Risk Management Blog

Work from home has been around before COVID-19 struck, but for many employers and employees, the time is now.

Workplaces big, small and in between have adapted to meet the pandemic challenge. We now have social distanced offices with mask protocols, ubiquitous sanitizing stations, and when possible, relocated personnel to home office solutions…work from home.

Face-to-face meetings to close deals or to attend seminars and conferences have all changed quickly too. The challenge to successfully conduct business remains, but now we meet on Zoom or Skype to get things done and ‘see’ each other, and we work from home to do it.

When Netflix began in 1997, it created a new option—by mail—for consumers to watch the latest movies on DVD without having to leave their homes to do it. Folks adapted, and Netflix took off. Netflix recognized the challenges of the evolving landscape, adapted, and our lifestyles were changed for the better.

The pandemic-altered business landscape is not the video market Netflix changed, obviously. People are dying and lives are being impacted fundamentally.

But Netflix did bring the video viewing process into our homes by recognizing the changing market landscape and adapting to it to capitalize. The pandemic has forced employers and employees to do the same with their business processes and operations. We all have had to adapt to overcome the new business landscape challenges, and to capitalize where possible to create new opportunities to prosper. That is work from home.

Is Work From Home an Opportunity for You?

Employers like Twitter and Facebook have extended qualified employees lifetime work from home offers, and Google has extended its work from home policy until July 2021. Big tech is adapting, depending on their structure and business needs, and many other employers are doing the same both inside these industries and out.

From home sales offices to home workshops to garage start-ups and more, work from home is not new. But the major shift to it, because of impacts from the pandemic, is new.

For many employees, the change to working from home is for the better, too. Among other things, these individuals get to enjoy:

• Saved time, effort and money by not commuting and travelling.
• Virtual platforms from their home offices instead of convention halls and office buildings.
• Tax write offs because of their home office.
• Less interruptions to their workflows (IF the office and tech setup is right, see below).

Those are just a few features that benefit work from home employees.

There’s more freedom to accomplish goals. With more freedom comes more responsibility.

What can you do to make work from home work for you?

How can you accomplish goals responsibly in the work from home environment?

Here are a few tips, including listen to what others suggest, but then figure out what works for you and do it.

• Create a designated space just for work and set it up with all the tools you need to do your job.
• When you’re done for the day – close the door to create work/home separation.
• Take walks and get outside; since we’re not commuting and getting out there, include that in your day.
• Invest in high speed internet, hardwired as opposed to wi-fi if you can.
• Take breaks every couple of hours to move around and focus your eyes on something other than your computer screen; without office happenings throughout the day – impromptu meetings, interruptions, water cooler talk, etc. – one can easily sit in the same place for 3-4 hours on a project without moving.
• Keep a schedule and stick to it; create your new success routine.
• Invest in a good chair!

Yes, you can make the challenges of work from home work for you. Maybe a specific office space doesn’t work for you, and you prefer to vary your desktop…do that if it works for you!

There is the Blockbuster side of this equation, too, where the work from home change due to the pandemic has been for the worse.

Less office workers and face-to-face meetings means less travel, whether commuting to the office or travelling to see a client or attend a conference. So, industries that support traditional office spaces and business travel are having to adapt quickly, and many are struggling to do so. Airlines and transportation, hotels and meeting centers, restaurants and bars, and so many more are finding the work from home explosion to be bad for business. Not only do these industries not have work from home options, they are negatively impacted by the work from home boom.

And there are negative impacts to those who work from home, some of which are explored here.

But the reality is that we’re here, now, and adapting to the new normal has not only begun in earnest but is in full swing.

Netflix impacted the DVD industry, addressed the challenges of time and money, and changed the game. The pandemic has impacted all industries, and work from home is addressing the challenges and changing the game.

Does that mean it’s for everyone? No, one size does not fit all.

But where it fits, or where we adapt to make it fit, work from home looks here to stay.