The spread of the novel coronavirus has left many of us working from home for an extended period of time – questions are now being asked as to whether or not this could become a mainstay way of working as speculation has been around for years on whether or not it is an effective way of working. With the rise of online platforms that allow remote working to become increasingly easy, however, there has been a lot of well documented success to those who do work remotely – but what type of remote worker are you?
The Everyday Salaryman – Many of us are going to fall into this category right now – we attend the office daily, and work our regularly salaried job – but as we now work from home we find new challenges to managing workload and staying motivated. This may be the group to see the big shift in working freedom as reports will start to be put forward around productivity over the start of 2020 as well as worker happiness through this period too. For many, soon it will be a return to the daily commute and grind, but there may be an opportunity for others to continue as they have over the past few months.
The Digital Nomad – Working from coffee shops and public places – the digital nomad world is filled with those who make a living whilst travelling. This could come in all sorts of shapes – whether you’re a travel blogger, social media influencer or just someone working their way through a gap year, you take up remote working opportunities to fund your travel and free yourself from the shackles of the daily office commute. This type of remote worker is becoming increasingly common as we see social media trends continue to grow, as well as the hope of making it big on platforms such as YouTube.
The Specialist – Whilst the salaryman may have a very opaque job description, a bit of a jack of all trades, we’re also seeing very specialist professions that have arisen with the growth of the internet and the openness of modern communication. Those who work in marketing and software are more open to work from the comfort of their own homes as their work may rely less on needing to physically be at the office – cloud tech has allowed sharing to become easy, and platforms that allow multiple users to access documents at the same time allow real-time editing and sharing.
So which category do you fall into, and if you’re still working from the office is remote work something that seems appealing? The flexibility of schedule, improving productivity and home comforts are some of the many reasons many turn to remote working as a way to reinvigorate their work life balance, and whilst there are some drawbacks too, the majority of feedback seems overwhelmingly positive. Once lockdowns are lifted and most of us return to work, we could see a big shift into remote working become a normal practice for many – but it’s also just as likely many of us are now sick of being trapped in the same room each day without any change!