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It has now been almost one year since businesses were forced to pivot to a remote working structure – a move necessitated by the Government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic that has continued to be the key focal point of everyday working life around the world.
Some companies struggled with the move; installing technological structures capable of carrying a workforce into a new era of digital-first operations in a short and rushed space of time is no easy prospect. Nor is managing a workforce struggling with the mental and physical toll of an unprecedented global disaster and managing their family life along with their workload.
Even for the most agile of companies, it was an exhausting period of uncertainty that, whilst daily rhythms have been established, continues to change and evolve along with the introduction of vaccines and legislation.
Yet whilst many may now be confident in their own firms’ ability to work productively whilst remote, and with a future not so blighted by widespread infection looming on the horizon, all businesses are now facing the one pivotal decision that will define their futures – do employees remain remote or do they re-enter the workplace? Who stays, and who goes?
It’s a serious conundrum, which must take into account a myriad of circumstances. Data from Capgemini’s Future of Work report highlights an unexpected outcome from the move to remote working. According to the data, employee wellbeing has actively improved with the move to remote working, as has productivity, despite the additional impact to wellbeing of the pandemic. As such, 75% of workers expect to continue working remotely in some capacity indefinitely.
