Since 1 July, employers are no longer obliged to allow staff to work at home. Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, many teams have switched to working at home. What challenges does remote working present? One of them is that casual encounters in the corridor or on the way to the canteen are no longer possible. This means that the spontaneous conversations they can trigger cannot take place, and there are no informal discussions in between times or during the mid-day meal. In addition, interactions become more intensive as the number of the opportunities for communication rises.
If we are restricted to telephone calls or video chats, these opportunities are correspondingly limited. In your research, you collaborate with businesses. Based on your own observations, what effects have these difficult and unusual working conditions had on the workforce over the past year?
I can only draw on what my contacts have told me. My impression is that perceptions of remote working — like those of the pandemic itself — have fluctuated in waves. To begin with, people were excited about the possibilities that suddenly opened up. Many firms recognized that there was more scope for experimentation than previously thought.
Only as the pandemic developed did executives begin to think seriously about the questions raised by remote working. At first, the focus was on the possibilities rather than the costs — the factors that could negatively affect teamwork. Only over the course of time did it become clear that certain processes were not working as well as before.
I expect that a broad spectrum of models will emerge. What are the main issues that need to be studied? We have become accustomed to teams located in Singapore, London, Shanghai and Munich, who work together on the same project.
