Work From Home – Dutch Uncles

The World Can Work Remotely, A Look At The Gig Economy

Anju Nambiar — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 05:35:08 +0000

What’s the best way to make quick cash while working at a decent job that you can add to your portfolio as a graphic designer or a digital marketer? Taking up a gig, of course! Through the gig economy, you can broaden your experience and horizons while getting the opportunity to work with many different organisations, thus developing entrepreneurial skills before you even start a business.

What’s the gig economy?

The gig economy is a job market system that generates revenue through short-term, verbal, or on-paper contracts between an on-demand employer and a freelancer or an independent professional. Characterised by quick jobs and tasks that include an exchange of the job well done for cash, the gig economy creates self-employment for thousands of independent workers. Unlike full-time employment, gigs are much more effective in creating a variable source of income for workers and a faster completion of jobs for companies or employers. Also, it’s much more freeing for both employees and employers since they don’t get bound by stringent employment contracts.

How GenZ and Millennials are supporting the gig economy

The GenZ and Millennial generations are a technologically savvy lot who can easily adapt to the evolving gig economy. Unlike their predecessors, they are looking for fulfilling jobs that capitalise on their talents and that don’t entail troublesome work timings or commutes. GenZ and Millennials are willing to use the most advanced technologies for the smallest tasks like connecting virtually across borders, using productivity tools, or AI (artificial intelligence) based automation tools to get their work done more efficiently. Thus, they are supporting and raising the gig economy.

Consumer Tech trends in the remote working economy

The work-from-home or the remote working economy rests on the foundation of consumer technology. Consumer tech trends are encouraging more workers to take up gigs instead of a 9 to 5 job.

Gig marketplaces

Gig marketplaces like UpWork, PeoplePerHour and Fiverr have been around for a while but now they are seeing a huge influx of gig revenue. Since they have become the go-to source for relevant jobs, these consumer tech platforms are being sought after by organisations who are now creating a verified presence on them to hire qualified gig workers. Now even social media platforms like LinkedIn are turning into gig marketplaces as gig workers are actively looking to connect with employers.

Conference and meeting apps

We are all too familiar with Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams. But now with the rise in popularity of Clubhouse, social audio apps are quickly becoming platforms that are facilitating collaborations between gig employers and workers.

Digital gig wallets

For gig and remote workers, the biggest concern is to receive timely payments and not get defrauded by employers who are looking to get free work. Digital wallets like Escrows and PayPal bind gig employers into a financial contract where they are obliged to pay half of the project cost in advance and secure the remaining half so that the workers receive the payment automatically post completion of the project. A lot of gig marketplaces are already using this technology.

Virtual events platforms

Whether you are a gig worker or a remote worker, attending conferences, events, and expos, is a part of professional networking. Virtual event platforms are AI based tools to set up real-time conferences, and events that look like they are happening in real life. A lot of prominent national and international events and conferences like the Startup India International Summit and Viva Tech have taken place through virtual event platforms.

Team collaboration tools

Team collaboration tools like Slack and Trello are consumer tech trends that allow gig and remote workers to organise their work effectively especially when there are multiple projects in the pipeline. Using these technology tools, anyone can have a professional workspace experience irrespective of who you are working for, even if you work on small gigs.

How the consumer market was transformed

Open to all price points

The demand for consumer technology like Tablets, laptops, and wearables has become very high. Industries like ed-tech rely on these devices and manufacturers are drastically reducing price points for tablets and laptops of different specifications to cater to the rising demand. For example, a remote learning tablet or contactless digital kiosks at public places come with lower specifications and variable price points. Before the remote working and gig economy were prevalent, purchasing a tablet was expensive, but now it’s much more affordable for students and workers.

Equal distribution of wealth and opportunity across the world

Imagine the teachers of yesterday who had decent paying jobs even though they lived in villages, Tier II or III cities. They were respected and received all the employment benefits. But suddenly, they couldn’t even go to school every day and their income source was cut off. But now, teachers can easily get onboarded on ed-tech platforms from remote villages and teach globally through consumer technology thus enabling equal distribution of wealth and opportunity to every corner of the world. Same goes with handicraft workers like village and tribal women. They can easily sell their goods on social commerce platforms like Meesho.

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Characterised by quick jobs and tasks that include an exchange of the job well done for cash, the gig economy creates self-employment for thousands of independent workers.

What’s in it for me?

Consumers are using technology to make a living while staying at home. This has become the new normal since the gig economy has worked well in the recent months. The remote working economy and work from home have been tested and proven due to emerging technology trends that have helped shape it.

Amidst the job market and economic crashes, the gig economy has emerged as a saving grace for GenZ and Millennials. It’s also become the go-to income source for start-ups and small businesses. Start-ups in sectors like health tech start off quite small by enabling a simple remote consultation between doctors and patients. Also new digital media agencies first go on gig marketplaces or social media to source clients for freelance jobs. Gig economy is thus a stepping stone and a ladder for start-ups and small businesses to scale up in entrepreneurship.

The post The World Can Work Remotely, A Look At The Gig Economy appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

Are We Moving Towards a Hybrid Workplace?

DU Desk — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 10:35:08 +0000

Many of us have been working from home for close to two years now. Employees that cannot afford staying at home are doing quick runs to the workplace to sort things out before returning to work from home when the need doesn’t arise. Also, to reduce their risk of infection, other employees are delegated to fill in for them when a mandatory in-office presence is required. This is what a hybrid workplace looks like and companies are adopting this work model at a rapid pace.

What is a Hybrid workplace?

A hybrid workplace has been around but has come to the fore only recently. Unlike a traditional office setting, a hybrid workplace supports a more flexible mode of work among the workforce of an enterprise. It supports both remote working as well as in-office working in a way that employees can switch or choose their work mode to suit requirements. It’s a business model that works on a pre agreed arrangement where employees can pivot much quicker in case of emergencies.

How the pandemic has fuelled its adoption

Return to work has turned out to be a mere theory as the possibility of returning to the old way of working is now history. Since the long-term effects of the pandemic are still unknown, adopting a hybrid business model looks like the only right direction to move for businesses. Due to the pandemic, businesses are prioritising the needs of employees. And flexibility is one such need. Also, companies had no choice but to cut down on unnecessary travel which has fuelled the adoption of the hybrid workplace.

Are we moving towards a hybrid workplace?

Everything is achieved through virtual connect

Earlier, creative brainstorming was possible only through physical face-to-face meetings. However, with the level of sophistication available in collaboration tools, you can achieve a level of team connect that’s much more efficient. Employees are quickly developing the skill sets required to permanently communicate virtually. This points out that we are slowly but surely moving towards a hybrid workplace.

Companies cannot risk becoming irrelevant

The pace at which new technologies are emerging is increasingly rapid. In this scenario, there is a higher risk for organisations, especially start-ups, to be irrelevant if they stick to the old ways of working or nurture the status quo. This fear of being irrelevant is making companies adopt the hybrid work model more implying that the future work will be hybrid.

