What does the new norm look like

Guess what?

If remote working is the new norm - connection, comfort, benefits and cost all need #rethinking and #rebooting

We are all reading and desperate for stability, our society keeps talking about “the new normal” — how our personal and professional lives will be permanently altered by the coronavirus pandemic — and understandably, work-from-home policies are a cornerstone of that conversation.

Remote was a critical enabler of business and economic continuity during the original stay at home regulations, and will continue to be for some time in to the future and certainly for future emergencies, especially now that it’s been proven to be possible. Our news feeds are inundated with reports and projections about where knowledge workers, those able to work remotely during lockdowns, will be commuting to in the future — but it needs to move on from the sofa or the kitchen table, we need to think about sustainability and action around feeling comfortable and feeling connectioned.

Based on a recent report from Gartner, it looks like many – way more than before - workers will continue to have the option to work from home permanently. Even amidst a global crisis, employees are reporting greater productivity and higher job satisfaction, which is translating into success for some employers. From remote working, the businesses then get to access even more overhead savings, like lower rents, equipment, and supply expenses. Global Workplace Analytics reports an average business saving of $11,000 per part-time role in the US that is converted from physical to virtual.

It is clear that organisations will need to pass on some of those savings to employees to ensure their working life is as comfortable and connected as possible, looking at areas like connectivity and security, desk space, healthy and wellbeing including eating, exercise and also rethinking expenses.  

We need our staff whether remote or in the office as comfortable or as connected as possible. In a new place where everyone is the star of a screen somewhere face time – in its truest sense will remain critical. 

Government and HMRC have also a part to play to support remote workers, as they have taken to remote working and proved it works for the economy, and kept productivity levels high whilst managing home schooling, young kids and the personal anxieties that Covid 19 brought along and will have for a long time yet.

And as this new norm becomes the norm they need to re-think how remote working expenses can be communicated and claimed in the future in areas like

1.   Tax exemption around remote working equipment.

2.   Household expenses like light, heat and broadband

3.   Expenses around healthy living

4.   Encouraging innovation and collaboration around remote working and security of the home working

5.   Work out how childcare while working and school from home can be best supported

We need our employees to feel supported by Employers and Government and of course each other – not everyone wants to socilaise with your workmates but we do need to make a continuous and sustained effort right now to be more social - simply to ensure we can continue to be productive personally and professionally.