Dear Friends,
Look before you leap.
Due to the environment and difficult situations created by Covid-19 throughout the world, the talk of working from home or remote working has suddenly gathered momentum. The phenomenon is not new to the business world. It has been in place for a long time but was in a very limited space. Adopting work from home by organizations during Covid-19 and the resultant lockdown is not by choice but with compulsion because there was no other option in sight to continue some working. Believing that since WFH has worked during the Covid-19 lockdown, it will also continue to work even after the lockdown and the return of normalcy in business will be a simple, innocent thinking away from hard ground realities.
The question we need to answer before we go for or against the success of this working model is, when this model was in place in many organizations, especially in the IT/ITes sector for a long time, why was it not accelerated and adopted by the whole business world, irrespective of the nature of activity, and made permanent despite having all the support of technological tools? Probably because this model has more negatives than positives in the present setup of the business environment in India in which employees work and organizations operate. The nature of business activities also does not permit such a model to function. Apart from this, there may be one inherent issue, and that is a trust deficit between the organization and its employees. Neither organization fully trusts its employees to the level to allow them to work remotely out of sight, nor are employees interested in adopting such a working model because of social implications. When one goes to the office every day, it carries a sense of pride and visible social respect which is missed out in the WFH model of working.
Apart from the trust factor, there are many other considerations which HR needs to study, understand the implications, and develop a work relationship model away from the workplace for a notional extended workplace to make it successful. It is true that this tough time challenge has given us an opportunity to explore new alternatives and ways to do business, but it has to go beyond rhetoric. Massive behavioral shifts are required to be adopted. While hiring, some other personality traits need to be identified and given priority in candidates to suit the WFH model of working. Managements also have to change their mindset in believing employees can work remotely. Micromanaging has to go away, and a culture of output has to take its place. Unless all this is achieved, one should think twice before blindly going for this model.
The June 2020 edition cover story on WFH is an attempt made by industry experts and HR professionals to examine this model 360 degrees, explore possibilities and challenges, provide tips to handle them, and prepare the ground ready to adapt to the new realities that are coming our way.
If you like it, let us know. If not, well, let us know that too.
Happy Reading!
From India, Delhi
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182Look before you leap.
Due to the environment and difficult situations created by Covid-19 throughout the world, the talk of working from home or remote working has suddenly gathered momentum. The phenomenon is not new to the business world. It has been in place for a long time but was in a very limited space. Adopting work from home by organizations during Covid-19 and the resultant lockdown is not by choice but with compulsion because there was no other option in sight to continue some working. Believing that since WFH has worked during the Covid-19 lockdown, it will also continue to work even after the lockdown and the return of normalcy in business will be a simple, innocent thinking away from hard ground realities.
The question we need to answer before we go for or against the success of this working model is, when this model was in place in many organizations, especially in the IT/ITes sector for a long time, why was it not accelerated and adopted by the whole business world, irrespective of the nature of activity, and made permanent despite having all the support of technological tools? Probably because this model has more negatives than positives in the present setup of the business environment in India in which employees work and organizations operate. The nature of business activities also does not permit such a model to function. Apart from this, there may be one inherent issue, and that is a trust deficit between the organization and its employees. Neither organization fully trusts its employees to the level to allow them to work remotely out of sight, nor are employees interested in adopting such a working model because of social implications. When one goes to the office every day, it carries a sense of pride and visible social respect which is missed out in the WFH model of working.
Apart from the trust factor, there are many other considerations which HR needs to study, understand the implications, and develop a work relationship model away from the workplace for a notional extended workplace to make it successful. It is true that this tough time challenge has given us an opportunity to explore new alternatives and ways to do business, but it has to go beyond rhetoric. Massive behavioral shifts are required to be adopted. While hiring, some other personality traits need to be identified and given priority in candidates to suit the WFH model of working. Managements also have to change their mindset in believing employees can work remotely. Micromanaging has to go away, and a culture of output has to take its place. Unless all this is achieved, one should think twice before blindly going for this model.
The June 2020 edition cover story on WFH is an attempt made by industry experts and HR professionals to examine this model 360 degrees, explore possibilities and challenges, provide tips to handle them, and prepare the ground ready to adapt to the new realities that are coming our way.
If you like it, let us know. If not, well, let us know that too.
Happy Reading!
From India, Delhi
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