Prioritising both business and employee health

There has been a clear shift towards prioritising both business as well as employee health among organisations. They are unknowingly making the transition to a hybrid work setting because prioritising employee well being is fostering business health and vice versa. Businesses have also found that reskilling employees to get them adjusted to the hybrid work model has its many benefits in terms of productivity and efficiency. Companies are also investing in employee experience platforms which are providing great results. All of this indicates that a hybrid work model is emerging as a viable business model.

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This fear of being irrelevant is making companies adopt the hybrid work model more implying that the future work will be hybrid.

What’s in it for me?

When employees work from different locations, there are many factors to consider like security and governance. Hybrid working brings in the risk of internal and external threats. You also need a multi-pronged strategy on security and data management which should adapt to employees working from the office and at home on some days. You need to keep mitigating the risks and challenges that a hybrid work model imposes, consistently.

But by practising transparency, using appropriate collaboration tools, and adopting transparent internal communication strategies, employees will be able to make a smooth transition to a permanent hybrid work model. Also, by establishing new company policies that support the new style of working, you can improve employee experience in this setting and subsequently witness better results for your enterprise.

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India’s Coffee Market Witnesses New D2C Players in the Work-From-Home Paradigm

Aakash Sharma — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 03:35:04 +0000

Indians and tea have a long existing and unique relationship which is virtually irreplaceable. But in recent years, coffee has become an increasingly popular drink. Coffee’s rise and the expansion Indian coffee market are apparent in the popularity of many cafe chains such as Starbucks, Cafe Coffee Day, Costa Coffee and Barista.

Studies show that 40% of today’s millennials consume coffee round the clock to stay productive as they work from home. More importantly, the Indian coffee market has been revolutionized and many start-ups have sprung up in this category, offering coffees for all tastes, home blends, innovations and textures.

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According to a report by Mordor Intelligence, the Indian coffee market is currently valued at $1.46 billion and is expected to reach $2.03 billion by 2025.

India’s Coffee Market: Facts and Figures

India is the third largest producer and exporter of coffee in Asia and ranks sixth in the world. According to India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) data, India produced 299,300 million tonnes (MT) coffee in 2019-20P and approximately 342,000 million tonnes (MT) during 2020-21. However, 70% of the country’s coffee produce is exported and only 30% is used locally.

Traditional brands such as Nestlé, Unilever and Tata Coffee currently dominate the country’s coffee market. However, new players are now accelerating the development of the market and are trying to offer consumers a more authentic experience through new flavours and aromas, which are good for overall health.

D2C Coffee Start-ups Brewing Success in the Coffee Market

Rage Coffee

Founded by Bharat Seth as a fast paced consumer goods company based in New Delhi, Rage Coffee is a plant-based coffee brand which offers coffee that is rich in vitamins.

Beanly

Beanly is a D2C coffee brand that sells on Amazon in addition to its website. The start-up offers a wide range of coffee that’s made from freshly roasted beans and products that can be used as per customers’ needs. The coffee brand sells 30,000 to 50,000 packages of coffee each month.

Blue Tokai

Blue Tokai was founded by Matt Chitharanjan and Namrata Asthana in 2013 with the goal of bringing delicious coffee to Indians and growing the coffee market in India. The company produces high quality brews customised to the taste of Indian consumers.

Country Bean

Launched in 2017 by Aditi Somani, Country Bean is a D2C coffee brand that offers high-quality aromatic coffee with rich natural aroma and vegetarian powdered coffee without additives.

Drivers of D2C Coffee Start-ups

A variety of direct consumer (D2C) coffee start-ups are serving consumer preferences and needs by responding to their demands in real time.

Some of the reasons for their success are:

Online purchase of coffee is primarily driven by flavour/taste and aroma as these matter the most to shoppers. D2C brands majorly focus on these aspects.

The increase in people’s basic (disposable) income and the resulting lifestyle changes have led them to turn to good food and drinks, especially coffee.

COVID induced growth for D2C coffee brands peaked during lockdowns and the ubiquitous digital infrastructure made it easy for consumers to buy coffee online.

What can budding start-ups in the segment learn?

It is clear from the trends that new players in the segment are taking shape by catering to the unserved categories in the industry. While the cafe culture has been extremely successful in India, news start-ups must work towards bringing a sense of ‘the cafe’ to people’s homes as they continue to work from home. This will give companies an immediate market and a model for future delivery services as well to grow rapidly.

Players like Chaayos in the retail and D2C tea market have successfully mastered the ‘hot tea’ delivery segment. It is time for D2C coffee brands to bring the homely feeling and coffee rush to customers at their homes while following the latest industry trends.

The post India’s Coffee Market Witnesses New D2C Players in the Work-From-Home Paradigm appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

Is Hybrid Model of Online and Offline the Future of Beauty, Health and Wellness?

DU Desk — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 11:30:09 +0000

The Hybrid Work Model: Changed Work Dynamics in the time of COVID

The hybrid work model has quickly become the new norm as a result of the ongoing global situation. While remote work was a welcome break at the outset of the pandemic, it quickly became evident that working from home brought with it several challenges. This includes fatigue, lack of productivity, monotony and a myriad of technical issues.

The beauty, health and wellness industry are no different in this regard. There does lie a certain challenge in this area particularly with regards to a wholly remote set up as much of the sector is rooted in a traditional brick-and-mortar world because regardless of technological advancement people still like to touch and feel what they buy, especially in this industry. Enter the hybrid work model of online and offline business.

Current Growth Trend in the Health, Wellness and Beauty Industry

According to a report published in January of 2021, by Business Wire, the Indian beauty and cosmetics market which was valued at just $13.2 Billion in FY20 is projected to grow at a CAGR of 16.39 per cent and hit a valuation of $28.9 Billion by FY26.

Another report by RedSeer Consulting before the pandemic, had the industry growing at a CAGR of 9 per cent to $22-23 billion by FY22. Despite the pandemic, the industry seems to be doubling its growth. This trend highlights the fact that the industry is thriving, and one of the contributing factors is the hybrid work model.

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Despite the pandemic, the health, wellness and beauty industry are thriving thanks to smart and quick adaptations like the implementation of the hybrid model.

Benefits of the Hybrid Work Model: What’s in It for Me?

We live in a country with a vast economical and digital divide, both elements which factor into the efficiency of a purely work-from-home model or a wholly brick-and-mortar setup (both of which are not possible).

The best compromise for you and your business, especially if that business falls under the ambit of the health, wellness and beauty industry, is the hybrid work model. The hybrid model provides two major advantages, on the one hand, it maintains the side of the business that appeals to the traditional buyer by giving them a physical location to interact with and purchase items. On the other hand, it meets the needs of the business to stay fully operational by having a section transition into remote work.

Another reason it is the future of the industry is that this combination of online and offline appeals to a wider audience base. The brick-and-mortar shops work best for the older demographic, while the online business ropes in younger buyers.

