There are several employees who are unable to bifurcate their personal and professional space due to challenges posed by working from home and want to return to office, says SK SAYAL
It is no more a secret that COVID-19 has stretched and pushed the modern professionals into an uncomfortable zone. With mental and physical disruptions to the everyday life and we have been propelled into a new paradigm of work from which we may never return. Ability to work from any location, no more commuting, abolishment of traditional 9-5 work parametres which people initially started enjoying is becoming a challenge to cope with. The top challenge faced by remote workers is unplugging from work. Without the clear-cut change of location and defined office hours, many are having a tough time bifurcating their personal and professional space.
Another extremely challenging aspect of work from home (WFH) for parents with young children is managing them; Along with the regular office work managing the kids’ online schools and the household chores become an added stress for both partners. Also, the lack of in-person communication became a pain point for many wherein the verbal and non-verbal behaviours are vital to successful understanding and collaboration among team members. For many businesses, the very nature of work does not allow for remote working; there are many jobs, that cannot be adequately completed in a domestic environment. Also, WFH also leads to bandwidth, network, and data security issues along with inadequacy of space where there are multiple people working together.
With all these disadvantages of WFH, looks like a major section of the workforce can’t wait to get back to work but are sceptical about safety. They are looking for workplaces which can provide them with the peace of mind about their health and safety. Organisations across sectors with active support of real estate developers are learning and implementing new technologies and processes to make workplace safer.
Maintaining highest level of hygiene, modification in seating arrangements to ensure adequate social distance between employees, prompt medical assistance for employees are certain things organisations are making adequate arrangements for.
For the real estate sector, observing and meeting a company’s own concern for the highest standards of safety and design is a requisite to invite the professional workforce back to commercial workspaces. This will require foresight on part of the sector to always meet and often exceed on demands like social distancing and crowd management practices to provide a safe and comfortable working environment to their tenants/customers.
To adhere to social distancing rules, office buildings should be equipped to offer facilities for virtual meetings, advanced touch free visitor management systems, online checklists and many more such innovations to minimise touch. Also, equipping developments with HVAC systems with advanced filtration process to remove fine dust particles from the air to ensure a dust and virus free environment at workplaces is a must.
Safety being the top-most priority, it is imperative for 21st Century developments to constantly innovate to provide a pleasant experience to existing and prospective partners.