Home as the new workplace has been doing surprisingly well all around the world. In US too, remote working has become a part of the “new normal”. Despite being skeptical about the arrangement initially, public confidence in remote working is increasing progressively.
55% of the respondents participating in the LinkedIn survey have said that they believe their industry can operate effectively with employees working remotely. However, the figures vary distinctly for different sectors – intensely digital sectors like Software, IT, Finance and Media are most optimistic while sectors like Retail, Recreation and Travel, where face-to-face interaction is crucial for business, have polarizing views.
The above chart clearly demonstrates that digital heavy sectors where human contact is not a necessity has higher support – more than 75% of the respondents have agreed that remote working is effective for individual workers as well as the industry.
The advantages of remote working are outweighing the attraction of in-person office interactions for a large number of people. Flexibility in choosing one’s own working hours, saving time and stress with no commute, warm and fresh home-cooked meals and more time spent with the family are some of the top advantages that people love most about remote working.
The findings are more complex for the sectors where in-person interaction is deemed important. Retail sector has shown maximum resistance to remote working – only 29% people opined that the industry could operate effectively with remote work. Optimistic outlook is restricted to 48% for healthcare and 41% for manufacturing sectors. However, 44% people in retail and 50% in recreation and entertainment exhibit higher level of support for individual effectiveness but much lower level of optimism for the industry.
Overall the industrial response to remote working has been strikingly positive. Even highly physical industries have demonstrated a considerable tilt towards remote working. For instance, 61% people from hardware and networking, energy and mining and 52% from transport and logistics have agreed that remote work could play an effective role in their respective industries.
The same finding stands true for traditional white-collar fields, usually associated with large offices, like public administration (59%) and legal (67%). These findings indicate that even after the pandemic crisis is over, these sectors could retain the remote work model for at least a section of their workforce.
Companies from diverse sectors like Twitter (social media platform) and Jefferies (investment bank) announced that their employees will be able to work remotely on an ongoing basis if they decide to do so, even though their office premises have formally been opened. Dirk Van de Put, CEO of Mondelez, whose top consumer products include Toblerone chocolate and Ritz crackers said, “The crisis has showed that we can work in different ways”.
As the new norms of the pandemic economy is gaining ground, industry leaders are getting the clear message and are ready to transform the ways of working. Although findings from the LinkedIn study is US based, it resonates with the global sentiment. Industries across the world is discovering the benefits of remote working.
Corporate leaders are in agreement that successful company operations can go hand in hand with remote work model. In India also, most companies are functioning with majority of the workforce working remotely. If the same model would be preferred once the crisis is over remains to be seen but the current trend surely reveals a positive bent towards that.
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