The click-and-brick model is the only viable option for a business going forward, especially given that the pandemic seems to be burning through the country for a second time. This makes the hybrid work model not only safeguards the business’s viability and employees’ health and interests but also doubles as a smart tool for growth.

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Has the Pandemic Transformed the Office Forever?

Aakash Sharma — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 12:30:08 +0000

Since the 1980s, many digital, physical and technological revolutions have changed the way offices function. From the dismantling of the cubical-organisational structure to the mainstream integration of work practices from the high-tech industry, there have been frequent transformations in the office space However, the changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic are different.

Digital tools such as email, MS Suite, Google Docs, video conferencing, virtual tables and chat channels have never been more critical than now. These and many other e-tools have changed the relationship between employees and employers irreversibly and perhaps for good.

More importantly, the pandemic collapsed and changed the conventional definition of an office. For 2020 and 2021, new entrants to the digital workplace could only virtually interact with their partners and employers. So, the question is – has this virtual induction impacted their workplace experience, and if it has, in what way?

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The COVID-19 pandemic has presented an unprecedented opening for countless businesses, large and small, to think about the importance of their physical presence, proximity and location in business planning.

To answer these questions, let’s look into the critical and somewhat philosophical question- has the pandemic transformed the office forever?

Due to the current increase in COVID-19 cases, most of the Indian workforce will continue to work remotely for most of 2021. At the same time, millions of people from all over India are entering their workplaces and have inadvertently become the harbingers of an entirely new form of work culture.

Pandemic and Work from Home Challenges

Managers and employees have been trying to work with the remote world situation ever since the Coronavirus outbreak hit the entire world. They are trying new ways to integrate long-term work in the new format to benefit from a transformed office space. But even before the pandemic, physical and virtual working conditions had innumerable problems.

While remote work has given companies access to a larger talent pool that is, location aspect – possibly at a lower cost – training newer employees has been far from easy. Team motivation and communication are also strongly affected when working from home. Organisations face challenges like poor communication, low reliability and network security issues.

Although the before mentioned digital tools claim to enhance the physical workspace by improving communication, they can (and have) undermine office culture by reducing the face-to-face encounters that open-plan layouts purport to promote.

Hybrid Workplace for Indian Start-Ups Post Pandemic

While there are, undoubtedly, many obstacles for companies, working from home also helps them avoid obstacles such as logistics costs, back-office staff, management, and office working costs. It also increases productivity and reduces labour costs.

Companies also realise that companies could use the money saved by remote work to improve and grow their business market and efficacy via new channels. If there are no restrictions on the job through companies micromanagement of employees, employees tend to be way more creative. Besides, group building activities such as birthday cake cutting, meals, coffee breaks and portfolio events are replaced with virtual coffee and chat sessions in this new model.

Work from Home Might Stick Around Longer than Intended

In the view of many new start-ups, there is no reason why a company cannot adapt to the remote work culture in the future unless physical presence is necessary. Moreover, it might take at least two to three years for everybody to get vaccinated and feel comfortable going into crowded places and office spaces. By then, transformed office spaces and work from home will have become a way of life.

As the situation stands currently, companies will likely have to make their employees work remotely. And this practice has undoubtedly transformed the office spaces forever. Whether or not businesses go back entirely to the conventional office spaces after the pandemic recede remains to be seen in the future.

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How do You Measure Workers’ Productivity When Working From Home?

Joseph Varughese — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 09:30:48 +0000

The need to work, live and survive in the environment of the Covid-19 pandemic has ushered in innumerable changes to the ways we were doing and conducting things in life hitherto. Many of such methods and methodologies which were exceptions till one year ago have abruptly become new normal during this period and some are likely to stay so for long or permanently so. One of such evolved normal is the new mode of working from home or WFH, its acronym, which has become one of the very common buzzwords these days. The few other common synonyms for Working From Home are remote working and mobile working though not strictly carrying the exact meaning. However, for this discussion, we will stick to WFH as much as possible.

Is WFH a new normal here to stay?

It is not to be misconstrued that work from home is a new concept that was unheard of or was never practiced before pandemic days. It has been in existence for some time though in small amounts and mostly as exceptions. Certain sections of the workforce have worked remotely since the time of the industrial revolution, though not necessarily from home. For example, sales workforces, account executives and customer care teams are often located far from corporate headquarters and spend their time with clients in the field from time immemorial.

In recent years, collaborative software tools that can address varying requirements of collaboration, high-speed internet connections, and as well the corporate efforts to reduce real estate costs, broaden talent pools to include workers who live far from office locations, and attract and retain hard-to-find skill sets have all contributed to growing popularity of WFH among companies. The high-speed internet connectivity, cloud computing and collaborative software tools were already being used by employees to work from home after office hours and during weekends and holidays when they used to work from the office.

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Organizations today are responding to a new normal, with many knowledge workers now unexpectedly working from home remotely full time.

WFH challenges and concerns

What is worrying most of the companies and their managers is whether these workers are as productive and as innovative as workers in centralised physical offices. How can organisations manage the effectiveness and measure the productivity of workers performing their job remotely without any physical supervision? This is one question that is still bothering many companies and their managers.

Before we dive into the subject of employee productivity and its measurement process, we need to be well aware that WFH is plausible only in certain sectors, segments, and functions of work. While remote working may be practically possible in areas like knowledge works, customer services, service providing, it is virtually impossible to emulate this in manufacturing or facilities management or construction or housekeeping or such similar areas where the physical presence of human beings is unavoidable and non-replaceable.

The above statement is made by being unaware of the fact that Industry 4.0 technologies like AI, IoT, Cloud, Big Data and Analytics can leverage some amount of automation or remote working but the work is not purely a human effort and a WFH mode. We are discussing here humans working remotely and not about robots replacing humans.

Enablement of WFH environment

Organizations today are responding to a new normal, with many knowledge workers now unexpectedly working from home remotely full time. The nature of this transition has sparked a major question: How do we best measure productivity in knowledge workers, and given those impacts, what is the future of mobile or remote workforces? However, I believe that more than employee productivity measurement, the enablement of employees to work remotely from home is the major challenge.

Leadership teams including Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs) and Chief Information Officers (CIOs) have already enabled mobile workforces through collaborative technologies in many companies and others have been catching up fast. In today’s world, there is no need to lose your connection with your employees just because they work from home. Implementing the right collaboration tools like Teams, Zoom, Office 365, Google Meeting, to name a few, is the first step in enabling and consequently improving the WFH employee productivity. Supporting employees on infrastructure, connectivity, furniture needs, etc. are the other priorities.

Measurement of employee productivity while working from home

This author believes that the apprehension about how to measure employee productivity while working remotely is unwarranted to a great extent. The issue is that many companies and people are finding themselves leading a remote team for the first time, post-Covid. The transition to make managers who are used to having their team all in one place embrace the environment of managing remote teams can be hard and challenging.

