Thanks to the corona crisis, working from home has become the rule rather than the exception. A remarkable turnaround because in the past, working from home was looked down upon quite a bit.
From management, working from home was mainly seen as extra free time and meant a hazard for productivity. During the lockdown, working from home was even **[associated]( by some.https://www.nporadio1.nl/binnenland/22799-massaal-thuiswerken-zorgt-voor-meer-psychische-klachten#:~:text=De psychological health of employees,argue health and safety services ArboNed and ArboUnie.)** with psychological symptoms, uncertainty and anxiety. But is that justified?
Indeed, during the first weeks of the lockdown, working from home was for many a mental challenge. Beyond the fact that this was a compulsory change, in many cases the children were also suddenly and spontaneously obliged to be home. Anxiety and insecurity may also absolutely play or have played a role during the corona crisis. But these are not necessarily issues specifically related to working at home.
Indeed, I am convinced that working from home offers tremendous opportunities. Provided it is done properly. An opportunity to take pressure off the office, to reduce travel times and to finally really do something about the distracting office gardens. Indeed, most research confirms that working from home offers significant benefits.
For example, it appears that home-based workers are generally just more productive are and often outperform. This is even substantiated by average higher ratings. Believe it or not, but homeschoolers feel even a higher engagement at the business. Many studies additionally show that home workers less stress experienced. That they more driven are and also more satisfied with their work, colleagues and employer.
Moreover, employers also have reason to be pleased. They can save huge costs in addition to that extra productivity by setting up their offices for home workers. As in **retail**offices will increasingly function as showrooms. People will come there to meet and gather information, but the real buying and working, respectively, can largely be done from home.
Only note here; all of these surveys were conducted for corona time and apply to employees who alternate working from home. Therefore, we ourselves have spent the last month research done how to get the most out of working from home.
In doing so, we found a number of conditions:
- Variety
With too much working from home, the above benefits cease to apply at some point, as colleagues become too distanced. The tipping point is around 50 percent (based on full-time employment). Moreover, you have work that you simply cannot do at home.
- More attention for fewer meetings
Thanks to digital meetings, there are fewer meetings and they have become shorter. The downside is that engagement is often lower. Therefore, pay more attention to the right technical facilities, enough interaction to keep everyone involved and clear priorities.
- More focus on the end result and the employee rather than the process
Managers will need to focus more on the end result rather than the process.
In addition, they will need to pay more attention to helping people develop a daily routine so they don't get ahead of themselves.
- Have managers themselves receive training in working from home
Managers who have received training in working from home guide their colleagues through change much more efficiently. This gives them concrete tools to assess performance and manage expectations.
- Trust
The most important starting point for being successful in working from home, just as we did in setting up unlimited vacations already saw, in trust. Give your colleagues the choice and also let them coordinate among themselves what can or cannot be done.
Thanks to the lockdown, we have accelerated our ability to organize our work more practically. This of course brings challenges, but fortunately also opportunities. If you respond well to this now, you will soon be ahead of the game when everything changes again. And that's going to happen anyway.
