Full disclosure here: I’ve generally worked from home for a number of years and I’m used to it. All pitfalls ironed out a long time ago and have equipment needed, routine set and it’s second nature now. For many though that hasn’t been the case and it was something that was thrust upon them very quickly.

The tech giants, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft etc etc have recently said that their employees can work from home for the foreseeable future and no need to return to the office. Capita in UK has recently announced that 45k staff will continue to work from home and close down 100 of its offices.

Despite many governments actively encouraging people to go to the office to work, mainly to try and bring life back to deserted town and city centre areas, where the lunchtime and after work trade has all but disappeared, this doesn’t seem to be something that companies and employees are going to actively push.

Not everyone can work from home. There are many industries where it cannot happen, but for certain industries and office based employees it can work, but there are clearly issues with people working from home and I’ve tried to look at some of these.

Home environment

Not everyone has the benefit of a room that can be used as an office and can be set up to function as one. 

We’ve all been on video calls, where people are using kitchen table, dining table, as a work surface. That’s fine for the very short term, but in the longer term it isn’t viable to do that, not least because sitting at a kitchen table, using a kitchen chair isn’t conducive to their health and is likely to bring on back problems. 

There’s also background noise, children around, animals appearing on screen during video calls. All perfectly acceptable in the current situation, but beyond that, if people are going to be working at home long term, there needs to be a settled environment.

Lack of interaction with fellow workers

We’ve all been there. The water cooler chats. The let’s have a coffee in the kitchen and talk about this. You can’t do that virtually. Well, you can, but it’s never the same as doing something like that face to face. Younger people, need to interact with their peers to glean information from them. I remember many years ago, there was a CEO that I gained far more information from, just by being around him and seeing how he interacted with people, what he said and did. You can’t get that remotely. 

Critics on working from home, say that companies will lose identity and culture and again, the younger ones missing out, in not being able to have lunch together, or a drink after work and not have the ability to build up longer term relationships.

This also brings into play in how do you onboard a new employee remotely if they don’t go to the office? My son had this during the pandemic and he said it was a very strange experience. He’s been working for a company 6 months. Went to the office on the first day, then it was work from home after that. Since then, the people he interacts with, he’s never met face to face. Some companies will find a way to make this work, but many won’t. We all know some companies weren’t good at onboarding in the past, let alone in the current situation.

Technology

How many people working at home have the right technology set up to help them? I’m not just referring to have a lap top, or a printer here, but what is needed to make sure that in a work from home environment its as technologically safe, as if they were working in their office. How many people working from home, have a secure set up that is as safe as the office one?

I was recently on a webinar, hosted by Shrewedd Marketing and comprising of Wightfibre,  UK, LivePerson, Israel, Metrofibre Networx, SA and Gamgee, Netherlands, which was all about challenges, technology and new market opportunities arising from Work from Home. A number of important points came out of this.

• Productivity tended to increase whilst working from home, as people did not have to commute, so many spent that time saved by working.
• Broadband usage from working at home didn’t reach the peak that happens around Christmas and New Year, so broadband into the home generally wasn’t seen to be an issue, but this can vary by country and location.
• WiFi distribution around the home was seen as an issue. Many are set up for streaming to a Smart TV, or STB but many working from home, are not WiFi experts and don’t always know, or understand how to get the best out of their home WiFi network. They tend to move around their house, looking for the best WiFi signal, based on what their lap top, or phone signal shows. 
• WiFi at home has to be different to WiFi at the airport, hotel, or coffee shop.
• With focus on video conferring, this becomes important. There needs to be the ability to be able to prioritise home bandwidth, for what is seen as important for work.
• Cyber security is going to be vital. Hackers will know weak spots and the new normal means the new weak spots are going to be people working from home, especially if they’re in the financial services community, accountancy, insurance, lawyers and many others.

The Digital Home is already a battleground for the big tech companies. Work from Home is going to add to this. Companies who have employees not in the office, working at home in different parts of the country, or world, need to be sure that the information they have, on their home network, is as secure as if they were in the office environment.