As office workers acclimate to working from home, many have faced struggles in adjusting. While initially thought to be temporary, the pandemic’s continuing impacts on daily life have prompted major corporates to announce long-term remote policies:
Google has extended work from home through 2021, and Siemens has agreed to let employees “work from anywhere” permanently.
With no end in sight, it is important to note the positive impacts remote work has on the way we do business.
For one, it has sped up the adaptation of new technologies across companies. Many organizations had plans to integrate tools such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack into their everyday processes but struggled to get employees to use them. Now they are the norm.
It has also helped make the world smaller and more connected. During a virtual panel on “The Future of Work in a Socially Distanced World” Annamarie Sasagawa, Director of Global Corporate Culture at Kao Corporation, shared that technology has made it so that “everyone is equally close.” You can communicate with your overseas offices just as easily as you can someone in the same city.
Remote work has made it easier for company headquarters to communicate with people in other offices. It has even given regional offices the ability to connect directly with one another, rather than through headquarters.
Virtual tools have also enabled employees to attend events and trainings that they otherwise could not, due to costs or time. For example, to attend events hosted by European companies or divisions, Americans no longer need to buy a plane ticket and book a hotel. Instead, they can register and join at the click of a button. Language and time-zone barriers are even being broken down through the use of subtitles, transcripts, and recordings.
So while we may be frustrated at the current limitations the world is facing, perhaps the pandemic can help us recognize that we are all part of a global community working together towards the same goals.