Will work from home (WFH) be business as usual?

I have seen quite a few board Room discussions on this topic and the very foundation, of not encouraging WFH, was trust. So basically, WFH – across organisations, became a privilege for a chosen few.

Today, amidst the COVID-19 scenario, the challenges for the WFH are still the same. But what changed. Policies were changed, PC’s were given, Networks created, Clients approval taken – all in the name of Business Need.

What happened to Employee Trust? Well! It has now become a business need to trust employees (a bit more) to be i) Efficient, ii) Hardworking and iii) Accountable  to deliver from their homes.

We need to face a fact that, Clients and Profits always come first, and employees will always come second (by the way it is not a bad thing, as business helps us earn our money). 

But what will be interesting in times to come is – 

The future strategy of businesses on WFH? And will your employee be the same person who now has access to WFH?

The Business strategy, can you as a business house halve your infrastructure cost? If WFH is something that is helping you survive during these trying times, now would be an excellent opportunity for me prioritise my bottom line (costs). And reallocate funds by reducing infrastructure cost and adding them the Employee benefits. 

Employee mindset, that too is going to change, there is going to be an expectation from employees for a WFH facility. Today, it is a business need where employees are being requested to WFH, however when the same situation is reversed i.e, if WFH is an employee need, will businesses allow employees to work from home when they need it or stick to their age old policies and systems? 

Now, what about the Manufacturing business, production cannot be done from home at least for large scale production houses. And in today’s scenario these are those units who are currently is a 100% shutdown mode. What will happen here. For beginners, technology is going to play a very different role in such units, with a simple question – how can we reduce Human dependencies? 

In the past, technology embraced by to such industries was primarily used to boost production, however the very fabric of the thought process may undergo a change – to eliminate human intervention. 

“We have been doing business this way, because this is the way we have been doing it.”

Times are changing and demands from your workforce are going to further change, are you geared up?

The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.

Ankush Malhotra

Ankush is an adventurist by passion and a Communicator by profession. He specialises in Employee Engagement and Gamification techniques to build and drive organisation culture. With over 20 years of premeditated experience he has emerged as a thought leader canalising & creating path-breaking communications strategies.