Now, coming back to the question of measuring the productivity of employees working from home or remotely, a lot has already been written on this subject by companies that have put WFH in practice, researchers, human resource practitioners, media, academicians, and companies selling productivity tracking and measuring tools. I am taking a very different position on this that the productivity of workers used to be measured when they were working in physical offices too formally or otherwise.

There is not much change needed to be made in the metrics and processes adopted in measuring the productivity of employees working in the physical offices under direct observation of their supervisors or managers to be adopted in the metrics and process of measuring the productivity of work from home workers. The only difference is that tracking and measurement are also remote like the work being measured. These days, with the advancements in cloud computing and availability of high-speed internet connection, using tools and applications remotely has become very normal.

It has been easy to measure employee productivity when you could look out of your office door or bob your head above your cubicle to see what everyone is doing. A good manager can pick up on body language alone whether someone is making progress or struggling but how does that translate to virtual teams? Do you believe that the above style of tracking and measuring work is anything modern and appreciable? Before we dive into the metrics of remote employee productivity, it’s important to put things in perspective.

Some say, when your employees were at their desks, it was easy to spot who was using their time productively. When your employees are working from home, it’s much harder. I beg to disagree with this argument. You should not get tempted to put new metrics in place for your remote employees. Understand that they will still need to do the same steps, follow the same workflows they were doing earlier to achieve the same results. The difference, of course, is that you can’t now see them doing these steps. Also, be aware that it is not the effort or number of hours put in that matters but the outcome, output, and results.

When your sales force was working in the office, you saw them on their phones or searching the internet for leads. They still need to do this, even when working remotely from home. The difference is that you don’t see it.

There were many software tools available and used to track projects, tasks, and measure KPIs. Projects used to be tracked and measured by milestones, timesheeting, KPI benchmarks while the work was performed in a physical office. What companies do in the new normal WFH environment is not much different from what was done when in a physical environment.

So, what is the real issue? Good question!

It’s all about trust

It’s easy to trust your team when you see them every day, and you can see that they are at their desks working. But what about when they are working from home? Are they working, or are they just watching the latest series on Netflix or Amazon Prime or applying for new jobs?

Here’s the thing: A good worker is a good worker, no matter where they are working, whether they are being watched or not. If you know that your team usually performs well, there’s no reason to expect they’re going to suddenly become lazy workers just because they’re working from home without your physical surveillance. Trust them – and more importantly, trust yourself that you made the right decision when you hired them. That is why companies hire for attitude and cultural fit than for the skill set.
The best thing you can do to promote trust with your remote team is to be transparent with them. Communicate with them, keep them up to date with how things are going and expect regular updates from them too, whether positive or negative.

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If you can't measure it, you can't manage it

- Peter Drucker

Organization is key

One of the most effective measures for managing work from home employees is on what they deliver and not how much time they spend or when they logged in and out. But to accurately measure that, you need to know what your expectations from employees are. This is an integral part of company culture, policies, mission and vision.

Tools to Measure Employees Productivity

There are plenty of remote employee time tracking tools, but I would ask you to be cautious and careful before you use them – for two reasons:

The first is that one of the benefits of remote work is that your staff can work when they’re most productive and that might not be 9-5.

Secondly, it pays to get away from your desk sometimes. Getting outside, for example, has huge benefits for creativity.

That said, there are many remote work monitoring software that are micromanaging tools. You may use them judicially. There are also tools out there that let you view your remote workers’ screens without them knowing. But that’s creepy to say the least.

Encourage communication

One adjustment that you will need to make when managing remote teams is in your communication. We advise managers who are new to remote teams to communicate with the teams as much as possible, because remote work can be isolating, and you don’t want your team to feel overlooked. Comments and feedback on tasks aren’t enough; try and check-in via chat or other media daily to touch base and see how they’re doing.

Avoid micromanagement whether it be of workers working from the office or home. Just don’t because that one thing most employees hate. Even you might have hated it somewhere in your career. We know it can be tempting to check up, especially when they work remotely but if you do that you will do two things; firstly you will keep interrupting your team when they’re trying to do their job, and secondly you’ll make them feel that they’re not trusted and incapable.

Things to consider when evaluating Employee Productivity in WFH

You must be well aware that not all employees’ productivity will be measured by the same metrics. Some employee productivity will be based on things the employee cannot control, such as meetings, answering phone calls, and re-scheduled priorities.

You can help your remote employees work more efficiently by:

Providing the right tools for connectivity and collaboration

Limiting the amount of time the employee spends on things unrelated to his or her tasks like meetings, calls, emails

Having a firm accountability policy and practice in place

Touching base with employees regularly without interfering with their workflow

Having one-on-one’s that allow the employee to address any issues or concerns with his or her work

Providing flexible metrics to measure employee productivity

Providing clear outlines and timelines of each task

Letting each employee see where their projects fit in with other projects

By investing in the required tools, platforms, and mindsets and taking a more data-driven and analytics-based approach to monitoring productivity, innovation and performance, team managers and human resources can position their companies to both recover and thrive as the world returns to work.

A knowledge worker’s productivity will not be one simple measure or formula, as it must allow for the changing nature of work and include both direct and indirect factors. It will also vary based on the nature of the business and industry. An accounting firm might measure accuracy and timeliness of reports and analysis while a technology company would measure not just the output of a DevOps professional in terms of lines of code but also how efficient the code is and how bug-free the code is.

As Peter Drucker said, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” And if you can’t manage it, you can’t bring that knowledge into remote workforces and ensure the effectiveness of workers who may no longer be in their supervisors’ line of sight. This is, however, applicable to both environments.

It is more of mindset than metrics

Let me conclude this discussion by stating that measurement of productivity of remote or work from home workers is not any game changer. It will almost be the same way these knowledge workers were measured when they were working from office, only that the mode has changed.

It all boils down to a couple of things which may look off the track; one is that you must have trust in your employees wherever they work from, then that you should hire your employees for their attitude and cultural fit. If you struggle to track and measure the productivity of employees whether in offline or online mode, it shows the misjudgments and errors that crept into your recruiting process.

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What are the Benefits of Working from Home?

Preeti Verma — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 09:35:03 +0000

I have been enjoying my work from home stint since the outbreak of the pandemic. Working in pyjamas and t-shirts, and sipping tea give you a sense of easiness and comfort. This is the most comfortable dressing code for work, according to me! By breaking the barrier of 9-to-5 working hours, I feel a lot more accomplished. I have heard about the common benefits of working remotely (and yes, I am now experiencing them!). After working for more than a year now from home, I believe flexible work is the future of work. With companies all over the world asking their employees to work from home, remote work has become the new normal for businesses and employers. Some of the benefits of working from home for employers and employees can include improved wellbeing and lower costs.

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Retaining top talent, staying competitive in their field, and even saving on business costs are some of the few added advantages employers are witnessing with the work from home benefit.

