executed during the … How “sticky” will remote work become? Covid-19 has turned the future of work in a new direction, becoming virtual and remote, rather than physical and local. As German designer Konstantin Grcic argued “the office is everywhere I go to work.”. There is a soaring demand for virtual workplace solutions that help teams continue to collaborate, communicate, and operate as usual. These challenges give new importance to worker health and wellness, and for HR and L&D professionals, the future of work will require a stronger focus and a more holistic view of employee well-being . To request such permission and for further inquiries, please contact IMD at, Global Center for Digital Business Transformation. Because of the pandemic, millions more workers are discovering the joys (and hassles) that accompany working from home. Employees will demand the ability to work … COVID-19 has forced teams worldwide to work from home — but what lies ahead for how we work once the pandemic ends? A recent Gartner poll showed that 48% of employees will likely work remotely at least part of the time after COVID-19 versus 30% before the pandemic. On the negative side, some managers are struggling to maintain high performance from workers who are no longer in close proximity. Coronavirus and the Future of Work. The sudden switch to remote digital work, overnight and en masse, has the potential to accelerate changes in how work is performed and the way we think about working arrangements. The new normal telecommuting may be a bit more permanent than realized, as 74% of CFOs say they expect to move previously on-site employees remote post-COVID-19, … Although the technology to facilitate remote work has been around for over a decade, COVID-19 has forced hundreds of millions of employers and employees worldwide to engage in a sudden, massive, real-time experiment with remote work arrangements. He was asked about the future of the P&C workplace in a post-COVID world. Get a consultation and a demo with one of our experts to discuss what Eko can do for your business. The digital transformation of work has finally arrived. The COVID-19 pandemic is having a profound impact on the present state of work.The crisis is throwing millions of people across the globe out of employment, sending people with good jobs home to work remotely, and exposing millions of front-line workers providing the necessities of life to a deadly virus. Copyright © 2020 Amity Corporation. During a recession in the late 1990s, Finland’s federal government sponsored a program called the “6+6 Plan,” under which municipal offices were open for 12 hours each day and staffed by civil servants on six-hour shifts. Revenues at one South Korean online delivery company, Woowa Brothers, increased more than tenfold after it reduced working hours in 2015. A different theory posits that employers and employees starved of interpersonal connections will rebel against remote work. Prediction 1: Remote work is here to stay Many believe that this move towards work from home will be a more permanent change, rather than a temporary one. One financial services company told us it believes a hybrid model (rather than 100% remote) would likely be the working model of choice for many of its employees, who see 100% remote work as unsustainable. Your submission has been received! The pandemic will only accelerate this trend. In fact, BCG’s recent Workplace of the Future employer survey found that companies expect about 40% of their employees to follow a remote-working model in the future. We recommend that organizations take the following steps to reimagine how work is done and what the future role of the office will be. Looking at the broader picture, Covid-19 may prove to be a major tipping point for the digital transformation of the workplace. Those who’ve been working from home for over a … How coronavirus COVID-19 is accelerating the future of work. One obvious hypothesis about the future of working is that for office jobs, it will become disconnected from physical offices. Many believe that this move towards work from home will be a more permanent change, rather than a temporary one. Remote work preferences and policies have been drastically influenced by the COVID-19 outbreak. In fact, a survey conducted by globally research company Gartner with 317 CFOs and business finance leaders found that 74% plan to move their previously on-site workforce to permanently remote positions post-COVID-19. Something went wrong while submitting the form. In addition to reducing the number of employees in the office to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, many organizations will incorporate work-from-home aspects into their future frameworks. In fact, among high-paid US white-collar workers, the trend toward 50-plus-hour workweeks has gained momentum since the 1970s. The global spread of COVID-19 has led to a rapid shift of companies moving to working from home and relying on remote work tools now more than ever, in an effort to maintain business continuity. Finally, remote working can give a renewed boost to cooperation and cohesion. As of mid-April, however, 62% of US employees are working from home because of fears about the coronavirus. One theory holds that a significant number of companies will go entirely virtual. The just released World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report found that more than 80% of employers expect to make wider use of remote work and to digitize working processes. This comes from the reduction of both on-site technology spend, as well as reduced costs in real estate expenses. Software robots to infiltrate the workspace. While the pandemic continues to evolve globally, many are already planning ahead for the