WFH IS HERE TO STAY
In recent months, we have all felt the unprecedented disruption of COVID-19 in almost all aspects of our lives, and not least the way we have been working and running our businesses.
Although not a completely new trend, Working From Home (WFH) has now come to effect almost every single business in Europe. With modern advances in technology, we have been able to shift our day-to-day operations online. Consequently, most employees have been able to partly or fully work from home to support the physical distancing guidelines.
WFH has its advantages – greater flexibility and the avoidance of long and frustrating commutes being amongst the most attractive. But it also has its challenges – from the adjustments to the ‘new’ daily processes, lack of communication, to the productivity difference for each employee. But especially for those who do not have proper working space at home, adapting to this situation can be challenging.
As many people work from home and students study in online classes, there has been a surge in laptops and monitors sales, as well as home office furniture. As an essential part of remote work, digital services such as document transfer and online conference providers are also seeing a huge user increase. For instance, Zoom shares sky rocketed in 2020.
Post-pandemic work environment
In the post-pandemic era, our working environment might never be the same as before. Some employers might recognize the financial benefits of not having to maintain their expensive office space by letting their employees work from home. Other employers might also notice their employees’ productivity increase and decide to let them continue working from home.
Although we cannot say that this is true for every business, we can assume that there will be more flexible working arrangements. Employers may start to consider letting their employees work from home a couple of days a week and at the office for the rest. This flexible working arrangements might also lead to a more relaxed office environment which would increase demand for shared working spaces and open-office policy.
To date, several companies already provide their employees with the option to work remotely. For instance, Twitter released a statement that their staff can start to work from home permanently. However, it all comes down to the company structure and culture in sync with employee’s best working practices.
This decision would make working space an essential part of our homes, and would also change office behaviours and working cultures as we know them today. For starters, there will be more technology introduced to support remote working activities and collaboration – better webcams, clearer audio, time tracking tools, and even home solutions for document archive and safety.
For businesses that were forced to adopt new technologies and digital services to support the WFH policy, as they begin to realize the benefits, many of these technologies and services will remain integrated in their day-to-day operation.
How can we help?
At ADK Insights, we continue to monitor trends emerging in the workspace and translate its impact on consumer behaviours, providing insights to help businesses future-proof their innovation.
From our past B2B segmentation studies, we found out that there are seven types of offices across Europe – from the traditional ones that still rely heavily on printed materials, all the way to modern-day offices that use more digital platforms.
Understanding how these office environments have changed due to COVID-19 can provide businesses with better use of resources and more intelligent targeting, more impactful messaging content and tonality, and leverage competitive advantage.
To know more about our method and see what our experience and approach could mean for your business, please contact Nimrod.
Your contact:
Nimrod Moyal
26 years market intelligence experience. Specializes in bespoke solutions design, with focus on qualitative approaches, product clinics, and in-depth & creative result-oriented output.