However, working from home doesn’t mean you are on your own. In fact, you tend to contribute more hours, when working from home. Many progressive companies are now letting their employees work from home. They are preferring to hire freelancers, digital experts, and others, who don’t need office and mostly prefer working from home. One of the major advantages of working from home is you can save a lot of time and money on commuting from home to office and vice versa. In metros, this is a real time burner, where you waste your maximum time jammed in the traffic.

Working remotely not only allows increased flexibility but also autonomy for employees. Nine out of 10 workers, who are currently working remotely, plan to do the same for the rest of their careers. With supporting technologies such as videoconferencing software, collaboration platforms, and cloud services, people are now connected 24X7. This is allowing them to have meetings and complete projects from anywhere, anytime. But it is not just employees who benefit, employers are starting to view remote work as an important part of hiring. Retaining top talent, staying competitive in their field, and even saving on business costs are some of the few added advantages employers are witnessing with the work from home benefit.

Globally, working from home was not the new concept. With the ability to work from anywhere, anytime, remote work was a full-on global work movement even before the Covid-19 pandemic. But now this pandemic has forced millions to work from their homes. In the year 2018, over 50 per cent of the US workforce was showcased to be working remotely. Not just the US, Europe’s remote workers have also surged from 7.7 per cent to 9.8 per cent in the past decade. By providing the flexibility to work when and where, companies can give big advantages to their employees. But for India, working from home is surely a new trend after the coronavirus pandemic. Before the lockdown, it was mostly IT companies, which used to allow their employees flexible working. But now everyone is jumping into this to make work from home possible.

Now after witnessing remote working for over a year, there are a host of advantages for employees as well as for employers. Let’s list out the best benefits of remote working or work from home for both.

Better Work-Life Balance:

For many businesses, few years ago, working remotely would have been nearly impossible. With the absence of the right technology, an employee had to go to the office to get its work done. And there was a downside to all these. There was a blurred line between work and home life. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is top of mind for many employees. The ability to balance these two worlds has become the key to feeling happier and more productive while at work. Saving time that would otherwise be spent on a long commute allows employees to have better work-life balance and adds hours back into their daily lives. There are many things that can be taken carried off with this. Whether it is dropping kids off at school, running some daily errands, attending an online fitness class in the morning, or managing kids and old ones, these tasks and more are all easier to balance when you work from home.

No Commuting Stress:

The average daily commuting time in India to office is 180 minutes, this includes the daily traffic. Imagine spending 3 hours commuting daily to your workplace, and it really adds up. Cutting out a commute can be both a huge morale booster and a huge time saver. Employees will also waste less money on petrol, gas, diesel or public transportation. This fatigue adds to various diseases and increases level of stress and anxiety. Commuting 10 miles to work every day is associated with health issues like higher cholesterol, elevated blood sugar, and increased risk of depression. Avoiding the commute to office helps you support your mental and physical health. The time saved will allow you to focus on other priorities outside the office work. This can include extra sleep in the morning, spending more time with the family, getting in a workout, or eating a healthy breakfast.

Location Independence:

Working from home also gives you an access to a broader range of job opportunities. These opportunities are not limited by geographic location and gives you a chance to work from anywhere, and any time. Also, this can be a boon to people who are staying in small towns and cities and are deprived of such opportunities. Work from home will give them a good prospect and better salary. Having no set job location means that fully remote workers could also travel and live as digital nomads, while having a meaningful career. People, who are bound to move frequently, such as military or government spouses, can also benefit from having a remote job that can be done from anywhere. This way, they will not have to start over from the scratch with each move.

Promotes Wellbeing:

With no commuting, and no long hours in the office away from family or friends, working remotely can improve the health and wellness of employees by reducing stress. Working in isolation limits exposure to potentially sick co-workers. However, employers shouldn’t skip a wellness plan in the remote workplace. Time to time, they should promote wellness programs such as access to the gym or zumba classes. Wellness program is important for both the work from home and work from office employees. On the same time, you can also pursue other activities or hobbies and improve personal relationships, among other things.

As per a survey, 72 per cent of employers say remote work has a high impact on employee retention. This means employees stay longer with their employers when they have remote work options. Not only this, working from home can also help you to lead better healthy life in various ways. You get ample time for physical activities. You automatically switch to healthier food. You are now less prone to illnesses. Working remotely can give employees the time and environment needed to make healthy choices.

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With supporting technologies such as videoconferencing software, collaboration platforms, and cloud services, people are now connected 24X7.

Money Savings:

Of course, you will see an immediate difference in your bank account when you don’t need to bear the costs of commuting. You will also find savings in other areas such as gas, car maintenance, transportation, parking fees, a professional wardrobe, lunches or snacks, and more. These money now you can save and put back in your account. You won’t have to force yourself into a suit and polished shoes anymore if that’s not your style. You don’t have to maintain a separate wardrobe for work. Similarly, it is a win-win situation for both employers and employees. With work from home being the option, employers don’t have to rent out an office. No overhead cost, and transit subsidies. As per analytics, a normal company can save over $11,000 per annum for each employee, who works from home at least for some time. Companies should consider this as a long-term solution.

Better Initiative for Environment:

Imagine if more and more people start working from home at least half time a year than the greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced automatically. There was a news last year that people in Punjab can clearly see the Himalayan mountain range. This was visible from more than 100 miles away due to the reduction in air pollution caused by the country’s coronavirus lockdown. With consumption of less paper, air condition, microwave, and lighting, remote working has potential to improve air quality.

Increased Productivity and Performance:

The ability for employers to trust their teams, even when they work out of the office, could be the key to driving more productivity than ever before. Data shows that when employees are able to skip the extra coffee breaks, a long commute, and any other distractions to focus on their work, productivity reigns supreme. A two-year remote work productivity study showed, the researchers followed 500 employees after dividing them into ‘remote’ and ‘traditional’ working groups. The remote working group results not only showed a work productivity boost equal to a full day’s work, but also fewer sick days and a 50 per cent decrease in employee attrition. Working from home leads to fewer interruptions, less office politics, a quieter noise level, and less (or more efficient) meetings. Due to lack of commuting, remote workers typically have more time and fewer distractions. This is resulted to increased productivity due to a huge benefit of working from home for both employees and employers alike.

Improved Inclusivity:

Remote work enables companies to embrace diversity and inclusion by hiring people from different socioeconomic, geographic, and cultural backgrounds and with different perspectives. This can be challenging to accomplish when recruiting is restricted to a specific locale that not everyone wants, or can afford, to live near. With allowing work from home, companies choose to support diversity, community, and family. Remote work gives people steady employment at an onsite job, like those with disabilities or caregivers who need a flexible schedule. This is by providing the opportunity to follow their career goals without worrying about commuting back and forth to an office. It also gives employees the flexibility to get to doctor’s and other healthcare appointments when needed.

