Unlike storms, the pandemic doesn’t hit once and goes away. It lingers, leaving business leaders and employees uncertain about their next steps. With new strains of COVID-19 appearing in different regions of the world that deactivate the vaccination, the day we can come back to our old normal is still far away. At least, in the first half of 2021, we should remain in our virtual workplace to enhance social distancing. The article today will focus on the virtual workplace and whether it will forever change the ways we go to work post-COVID-19.
What Is a Virtual Workplace?
A virtual workplace is not located in any one physical space and is not tied to any geographic boundaries. Employees and management are connected via the company’s private network or the Internet and interact with each other via phone, Skype, video conference apps, or cloud computing programs
Workers who work virtually may be at their homes, in satellite offices, in an emerging network of co-working spaces, or wherever they are most productive.
The virtual workplace can be significantly cost-effective as it reduces overhead costs. Employees can save a good amount of time and money on commuting to and from their in-person workplace, which would potentially lead to a decrease in greenhouse emissions. It is suggested in research that if half of the U.S. employees work from home, it would result in over $700 billion in national savings.
Employers benefit from the virtual workplace as well because it saves money on real estate and office costs. With everyone staying at home, there is no need for office space, supplies, or electricity. A study done by Global Workplace Analytics showed that employers can save around $11,000 per half-time telecommute annually, which is an impressive number.
How Virtual Workplace Change The Way We Go To Work
Prefer Working From Home Post-COVID-19
As we got deeper into the COVID-19 crisis, more and more organizations built infrastructure and operating frameworks to enable their workforce to work virtually on an ongoing basis. Once establish a fixed schedule at home and are able to balance between work and life, employees actually enjoy the freedom that the virtual workplace enables them to have. It is estimated that between 25-30% of employees will remain working remotely on a multiple-days-a-week basis.
Here are several major advantages of virtual working:
- Flexibility
Virtual workplace entitles more agility in working arrangements. No longer tied to an office, employees are more willing to work flexible hours such as earlier or later in the day, even the weekends. Moreover, employees can take breaks whenever they want during the day, or eat snacks to refresh their energy without anyone looking at them.
- Custom Environment
Whether you prefer a noisy or quiet environment, it is all at your fingertips when working virtually. Playing your favorite songs while working can help boost your productivity as well
- Comfortable Clothes
Without going into the office, there is no need to dress up professionally. Employees can put on whatever they think is comfortable for them. However, you should not go to your desk straight out of bed with your pajamas as your body is not ready for a productive day yet. Give your body some time to wake up, put on a nice sweater that you would normally wear when going out with friends. Considering shaving for guys and putting on some makeup for girls.
- Financial Benefits
Employees can save a considerable amount of their paycheck on gas and transportation. Meanwhile, business owners don’t have to worry about buffets for office spaces, office supplies, utility bills, and other facilities.
- Better Work/Life Balance
The virtual workplace can help employees improve their work-life balance. A typical example is that instead of spending time commuting to work, they can utilize that time to take care of themself and their families. Especially, the staff is able to fit in household chores during their working day which gives them more free time in the evening
Keep Hiring Remotely
The way companies hire new employees has also changed. Throughout the pandemic, the default way of interviewing potential candidates is by video call while only a few months ago it was face-to-face. Video interviewing has been around for a long time but during COVID-19, it almost replaces the traditional on-site interview.
Recruiters and hiring managers admit that post-COVID, they prefer hiring remotely as it significantly helps ease their work – reduces the time to hire someone, saves travel costs, quicker and easier to compare and contrast between candidates, etc.
Wrapping Up
In this article today, we have discussed the virtual workplace and how it will change the way we go to work in the post-COVID-19 era. Hopefully, the world situation will soon be better and we can go back to our good old days. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.
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