Working Remotely During COVID-19: A Survey of 10 People - Essay Sample

Working remotely is becoming common for most organizations, mainly due to the current pandemic, COVID-19. The coronavirus is highly spread in crowded places, including offices and recreational facilities (Novel, 2020). Consequently, most organizations have advised their employees to work remotely until the virus is under control. Most economic sectors have been affected by the pandemic, including education, where students also have to rely on online learning. Data collected from 10 people that inquired about the pros and cons of working remotely highlights the advantages and disadvantages as reported by participants on working remotely. Working remotely is associated with a wide range of benefits, including health benefits, no commuting, cutting of costs, and increased freedom, while the cons include ineffective communication, distractions, and overdependence on technology.

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It can be challenging to maintain a work-life balance and a healthy lifestyle when working in an office. Few office workers can achieve living healthily through diet and lifestyle, depending on the flexibility of their job roles. Some of the respondents stated that working at home allows them to prepare varieties of meals, unlike when they are in offices where they grab whatever is available from the nearest restaurant. Additionally, working remotely allows both employees and employers to observe the guidelines provided by government agencies and the World Health Organization, as preventative measures for defeating COVID-19 (Sohrabi et al., 2020). Therefore, working at home enables employees to live healthy lifestyles and protect themselves from the coronavirus until the infection is controlled.

Respondents perceive working remotely to be advantageous because they have reduced movements for work. Most people do not enjoy commuting every day unless the distance from their homes and workplaces is short. They perceive that the time they use commuting to and from work could be used for other more productive activities. The situation even becomes worse when a company does not consider the time used for commuting to work. Therefore, working at home or remotely is highly advocated by some employees, especially those working in offices and can accomplish the same tasks while at home.

Working remotely cuts costs for both the employees and employers and economic strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The setup and maintenance of offices are expensive for employers since they have to fund the equipment (Au-Yong, Ali, & AhmAd, 2014). Employees also have to commute to work where they have to fuel their cars or even pay for public transport. Working remotely is beneficial to both parties since it leaves significant cutting of costs. Most employees have computers in their homes, and they need a computer to complete a majority of their job roles. They have adequate spaces at their homes where they can set up a desk and computer for work.

Employees attribute working remotely with more freedom and flexibility as long as they meet schedules and remain productive. Working at home or wherever one wants is flexibility in itself for a majority of the employees. Workers can accomplish the assigned tasks whenever and wherever they want, which generally makes them more productive and happier. The ability to earn when working at home while doing other personal work is attractive and flexible for most workers. Respondents claimed that working at home provides more flexibility and freedom to achieve their work-life balance.

However, there are various cons associated with working remotely despite the identified pros. Working remotely creates communication problems since reaching out to co-workers is not as easy as one would have done while working in the same office. One has to use the available technologies, including telephone calls, video calls, short messages, and even emails. Face to face communication is highly effective for office work than the rest of the communication channels since it is easier to decipher. The method supports the use of body language, facial expressions, and the general feeling required to communicate effectively.

Working remotely is faces the challenge of extreme distractions and overdependence of technology. Although there are some distractions when working in an office, distractions when working at home are more disruptive. There are many distractors at home, including other family members, pets, and even outsiders. Additionally, working remotely creates an overdependence on technology. Although technology improves the general work, including in an office setting, overdependence has adverse repercussions, including eyesight, distractions from social media, and failure of technology would mean no working at all.

I believe working remotely is better alternatively for the past several months due to the existing COVID-19 pandemic. It is a trend that most organizations have encouraged to keep their employees and their families safe from the coronavirus. Working remotely helps employees explore their lives more and accomplish some of the tasks they cannot complete when working in an office. For example, it is an opportunity to create a work-life balance and live healthily. Employees working remotely can enjoy the potential benefits but need to reduce the cons’ impact to remain productive.

Working remotely is far much practiced currently than in the past due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. It has both positive and negative outcomes, although the former outweighs the latter. Although not all jobs that employees can work at home, working remotely is advantageous due to the advantages, it offers including health benefits, no commuting, cutting of costs, and increased freedom. However, the disadvantages include ineffective communication, distractions, and overdependence on technology. Employers and workers need to work closely to optimize the benefits and reduce the impact of challenges arising.

References

Au-Yong, C. P., Ali, A. S., & AhmAd, F. (2014). Prediction cost maintenance model of office building based on condition-based maintenance. Eksploatacja i Niezawodnosc-Maintenance and Reliability, 16(2), 319-324. ISSN 1507-2711

Novel, C. (2020). The epidemiological characteristics of an outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) in China. Zhonghua liu xing bing xue za zhi= Zhonghua liuxingbingxue zazhi, 41(2), 145. doi:10.3760/cma.j.issn.0254-6450.2020.02.003

Sohrabi, C., Alsafi, Z., O'Neill, N., Khan, M., Kerwan, A., Al-Jabir, A., Iosifidis, C., & Agha, R. (2020). World Health Organization declares global emergency: A review of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19). International journal of surgery (London, England), 76, 71–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsu.2020.02.034