Telecommuting which was at one point a luxury or an oddity has become the new norm in organizations globally during the Coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 became the trigger for this process, having advanced the experience of distance work by several years. With the onset of COVID19 pandemic, companies realised that they could actually work from home and it had lots of advantages. Now as the global society slowly starts to shift to getting back to the 'normalcy' that pre-dated COVID-19, the future of remote work is uncertain. As we look to the future of remote work several patterns and forecasts are slowly coming to the foreground that points to the notion that while remote work is transforming it is by no means disappearing.
1. Hybrid Work Models: What Is New?
The most prominent driving force that defines what new remote work will look like is a concept called 'hybrid work'. This approach adopts the working in tendency of the home basis and office basis working, whereby the employee works in both stations. It means that large organizations such as Google, Microsoft, or Apple are looking into the transition or have already transitioned to hybrid work models; thus, the trend of going back to the office is likely not to occur as expected.
Essentially, there are the following advantages of the hybrid model. For employees, it allows them to choose when to work, spend less time commuting to work, or work under the conditions preferred by the employee. In formulations for employee scared aspects it contributes in on possibility for the employer to cut down the expenses of renting offices and increased the chances of accessing employees without a fixed geographical location. Nonetheless, this remains tremendously problematic: where is the optimal point of balance? Employers are going to have to put money into tools and strategies that allow employees to work efficiently both virtually and physically within the office.
2. Rise of Digital Nomadism
Digital nomad is a relatively new trend that has recently come into existence owing to advancement in technology that allows one to work while on the move. While long before, working from anywhere was more of a fantasy that could only be conceivable for a handful of employees, the current post COVID-19 world has changed this dramatically by making remote work culture possible for many. All these have encouraged remote working with the use of technology, availability of co working spaces and an increase in the number of countries providing visa for remote workers.
Digital nomadism also should expand, especially among millennial and gen Z who rejected the classical norms of career and value freedom and experiences. This trend is both a positive and a negative in a way. While on the one hand it provides firms with a pool of talented employees from around the world and for the employees there is an opportunity to experience new culture and ways of life. However, it triggers questions about the organization of work with distributed teams, how to provide working with time zones, how to guarantee the security of data, and how to support the company's values in the employees.
3. Remote Work Technologies
The two major areas that are said to have investment novelty horizon are Innovation. It can be said, that progress of technology will always remain a major factor that affects the future of remote work. The globalization of business and growth of information and telecommunication technologies have made remote working to be more popular among organizations, thus creating high market demand for tools and platforms that improve workforce productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness in communication and collaboration. AI and machine learning, VR and AR technologies will be instrumental in defining how remote working will look like in the future.
We must embrace the use of AI in organizations since it can assist in simple repetitive tasks and can offer advice tailored to the company's particular needs. For instance, AI-based project management tools can investigate the productivity of the teams and outline the approaches to improve the productivity of work. On the other note, the usage of the VR and AR technologies in the turn can bring the notion of virtual meetings to a completely new level. Just think of being in a meeting located in the virtual environment where you are able to shake hands with models or draw on the whiteboard as if being there.
4. Managers' Role in the Changing World
While working from home is gradually gaining momentum as a business practice, there are many changes that are bound to be observed in the managerial profession. In traditional working environment, many of the important communications such as performance evaluations and feedbacks are done in person and relationship with the subordinates is also established physically. Consequently, these tasks prove somewhat difficult in a remote working setting and reflect the skills and strategies that managers have to learn.
One of such changes will be towards relating management with results and not time worked. This means that managers will have to build up their communication skills, ensure that subordinates trust them and that metrics are used to monitor performance. Moreover, managers are likely to have a significant impact on the cohesiveness of the teams and fulfillment of the feelings of the employees working in remote environments with the organization. For this reason, as the remote working is progressing in the future, the firms will have to involve themselves into training and development of the managerial cadre to make them capable to manage such diverse employees efficiently.
5. Effect on Urban Development and Property Business
Many people think that the popularity of remote work will affect urban development and the real estate market quite significantly. In the near future, there is a possibility of decentralization where more employees get an opportunity to work remotely hence moving away from the densely populated cities to towns and rural areas. It was labelled as 'de-urbanization' and could potentially result in shifts in the client's needs when it comes to their housing, such as an emphasis on homes with a separate room for work and fast Wi-Fi connection.
For businesses this could mean that the demand for large office space in city central business districts may reduce. Instead, businesses may decide on less considerable and more adaptive offices or co-working spaces to ensure proper hybrid work. This change may expand the thinking of city layouts and designs, commercial buildings may be redeveloped for residential, park, or community usage.
6. Promote Health and Welfare of the Employees and Their Career-Life Interface
Remote work in the future will also involve more focus on the needs of the employees and their healthier options of work. As much as remote working brings with it flexibility, it also negates the work-life balance or also causes one to break down and the individual experiences work-life integration or stress. It becomes clear why organizations more and more concern about their employees' wellbeing to stay mentally and physically healthy, especially, when people work remotely.
To tackle such issues, there is likely going to be policies or programs that favour work life balance like flexible working hours, forced breaks, and a mental health days. Moreover, there will be a heightened awareness of organizational culture resulting from virtual work with enhanced emphasis on the interaction, cooperation, and integration of employees. It still baffles the mind how so many employers do not get this rather obvious fact, that by focusing on the employee's welfare they are attracting quality candidates and creating a more efficient work force.
7. Work from Home and DE&I
A major factor that remote work can boost is the proliferation and effectiveness of DEI initiatives in the workplace. Remote work creates possibilities for people belonging to different soci odonomic status because they lack access to traditional offices owing to geographical restrictions, disability, or childcare responsibilities. Employers and employees can now work remotely, which means that employers do not necessarily have to choose employees based on their geographical location or how far they are willing to commute to get to work, this has helped in reducing discriminations such as sexual discrimination since employers can now work with the best talents without having to care how far they are from the workplace.
However, there are also pros in remote work and consequences for DEI. Forcing remote based employees to get career development, training, and networking opportunities must not be a problem. Employers, in particular, will pay extra attention to the issue of DEI, they will introduce the measures that will allow for the welcoming of employees despite working remotely. This can entail making available resources for counseling services, having well-framed staff policies on flexible working and developing online communities where the employees can also share on issues affecting them.
