Work from Home (WFH) - Option or Compulsion?

This Pandemic has been one of the most disruptive times, when it comes to businesses, their survival and growth stories. Work from Home (WFH) in these times has become a new normal. But are we really leading our way in the Right Direction? With this post I am summarizing my views on why WFH should always remain an open Option for an employee or a business and not become a compulsion.

1) WFH is not Sustainable

While working & collaborating remotely was a routine affair for most export driven companies in the IT/ITES business however this pandemic forced us to stretch capabilities on establishing a 100% WFH business operations. This was fine until I saw some companies trying to jump on this and build strategies to go 75% to 100% WFH. I am sure they have their own reasons however in my views we must ask fundamental questions like what are the various attachment points for an employee to remain associated and loyal to the company? Coming to office, feeling the space, feeling the presence of your colleagues, having meals together and celebrating moments is what brings that bonding between an employee, other employees, and the employer. How much of this can we assure when your interactions with each other gets limited to a 13” screen?

2)     Rise to Gig-economy

When Working from Home, why would one limit their earning potential to work with only one firm. We will create situations where people will end up be working for multiple companies (ethically and unethically). This is surely going to make the Individual greedier from short term gains perspective and Companies more vulnerable from short term and long-term perspective. Confidentiality and Securities of Data will be a big concern. Avoiding the transmission of Data is not just the ways you can comply with your confidentiality objectives. Imagine a Residential premise having WFH staff of 4 OEMs that competes?

3) Disturbed Work-Life Balance

When working from home, you will tend to lose out of basic disciplines that is required to make a work life balance. Companies will be Happy to get the 8 hours of productive output from you and it does not matter if you have spent 14 hours in front of your screen? Besides, the rise we are seeing in family issues, conflicts and divorces since this pandemic started is also an indicator then no matter whether they are your Kids, wife, parents or family members – you do need a break to come out of that environment and go back happily. Putting them altogether in one environment is going to make people sick.

4)     Infrastructure is not just about Tables and Chairs

Homes are not designed with infrastructure that can keep you engaged effectively for 8 hours of work maintaining Physical and Mental Well-Being? I have seen few Executives flaunting their home office promoting the WFH benefits however most average people do not have that luxury of private spaces in their house. They end up working within small spaces, improper seating, bad postures etc. It is not just about furniture but the entire atmosphere which ultimately impacts the Human Resources.

5)     Business Dynamics

Infrastructure is one of the major differentiation that separates a small firm and a large firm in terms of their appetite to attract customers and employees. Especially the Physical Infrastructure. While WFH will surely be a cost-effective initiative for lot of large firms, they must also think that this will now enable any Start-up with Digital Infrastructure to stand and claim a large employee base. The Market and competition profile will Change rather become unreliable.

6)     Productivity Myth - Temporary Illusion

WFH culture will give rise to those work that can be measured with simple productivity norms and monitored remotely. This will Kill the creative & innovation Culture. Most companies get their most creative ideas from the people who are in the Production roles. Most of such ideas generated over coffee time and lunch break chats. When they are sitting at home and only responsible to deliver their tasks remotely, we will see a huge drop in such innovations and encouragement to a Mechanical employee engagement process. We should jump guns if our employees today are delivering with good Productivity while WFH because this is a very unprecedented uncertain time where they are afraid of Job security however, that is not going to be the case, always.

7)     A Digitally Obsessed Culture

The Damage, Mobile did to our generations and how we are losing out on several fronts by letting our younger generation experience everything Digitally will also make them vulnerable to real-time life problems. We will give rise to all together a new generation of Health Issues that will impact us physically, psychologically and at some point, genetically.

8)     Education was always more than our classrooms

Today I see several colleges and Institutions trying to make Digital Engagement as a part of their courses and thinking of increasing this more. Just remember when you think about your engineering/bachelors/college – what do you remember the most? Is that your classroom or everything else other than the classrooms? We are human and our development is a collective experience we get during our education process by attending schools/Colleges. If you again try to bind that in your 6” or 13” screens, we will be doing a criminal offence to our coming generations.

9)     We are a Social Animal

Probably we have now realized that social media killed our real social circle? We ended up making hundreds and thousands of friends on social media however, how many do we have to get along when we are in need? Working in Offices, gave opportunities to build such relationships and cherish them for live as friends and colleagues. Can a pure Digital Engagement replace that?

10) Boredom & Vulnerability due to that

With Digitally obsessed environment, we will be bored very soon with whatever we will do. This will lead to a more frustrating and unhappy workforce.

Conclusion: I am not against the Digital Adoption, rather I am one of the promoters of Digital Transformation and how it can change our lives. We must learn to adopt these technologies to be more efficient in our businesses. However, I discourage this when it is stretched to a level where we forget the fundamentals of how to keep a Healthy and Happy Workforce. 

While these remain my personal views, I am open to have your comments in terms of your opinion on this matter.