The pandemic has changed the world and everyone’s lifestyles in more ways than one. It’s safe to safe that the world more than a year ago felt like something from a distant life. The changes the world has experienced seemed like something out of science fiction. For a while, everyone was trying to lead their lives as normally as possible.
But with such a health-threatening virus looming over the world, normalcy is out of the window. One of the most affected aspects of daily life is the workplace. In retrospect, the traditional way of working for professionals is traveling every day to work in a place where they can freely engage with colleagues.
But now, that has dramatically changed. Remote work is now the norm. Besides giving employees enhanced work-life balance, it’s also creating waves in other industries and conventional work processes.
It’s Here to Stay
Despite the uncertainties presently, one thing is for sure: remote work is here to stay. Although at first, it was a temporary arrangement just so businesses can safely continue working in the surge of the virus, after a year of it, the benefits of working from home start to surface. There are challenges, like unreliable connection, power cuts, and unstable communication.
But its advantages immensely outweigh the cons for something that’s still in the trial phase. With remote work, companies observe better work performance from their employees and reduced operational costs. Considering that fewer workers are in the office, a decrease in electricity bills is prominent.
Less Funding for Physical Work Spaces
Businesses will probably spend less on beautifying their office amenities and invest more in equipment, programs, and software that their employees will use in a WFH setup. The most common challenges of remote work are lack of proper equipment and unstable network. With more funding for flexible work situations, employees can expect to accomplish tasks using company-provided computers and faster internet speeds.
Soon, offices will take on new designs that cater to a post-pandemic workplace. Individual spaces with single desks will phase out. Instead, there will be more areas for gatherings so that employees can drop by from time to time and have a place to discuss business with their colleagues.
Impact on Other Businesses
Albeit plenty of businesses went under because of the pandemic, more found themselves in the spotlight, experiencing an increase in revenue. Such ventures include courier companies and online shops. Due to them offering convenient service to clients, these businesses are one of the few who flourished during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Given that this pandemic gave way for the significant transition of traditional office to remote work, computer services are also in demand. For example, businesses offering screen repair services and other maintenance work became essential to keep work equipment optimum.
While others enjoy a boom in the industry, some ventures ran into adverse fates. Oil companies, for instance, will struggle for years to come because roads will have fewer vehicles, hence a decrease in gas sales.
Moving to Rural Spaces
A primary reason cities are congested is that it’s an area teeming with commercial businesses. With professionals needing to be close to their jobs, it’s only logical to reside within the same locality and save travel expenses. But now that remote work is slowly becoming permanent, the need to be in the vicinity as your office no longer exists.
The cost of living in the cities is higher than in rural areas. When professionals decide to move to the countryside or less crowded places, they can have the chance to save more money. They can rent a home that’s bigger yet significantly cheaper than their urban apartment and experience an upgrade in their lifestyle.
Broader Use of Data Collection
Working from home means you do not have the luxury of working in the same physical space as your colleagues. As a manager, you have the responsibility of monitoring the tasks your staff is assigned to accomplish. But that can be challenging when you solely rely on email and communication applications.
As a solution for this issue, businesses will predominantly invest in data collecting services and management software that will help them provide personnel with easy clocking in and clocking out and conveniently track their present tasks. Though these programs will undoubtedly add extra costs to businesses, benefits are abundant, especially when you think how many work processes can be expedited and made more manageable.
2020 opened with plenty of opportunities for businesses. But due to the pandemic, an economic standstill was immediately in sight. Thanks to flexible work options and innovative equipment and software, companies have mostly gotten back to their feet and even enhanced their business operations.