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The Future of Work Spaces: A Look at India’s Rising Coworking Spaces

Preeti Verma — Tue, 13 Apr 2021 10:35:05 +0000

Necessity is the mother of invention; this proverb stands true for most of the entrepreneurs today. When it comes to starting or creating new things, entrepreneurs today are leaving no stone unturned to broaden their skillset and making optimal use of their resources at the best possible cost. There was a time when it was impossible for many to think about working from home or working remotely. But with the changing scenario, things are also changing.

Few years ago, it was mandatory for a company to have a physical office. This would cost the company a bulk amount in renting and maintaining the office. Big brands and mid-level companies can totally afford this, but the problem was for small-sized companies, startups and solopreneurs. Now, the concept of coworking is not only helping these small-sized companies, startups and solopreneurs but big brands and mid-level companies too.

On the same side, the evolution of technology around the world is also complementing this coworking concept. The nature of work is also changing. And this shift is mainly due to emerging technologies associated with the fourth industrial revolution such as artificial intelligence, robotics, internet of things, machine learning and cloud computing. With all this, in the future, people will look for different ways of working. In particular, flexible and agile ways of working will become more common as they allow companies to react faster to changing conditions in the business environment.

Along with this trend, more and more work will be project-based and will require external staff. This in turn will increase the importance of networking and social skills. Work life will also be inclined by the pressure for cost efficiency and by the expectations of the millennial generation. This generation is the one now that is seen as the driving force behind the growing digital economy. As the new age working style evolved offering flexibility for all, the coworking industry is mushrooming effectively around the corner. The growth of coworking spaces has been taking place in spurts, across the world for some time now.

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This shift is mainly due to emerging technologies associated with the fourth industrial revolution such as artificial intelligence, robotics, internet of things, machine learning and cloud computing.

Coworking Space: The Big Deal

Coworking spaces are basically shared workspaces. They offer affordable office space for those looking to escape the isolation of a home office or coffee shop. These shared workspaces offer a suite of office-like amenities such as hot-desks, private meeting rooms, kitchens, coffee and more. Often, they also offer a community. Occupants typically are freelancers, entrepreneurs, start-ups and small teams, who want to take advantage of a flexible space.

The coworking phenomenon started in the West in the late 1990s. It is quite famous among freelancers, startups, entrepreneurs, and the tech industry. coworking was initially driven by the idea that creative workers would join forces to work together yet independently. Hence, everyone would contribute to maintaining the space.

On the same side, coworking spaces promised a different way of working. It is somewhere between standard work life in a traditional workspace. The vision of this new work was guided by the ideals of freedom, self-reliance, as well as community participation. Over the time, the numbers and diversity of spaces increased and coworking became an industry catering to a broader range of people and organisations.

Many consider that working from home might affect one’s productivity. However, one also cannot deny the advantages of working in sweat pants and prep for dinner during a quick work break. Maybe even throw in some laundry between client meetings, but soon you will realise that it is not easy to juggle too many things at the same time. Well, multi-task and working from home has drawbacks!

The Road Ahead For coworking Spaces

Growing with leaps and bounds, the future of coworking spaces looks promising in the coming decade. Here are some of the predictions that take us into the future of these shared spaces. The present 5 per cent share of the office space market that coworking spaces occupy is expected to surge up to 30 per cent by 2030. Besides the stalwarts in the industry such as WeWork, Springboard, Social and more, there will be an increase in small coworking spaces in tier-II and tier III towns and cities.

Witnessing the soaring demands, customised coworking spaces dedicated to specific industries are expected to gain ground. Along with a user-friendly environment, coworking spaces are expected to adopt an eco-friendlier design promoting use of fresh air, natural sunlight and open spaces reinforcing the idea of sustainability. Besides leasing office space, coworking spaces may also offer shared talent, research and technology promoting overall productivity

Millennials are inclined towards coworking spaces for a few reasons such as affordability and not having to worry about the overheads. Here is how coworking spaces are planning to attract and maintain clients in the future:

Flexible Office

With the present situation around, it is not easy to lease an office. It is just not cost-efficient for companies anymore as many are indulging in a hybrid workforce — means most of the employees are working from home. It concerns companies operating in all business niches. However, all those enterprises still need a workspace for employees that come to the office, for remote staff when they need to come, for team meetings, etc.
Coworking spaces are now turning into super flexible offices and are meeting the requirements of companies by using a hybrid workforce. These spaces can easily transform your traditional amenities into something futuristic with relevant desk booking technology. Employees will use it to book desks for a day when they need to show up in the office.

Diverse Communities & Niche-specific Coworking Spaces

Coworking spaces broaden their target audience. Apart from freelancers, startups, and solopreneurs, they are ready to partner with big companies, who want to save some money by sharing offices and neighbouring other teams.

Along with the phenomenon described above, we notice that some coworking spaces claim themselves as dedicated to a certain industry niche or group of entrepreneurs. A field-centric coworking space is a perfect place for people of similar occupations to share ideas, collaborate, productive, and come up with revolutionary solutions.

Rise of Hybrid Coworking Models

Hybrid coworking models are also on the rise and are expanding in a big way. Hybrid coworkings are the drop-in spaces that appear in hotels, stores, and restaurants. Businessmen want to take advantage of the shared economy and earn more money. This is the reason they are transforming a restaurant into a coworking space in the daytime and back into an entertainment facility at night. Similarly, they are also combining gyms and coworking to create a wellness-oriented facility. The cost of hybrid coworking spaces is low for the members, they are free from membership fees but still can enjoy perks like free unlimited coffee and discount for lunch and specials.

Social Center

Due to the ongoing pandemic, many skillful people lost their jobs. Few coworking spaces like Hatcham House, London offered them free workstations to re-group, reconnect, learn something new, and continue their search for a new job. There is no doubt that such social projects imply certain expenses, but new members bring energy and new ideas to the community. They value their subsidised memberships and are always ready to give back in new ways. Similarly, other community members with profitable businesses are willing to join the programme and sponsor the free memberships or hire unemployed members for work to ensure that more people get help in a difficult situation. Helping people through this gives a feeling that they belong to something more than just a work-space, to a work club.

Multi-location Operators & Global Membership Passes

After the final victory over Covid-19, coworking space operators will work on scaling their businesses and expanding their global reach. Currently, a big number of people are working remotely and this number will continue to increase. Coworking spaces need to cover this high demand. Witnessing the demand, those multi-location coworkings are going to issue global membership passes to their members. This is a good practice as modern businessmen spend a lot of their time travelling. It will be a big advantage to get the similar set of amenities for uninterrupted work.

Internet of Things & Automation

The year 2021 will be a further transformation of coworking spaces into smart dynamic areas. Coworking operators outfit their spaces with the latest technologies, new wireless devices, effective software combos, and countless integrations of their coworking space management software. All those gadgets, technologies, synchronised calendars, and interactive dashboards must be controlled through a single unified interface. Innovations are aimed not to overwhelm residents but significantly improve and simplify their coworking experience.