other side of this situation: a future where the spread of COVID-19 ceases and life slowly adjusts back. Peter Thompson The post evolved into an official memo to the government, and on June 30, Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced the Welcome Stamp at a restaurant reopening ceremony , despite having not told the minister of tourism or the Barbados immigration department, Thompson and other locals told Insider. To help answer the question of how many employees will work-at-home after the Covid-19 crisis, we have launched a Global Work-from-Home Experience Survey in partnership with Dr. Anita Kamouri, co-founder of Iometrics and several global associations. Despite predictions to the contrary and calls – especially among female employees – for even shorter workweeks and flexible schedules, little has changed in 70 years. Worldwide remote work measures this year have caused the digital economy to grow more rapidly than ever before and increased the stresses of managing work-life balance. What can we expect from remote work going forward? Readers share their most pressing questions and concerns about the future of work in post-Covid societies. As organizations shift to more remote work operations, explore the critical competencies employees will need to collaborate digitally, and be prepared to adjust employee experience strategies. Oops! Similar remote work statistics are observed in other parts of the world. This attitude shift suggests that we will see many more software robots in the workforce after the current crisis subsides. Although it’s just a start-up, the company now competes with corporations like Samsung for engineering talent. As previously mentioned, organizations are relying more than ever on technology to enable work to happen seamlessly with employees dispersed. de Bellerive 23 P.O. Many people are now used to doing this virtually – and although some of us will be returning to the workplace, it looks like remote working is here to stay in some form or other. Eko is the virtual workspace helping teams stay engaged, productive and connected while working remotely. Also known as “digital workers”, AI-enabled software programs will be “hired” in greater numbers to assist human employees (and sometimes replace them) by taking over certain administrative tasks, as well as “virus-friendly” customer-service interactions. COVID-19 has been a game-changer for offices and the way we work. Notice: JavaScript is not enabled. Thank you! At the same time, there are financial benefits for the employees too: a study done by online recruitment platform FlexJobs found that remote employees save as much as $4,000 a year from commuting, office meals, and other miscellaneous expenses. Fewer hours and more flexible work schedules. Search for publications, programs, event, people and much more... who typically don’t fare well during prolonged periods, 48% of remote workers exhibit more discretionary effort. These assessments, of course, assume that tomorrow’s reality will look like a modified version of today’s which is almost impossible to say. Remember the days when you could effortlessly walk over to a colleague and chat about a project? For many industries, work will change drastically within the next five years. Most have simply transplanted existing processes to remote work contexts, ... they may need to be entirely rethought and transformed for a post–COVID-19 world. However, that future has arrived sooner than anticipated as many countries, companies and workers shifted to remote working in order to contain the transmission of COVID-19, dramatically changing how we work. All rights, including copyright, pertaining to the content of this website/publication/document are owned or controlled for these purposes by IMD, except when expressly stated otherwise. Whereas a 2019 poll revealed that 27% of office workers would not delegate any work to AI, and a third (32%) believed that AI could not do a better job than them on any task, pandemic-fueled changes to working behavior seem to be allaying people’s fears that digital workers will steal their jobs. Peter Thompson sent a memo to the government outlining a plan for a remote-work visa. In the near future, some organisations will adopt a hybrid-work model, with certain days in the office and others remote, and might align employees’ in-office and remote schedules to create equity. Inspiring technologies that can transform your business For individual business executives and teams who are looking to gain a deeper understanding of the latest innovative technologies. Giving employees more control over their hours could significantly reduce employee turnover, according to a Stanford University research paper. A study found that 48% of remote workers exhibit more discretionary effort compared with 35% of non-remote workers. The remote work wave: An estimated 16 million U.S. knowledge workers started working remotely due to Covid-19 as of March 27; that number is likely much higher now. Although the technology to facilitate remote work has been around for over a decade, COVID-19 has forced hundreds of millions of employers and employees worldwide to engage in a sudden, massive, real-time experiment with remote work arrangements. Vacation and sick days – when the crisis to increased remote work statistics are observed in other parts the... Worked off-site at least some of the workplace Eko can do for your business Brothers, more! ’ re still in the midst of the time coronavirus COVID-19 is accelerating how COVID-19... This comes from the reduction of both on-site technology spend, as as... From physical offices opting for the digital transformation of the workplace within the next five.! 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