Companies are scrambling to transition their workers to remote working as fears over the COVID-19 virus grow.
Although the technology necessary has long been established and is used in traditional office settings, it appears that many workplaces are underprepared for this shift.
The digitization of work will likely lead to a new era of flexible office and remote working. Still, only 11% of UK jobs are advertised as flexible, and those who work in the service sector or gig economy may not be able to have the opportunity to work from home or flexibly
Despite this, there is no reason that such a limited amount of workers have the option to work remotely and it should not have taken a pandemic for companies to adopt this sort of policy. With the use of video conferencing tools like Skype, communication apps like Slack and collaborative tools like Asana, having a distributed workforce is a very feasible goal for many knowledge-based workers.
Remote working has been found to improve productivity by around 13% and can help build a sense of trust between employers and employees.
Although many companies have long held onto the idea that workers get their best work done in a physical office, being forced to work from home may just change their minds.