.svg)
The democratization of remote work
In the episode of Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity, Stéphanie Aaronson, vice president and director of economic studies at Brookings, and Steve Davis, professor at the University of Chicago, and co-author of the new BPEA study “Working from home Around the World” discuss the implications of remote work on the economy and workers in the post-pandemic system.
In this new post-pandemic model, more and more employees are expressing the desire to work remotely, considering this lifestyle more pleasant and conducive to increased productivity.
According to Steve Davis, this transition to more frequent remote work has numerous economic and social implications. For a long time, remote work was seen as a day where employees did everything but work, but recent studies have shown that remote work is now associated with better productivity and saves valuable time.
This upheaval raises many questions about the long-term organization of work. While this shift towards a model that increasingly favors remote work has many advantages, it also creates significant challenges. So we're going to look at how this change is disrupting the economy and the daily lives of workers.
The growing proliferation of remote work in people's daily lives: a remarkable advance
Before the pandemic, only a few people had the option of working remotely, but today, this opportunity has expanded to many people, improving their working comfort. The development of remote work indeed has numerous advantages for employees.
In particular, it allows save precious time by avoiding long trips to the office, offers a great flexibility which ensures a certain level of comfort for workers, and also promotes a greater autonomy.
However, while this way of working is a huge advantage for many people, it is not without its challenges.
The generalization of an exclusively remote working model: the development of various problems
While working remotely may only seem beneficial at first glance, many industries are actually affected by this change.
Many urban neighborhoods have suffered an economic shock as a result of this disturbance. Indeed, with fewer and fewer people leaving their homes, spending on public services such as restaurants and shops has declined.
The workers were also Faced with isolation cutting them off from the dynamics of the company, which is nevertheless necessary for the good balance of employees.
Maintaining residents in cities in the face of the evolution of teleworking: the preponderant role of the government
The economic and social consequences of poor governance at the city level have become more worrying today than before the pandemic.
Indeed, with the development of remote work, the geographical proximity criterion in relation to the workplace is no longer so decisive. Thus, residents are more likely to leave a city in case of poor governance, whether due to a high crime rate, poor schools or tax burdens that are too high in relation to the public services provided.
Therefore, the cities are at increased risk of a decrease in their population if they are unable to offer services that meet the expectations of the population.
Unequal access to remote work
Remote working has spread all over the world, whether in France, the United States or even in countries with a profoundly different economic system such as India and China. However, the perceived benefits of remote working, such as flexibility, autonomy, and improved work-life balance, are often shared globally.
The question then arises as to what brings these individuals together, despite their very different systems, but their common will.
Indeed, studies show that the University graduates Have of better opportunities of remote work. In addition, the lack of internet connection Is a real barrier to productivity.
In addition, This access to telework is unequal across the world. Indeed, the possibilities of remote professional development differ from country to country depending on access to certain resources such as the Internet connection or even at a certain level of diploma.
Teleworkers: a very specific profile
While it is usually the most qualified who have the opportunity to work remotely, among them, there is a more pronounced preference among women when it comes to the desire to work remotely. In addition, Both men and women with children demonstrate a strong desire to be able to work remotely. Finally, it is common to note that individuals living far from work are generally more motivated to work remotely in order to optimize their time.
A real challenge for employers
This change represents a a real challenge for employers, who need to demonstrate a strong ability to adapt. Indeed, they must quickly learn how operate in a new environment where some employees work remotely while others are on site.
Full remote: a possible way of working in the long term?
With the increasing use of remote work by workers, the question arises of business productivity and their ability to maintain a high level of performance with employees working remotely.
On the one hand, remote work avoid long and expensive trips. In addition, many tasks can be done remotely such as preparing speeches or writing articles, this way of working makes it easy to organize.
Additionally, after the pandemic, many employees say that the amount of time they spend working from home has increased, and that it is contributing toimproving their productivity.
On the other hand, some workers consider their home to be a Place of distraction And a barrier to productivity. In addition, some jobs, such as manufacturing, customer service, sales, or hospital positions that require direct contact with customers generally cannot benefit from this hybrid way of working. However, some tasks in these professions can be carried out remotely, especially administrative tasks.
Thus, in general, the part of work that can be done remotely is twice as large as what was thought before the pandemic according to the study conducted by Steve Davis.
Combining remote and face-to-face work: the need for hybrid work
Many jobs include tasks that need to be done in person and others that can be done remotely. Thus, the challenge lies in theOrganizing a schedules which provides for periods dedicated to interactions when working on site and periods of personal work when working remotely. By optimizing their hybrid organization in this way, individuals can benefit from valuable time savings.
The adoption of a working mode, not 100% remote or face-to-face, but hybrid, seems the most suitable for workers who then maintain a social link and quality in their work, while benefiting from the many advantages offered by remote work.
Teleworking: a new characteristic of businesses
The Covid-19 pandemic marked the year 2020 and changed old work habits. Now the possibility of teleworking has become an integral feature of a job. This characteristic will now be taken into account by employees when choosing a job.
Today, it therefore seems necessary to combine both remote work and face-to-face work. From this perspective, the challenge is to find the optimal organization for effective hybrid work.
Read also: link to an article?