Meeting rooms and desk booking should be a fool-proof process. When a customer comes to the coworking space, they open the door with a smartphone and go straight to the workplace without any delays or direct contact with the community manager. The entire facility with its perks and services is available on a member’s smartphone, which makes their experience really seamless.

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Along with a user-friendly environment, coworking spaces are expected to adopt an eco-friendlier design promoting use of fresh air, natural sunlight and open spaces reinforcing the idea of sustainability.

Health & Comfort on Priority List

Members spend most of their days at the coworking spaces. It is obvious that everything they touch should be quality, safety, health, and well-being centered. This is important as we all have entered into the Covid-19 second wave zone. Following severe hygiene rules should be the first priority. Supplying members with ergonomic furniture is the initial step. Move forward and conduct yoga classes, meditation rooms, or even fully-fledged gyms. Having all these wellness amenities in one building will make your members stay there longer. Establishing bonds positively affects member retention rate and overall business income.

Open Areas & Smarter Designed Coworking Spaces

Flexible workspace design will change. Avoid dense offices and cluttered settings. Go for open space with physical distancing options. More workspaces will add open-air areas to their facilities. More premises will be focused on what people are looking to accomplish, like telecon rooms, project rooms, and team collaboration rooms. Now, the spaces will be concentrated on health and wellness even more than before. Upgrade the spaces with air systems, monitor temperature, and air quality. They will strive to let more natural light in, adopt biophilia philosophy, and bring nature into spaces.

Green, Eco-Friendly Environments

Green, eco-friendly environments are listed among the current workspace design trends. The ideas of nature preservation and environment protection should be on the list. You can start with minimising the usage of plastic at your workspace, utilise sun energy, substitute all items with those that can be recycled, and get a second life. Bring in more and more living or indoor plants to reduce the stress and anxiety of members at work. Encourage well-being and sustainability, refresh the air, and decorate the premises to get more eco-friendly environments.

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Work from Home: Business Benefits and the Pitfalls

DU Desk — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 10:35:04 +0000

Work from home is the “new normal” in the post-pandemic world, whether one likes it or not. Before this, remote working was often frowned upon. There was a widespread belief that employees tend to be less productive and less focussed while working from home. And such a scenario was only reserved for emergencies or in a particular case of cash-starvation. But now that everyone has settled in and warmed up to the idea of remote working, it has started to be considered as somewhat lesser of an evil. Employers have started to understand that it might actually be fruitful for the organisation in the long run. Sure one will miss those endless smoke breaks and water cooler conversations, but there are a number of good, bad and ugly things associated with remote working. Let’s discuss them in detail.

Flexible work is, in a way, the future. And companies need to undergo a paradigm shift when it comes to reimagining workplaces and remote working is going to be a very important part of the process. A recent survey by Microsoft revealed that 60% of employees say work/home balance is the top benefit of working from home, followed by 55% who said that it saves gas. The third reason why 45% employees said work from home was better is that it helps them avoid traffic. Some of the other reasons they gave that made them inclined towards remote working were less stressful environment, environmentally friendly, and less distractions. That is all about what employees feel, but do businesses also have any benefits of working from home? Let’s discuss some of them in detail.

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A recent survey by Microsoft revealed that 60% of employees say work/home balance is the top benefit of working from home, followed by 55% who said that it saves gas.

Work from home benefits for businesses

Reduced overhead costs

This is one of the first and a foremost benefit of remote working for employers is that it helps them reduce overhead expenditures. Office equipment, basic amenities, furniture costs, etc. can be saved upfront. There are other costs like electricity, internet, office supplies, etc. that can also be done away with. This saves a great deal of money for the organisation. The organisation can also save on social events like birthday or holiday parties. Although team building activities are important, there are ways to do that virtually, too. The company can instead focus on high-impact areas rather than spend on things like rental space and activity materials.

Increased Productivity

Studies have shown that employees who are allowed to work from home tend to be more productive than those who work in a 9-5 kind of office environment. Their increased productivity is linked to employees feeling more focussed and having greater autonomy, responsibility and accountability for their work. And a more productive employee is the best thing a company can ask for. Employees with flexible work options are known to have higher morale and enjoy their job responsibilities more than those in a traditional office environment. This will in turn lead to benefits in terms of more bottom-line earnings. Not only are there fewer social distractions, but there are also more opportunities to take necessary breaks when needed, which enhances overall performance, motivation, and creativity.

Good for the environment

In the absence of daily commute and paperless communication, employers are also doing their bit for the environment. New work cultures like videoconferencing, virtual meetings, and working from home help reduce carbon emissions. It also makes running a business more pocket friendly. It’s a win-win for all. According to a report, by making environmentally sound choices like opting to use less paper and monitoring their air conditioning, heating, and lighting, remote workers have the same potential impact on air quality as planting an entire forest of 91 million trees. Work from home is one of the cheapest ways for employers and employees to decrease their carbon footprint by reducing commuter travel.

Increases employee retention

According to an online survey by Mom Corps, 42% of employees would take a salary cut in order to have more flexible work options from their employers. Thus, flexibility is one of the most sought-after characteristics for choosing a workplace. And the flexibility that telecommuting provides is unmatched. Furthermore, remote jobs have a strong relation with reduced attrition rates. According to the Owl Labs 2019 State of Remote Work report, remote workers are 13% more likely than onsite workers to stay in their jobs over an extended period. More employee loyalty and reduced attrition also translates into less time and money spent on advertising open positions, screening and interviewing new employees.

Work-life balance

Remote work also builds a strong case for work-life balance. It helps employees stay away from toxic work environments and increase their productivity by staying away from office politics. Moreover, it helps them get comfortably dressed and customise their work environments. This goes a long way in ensuring their mental health and wellness. This control over work schedules is invaluable. It gets the work done while ensuring that one attends to their personal life.

No geographical constraints

It can also help organisations expand their talent pools since geography is not a concern anymore. They are no longer bound by hiring locally-available talent. They can now invest in finding the right talent with the exact skills and experience required for the job. A lot of time, relocation for the right talent becomes a deterrent but work from home solves that problem. Not just within the country, employers can also hire international talent, if need be. Even for employees, it gives access to a broader range of job opportunities that can be helpful especially for people living in small towns.

Inclusivity

Companies can choose to be more inclusive by hiring people who can work remotely at the comfort of their homes. Many people who belong to different socio-economic, cultural and psychological backgrounds can comfortably earn a living. Even those with disabilities can benefit from positive work from home policies.

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In a Gartner survey, 3 out of 4 finance executives asked are considering moving at least 5% of onsite workers to a remote position permanently after the current pandemic crisis ends.

Work from home pitfalls for businesses

It’s not all that rosy when it comes to work from home. While there are considerable advantages of working from home, there are also some disadvantages that cannot be ignored.

