#TGLife
With no end in sight to COVID-19, many businesses are developing or implementing work-from-home policies to ensure business continuity. “Everyone who can work from home should work from home,” said Harvard epidemiologist William Hanage this week.
In China and neighbouring countries, millions are doing so for the first time. In the United States, companies readying staff to work remotely include Twitter, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and JP Morgan.In Australia many companies now offer flexible work arrangements, but that doesn’t necessarily mean employees can work from home. Even those permitted to work from home may only be allowed to do so on a limited basis.
With the WHO declaring the coronavirus as a ‘pandemic’, the likelihood of extended workplace shutdowns seems increasingly likely, so how can we make it work.
Regular communication, particularly using video conferencing, can help ensure tasks are coordinated, knowledge is transferred, and social and professional isolation is reduced.
For organisations used to managing based on visibility and presence, letting go of traditional ideas will be required.
If schools are closed, employers will need to be sensitive to the challenges employees face working from home with children to care for and online schooling to incorporate.
Finally, employees need to establish boundaries between work and home life. Being able to switch off at the end of the day is important for both physical and mental health.
If employees and employers can get the balance right and enjoy the benefits of well-planned telework, this coronavirus outbreak could prove to be the tipping point for remote work arrangements to become the norm.
Mandatory teleworking in view of COVID-19
IT industry body NASSCOM had urged the government to relax restrictions regarding allowing employees to work from home, amid the coronavirus outbreak. Internet commerce companies ranging from Flipkart and Snapdeal to Paytm and Uber are aggressively promoting remote working options among employees
Twitter makes working from home mandatory for employees around the world. Google’s Bangalore employees have been asked to work from home from Friday
Amazon Inc has requested employees in India and other locations around the world to work from home till March-end
NASA’s Ames Research Center in California declared mandatory telework policy after an employee tested positive to COVID-19
In Dublin, Google sent 8,000 workers home for a day to trial an extended remote-work scenario after one employee came down with flu-like symptoms
In Australia, Clayton Utz, Cisco and Vodafone temporarily closed offices last week as a precautionary measure
The European Commission is switching all staff in “non-critical functions” to remote working from next Monday.
