Is working from home staying in the future? A rise of COVID19 workplaces

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This interview on sky news (link below) sparked a discussion at home. Will this be the future of the modern workplace?

Associate Professor Dr Yvette Blount from the Macquarie Business School, told Sky News "clear communication" is paramount. I agree with her. I understand in these unforeseen circumstance where here in Australia and around the globe we are facing a very frightening pandemic. It’s effecting all small business, cafes, trade, schools and industries in which we all work or study in.

It’s a very scary time we are living in, but from my point of view this will be a minor transition and disturbance for many work places and departments. It will take a long time for many of us to recover, especially low income earners, elderly, people with mental health challenges and the disabled.

We are all social creatures, we are humans who need human interaction. We can’t exist in a world where FaceTime, and phones are our only form of contact. Just because we have the technology at our feet, we don’t need to abuse it and isolate ones self working in the workplace.

Working in the allied health and agedcare sector, this way of living would not work for those who need companionship and communication. Where the interaction of others is vital for their mental health and wellbeing.

Society needs and breaths human contact, you can’t read a persons body language through skype, emails or the phone. I’ve studied that 93% of communication is non-verbal.

There has been research shown where large corporates including Bank of America, IBM and Yahoo have all banned working from home. Saying that “To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices.”

People who work in close teams need to know what everyone is doing, from scheduling meetings, monitoring projects and delivering work on time. Showing team contribution needs to validated and seen by everyone. Like the old saying goes... Out of sight, out of mind.

This situation we are in may take three to six months... one year. But I think in reality doing this on a day to day basis, will drive many of us stir crazy in our homes. In life you need to have that right life/work/play balance. We just have to take one day at a time, have faith and be kind to one another. We are all fortunate to be on this earth at the present, so a little social isolation will not be the end of our civilisation.

Things will eventually go back to normal, and we will be laughing in years to come looking at the footage of ‘panic buying’ of toilet paper on our YouTube channels.

Sky News Interview

The Conversation