Lack of community

Man (and woman) is a social animal, we all know. The COVID-19 pandemic made us realise the importance of socialising, going out for a movie or a drink or two. All that will be missed if companies decide to move permanently to work from home. It depends on different personalities what they prefer. While some employees would embrace the idea of working in solitude, others may find it difficult to give up socialisation and face-to-face interactions. There is a huge chunk of people who feel that nothing is more productive than sitting together and brainstorming ideas. Furthermore, working remotely can make one feel a sense of isolation too. Some remote workplaces offer regular team events to encourage socialisation

Absence of monitoring

For some employers, monitoring employees while working independently can be a tough job. It no longer gives them power to monitor their employees and the onus lies on the employees to keep a check on their performance at work themselves. In an ideal world, we would expect a mole to call themselves out but we live far from an ideal world. Self-regulation is not easy and this might be a tough call for employers whether to leave everything on the discretion of the employees who can take endless breaks and spend less time on work.

Feeling unmotivated

While working from home is good in some respects, it tends to make people less motivated to get up in the morning mostly due to next to no commute and no schedules to stick to. Working at an office with fellow employees, who have a common goal and purpose, can be a great source of external motivation in such a scenario. Working from home, however, lacks that kind of environment. If employees feel demotivated, they can face lack of productivity in some cases. Employers have to take care that virtually, all these issues can be addressed.

Lack of tools

Employers might have a hard time arranging for a proper work from home arrangement for their employees. Practical problems like internet connectivity issues may arise that may affect workflow. Even for employees, setting up their home office space with a high-end laptop/desktop, a high-speed internet connection, and other equipment, like printers/fax machines, etc. can be pretty taxing. Around 33% of the people who work from home don’t have the necessary access to office equipment which adds to their distress while working from home.

Distractions

While office colleagues won’t be there to distract you when you’re working from home, there are million other distractions at home. Employees have often reported watching TV and childcare act as a big distraction while working from home. Never-ending household chores too take up a lot of mental space leaving little or no energy to focus on work completely. Spending time with family, too, makes it difficult to concentrate and be interested in work for long. One of the major disadvantages of working from home is loss in productivity as people tend to get distracted by comforts that they get at home. These include things like mid-day naps or playing virtual games.

Burnout

There is generally no in and out timing for remote working. This can act as a big deterrent in time management and cause burnout. While it lets employees structure their days according to their convenience, but this can turn into a huge disadvantage for some employees. You can avoid this by clearly defining a schedule and allocating specific time for work tasks and personal tasks. More often than not, work tends to flow into home-life and that line differentiating it from work-life keeps blurring. This may lead to more stress in the long run. Whereas, working in an office certainly helps to draw the line between professional and private life.

Lack of communication

Working fact to face will obviously lead to better communication between employer and employees. During the times which require big decisions to be made, it is difficult to do it over a Zoom call. There are times when everybody in a big room together hashing out things works so much better.

Is it a boon or bane?

Well, grass is always greener on the other side. Depends on what floats your boat. It is for employers to decide what works best for their employees individually. Some employees are comfortable working from home, while others are waiting for the first chance to go back to their workplace. Many believe that working from home gives them an advantage of having control over their schedule and provides them with much more time for parenting and other personal pursuits. But this comfort should not come at the cost of your work. Working from home isn’t for everyone.
But at the end of the day, it depends on how different individuals react to different scenarios.

The pandemic acted as a catalyst for remote work and while there are many benefits, there are also these pitfalls an employer has to keep in mind while making a policy for the company. In a Gartner survey, 3 out of 4 finance executives asked are considering moving at least 5% of onsite workers to a remote position permanently after the current pandemic crisis ends. Others might follow suit too. It will be interesting to note the new world order after things get adjusted to the new normal. Today’s technology has made it easier to make this transition. Every business is unique, and before taking the plunge, one would need to evaluate the benefits and drawbacks as they apply to a particular business and industry. The best way to effectively communicate and manage employees is to form a work from home policy because the advantages of working remotely can’t be disregarded. It is also essential to find a mutually agreeable solution like daily or weekly check-ins in order to better manage teams and also to eliminate micromanaging by employers.

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Co-Working Start-ups Gush in Post-Lockdown India

Roopali Kotwal — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 05:08:13 +0000

Pandemic disrupted human life across nations especially the way we worked. Huge rents and electricity bills forced many start-ups to shut down their offices due to the high cost involved. Like other start-ups, co-working start-ups also faced the brunt and took a halt. However, post lockdown they slowly started gearing up.

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A solution-oriented business plan – ‘a unique selling point’ is must to be in the game for long.

Co-working spaces making a difference

During the lockdown, work from home (WFH) became the ‘new normal’. Post lockdown, the companies started working on a hybrid model that included work from home/remote location and work from office adhering to social distancing norms.

Real estate, any day was a huge cost so renting a ‘co-working space’ seemed a prime solution to many start-ups. Co-working start-ups work on providing the office space, infrastructure on a daily/monthly rental basis i.e. pay as you use. Thus, no hassle of hunting for real estate that meant higher cost otherwise.

Smartworks, one of the leading co-working space start-ups with facilities in different cities like Noida, Pune, Hyderabad and Bengaluru aims at flexible workspace arrangement and business continuity. Similarly, Insta office, WeWork, Innov8, myHQ, Awfis space solutions are breaking the stereotype with the majority of the start-ups being in Delhi/NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Need and Benefits of Co-working start-ups

Entrepreneurs understand WFH is the new normal. With the rapid increase in the number of start-ups, the need for co-working space is also on the rise. The co-working space benefits that were initially enjoyed by digital nomads, freelancers and entrepreneurs are open to every professional now. The co-working model gives an option to start-ups to scale up and down whenever required. It saves cost and proves really valuable in the early stages of the business.

It breaks the monotony and helps to revive any depressing soul to feel motivated and productive especially, the ones who are social and like networking.

Diverse community presence sharing the workspace with essential amenities (high-speed internet, tech-enabled conference rooms), no hierarchical distinctions often lead to innovation and new business ideas.

Market size of flexible working space

India is one of the largest flexible workplace markets in the world. According to Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) report in November 2020, the Indian flexible space market was in the middle of a strong growth cycle until the pandemic. There was a signification rise in the total stock from 9.9 million square feet (MSF) in 2017 to 29.5 MSF by September 2020.

What’s in it for me?

Co-working space is one of the most lucrative businesses post lockdown. If you want to explore this business, you must define your vision (why you want to open it). You may have to change the strategy with time. However, the vision should be intact as to why you wanted to open the co-working business in the first place. A solution-oriented business plan – ‘a unique selling point’ is must to be in the game for long.

Keep your target audience in mind, if they are just freelancers/full-time employees or if you are planning to create a premium facility/affordable co-working space to ensure the returns are better, then investments. By following best practices like simple contract negotiations, short-notice movement plans, you may build a giant and flexible co-working space and become a game-changer in this competitive start-up business.

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