Covid-19 Killed the Traditional Workplace, What We’ve Learnt about WFH

The world changed tremendously in the last 12 months. It started with the initial shut down in March 2020 that was only supposed to last two weeks, then moved to months of working from home, and finally landed on many people working from home permanently.

What have we learned about working from home over the last year? How have businesses changed? Here are a few important lessons that can help us as we move forward.

Employees Enjoy Flexibility and Are Still Productive

Working from home has been a far-off dream for many professionals. Everyone knows it would be great, but few employers were willing to give it a try. Then the pandemic forced everyone to work from home, and employees found they loved the flexibility.

Employers were surprised by how productive everyone could be from home. The fears of lost productivity and long afternoon naps by unsupervised workers turned out to be false. As a result, most companies are keeping work-from-home arrangements for the long term.

Business Emergency Plans Are Essential

Many business emergency plans before 2020 were considered “nice to have,” but they weren’t very detailed. No one expected a real emergency to happen, so the plans were left in a drawer while day-to-day life continued.

The pandemic made everyone realize how important it is to have a real, functional business emergency plan. Every business needs something that works that they can use when companies have to close suddenly, work from home, or face another kind of emergency.

Communication Tools Are Vital

The distance created by working from home needs to be bridged, and communication is how to do it. How to communicate using technology is a skill that many people have developed in the last year, and it will continue to be important going forward.

Secure technology is a must — virtual communication always introduces the chance that scammers or thieves will try to steal information. However, there are various tools available that offer data security and fast, face-to-face communication.

Using the right technology is vital!

Tech Security is a Top Priority

Finally, one of the biggest lessons we’ve learned from this process is that data security is essential. Both employers and employees need to maintain safe data practices, protect their networks, and use other safety procedures.

When there are many people at home using the same home network, it can be challenging to keep everything secure. Children using the network for school, a spouse working, and an employee trying to be productive is a strain.

Having the right kind of home network with proper passwords, encryption, and more will keep everyone safe.

Working From Home is a Long-Term Solution

One of the most unexpected results of this long work from home arrangement is that many organizations realized working from home makes sense in the long term. Many people expected to be away from the office for a few weeks or a few months, but it turned out to be much longer.

As a result, IT had to create a long-term work from home infrastructure rather than an ad-hoc solution. With the arrangement working so well, many companies have decided to stay this way for the foreseeable future.

Of course, some companies will return to the office, and that’s not a bad thing. But it is interesting that the flexibility and productivity of working from home worked out so well that many businesses are considering it permanently.

What’s Next for Work and Technology?

We’ve learned in the last year that when employers and employees work together, using the right technology and best practices, work from home can be productive and flexible. So what’s next?

As many companies return to the office, technology, security, and flexible productivity will continue to be top priorities. Make sure you’re ready with today’s best solutions!

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