{"id":31314,"date":"2020-08-12T13:55:58","date_gmt":"2020-08-12T03:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"\/au\/en\/blog\/will-we-work-from-home-forever\/"},"modified":"2023-01-13T22:05:10","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T12:05:10","slug":"will-we-work-from-home-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/au\/en\/blog\/will-we-work-from-home-forever\/","title":{"rendered":"Will we work from home forever?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In early March, Twitter and Facebook were among the first companies to close down offices and send staff to work from home\u2014even before government agencies issued lockdown orders to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Just two months later, the two social media giants\u00a0declared<\/a>\u00a0that most employees will one day be able to telecommute permanently.<\/p>\n

Large organisations continue to extend their work-from-home policies. In many cases, they\u2019re even making remote work a permanent fixture. Google, for example, initially told employees to work from home until June. Then it extended the policy through the end of 2020. Most recently, the search giant announced that workers could telecommute until July 2021.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just Silicon Valley tech companies. Most employees for\u00a0investment banks<\/a>\u00a0like Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan are still working from home. Entertainment company ViacomCBS and\u00a0music labels<\/a>\u00a0such as Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group, and Warner Music Group have told workers to work remotely through the end of 2020.<\/p>\n

Now that we\u2019re about half a year into the remote work experiment, many employers have determined that the advantages of letting employees work from home outweigh the negatives, according to\u00a0NPR<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That begs the question: is remote work here to say for the corporate world?<\/p>\n

Most employees want to work from home<\/b><\/h2>\n

Studies show that\u00a043% of those who previously commuted<\/a>\u00a0to work telecommuted during the height of the pandemic\u2014and they enjoyed it.<\/b>\u00a0Remote workers say they are more productive and have better work-life balance since they don\u2019t have to commute and can work a more flexible schedule. In fact, workers also report significantly\u00a0higher levels of engagement<\/a>\u00a0when they work from home.<\/p>\n

When the global health crisis is over, most employees still want the option to work from home at least part of the time.\u00a0According to a\u00a0survey<\/a>\u00a0by PwC, nearly three-quarters of employees (72%) said they\u2019d like to telecommute at least twice a week after the pandemic is over, while nearly one-third (32%) want to work from home full time.<\/p>\n

In a survey of 9,059 workers, 48% work from home during the pandemic and have a Workforce Happiness Index score of 75 out of 100, which is four points higher than employees who still have to go into their offices, according to a May\u00a0report<\/a>. Remote workers are also more satisfied with their jobs: 57% of telecommuters say they are very satisfied versus 50% of non-remote workers who say they are very satisfied.<\/p>\n

Companies want more remote work, too<\/b><\/h2>\n

As COVID-19 lingers, many are planning on making remote work permanent. The reasons are two-fold. In the short term, extending work from home keeps both employees and the company safe from safety-related events. In the long term, the flexibility of remote work breeds higher employee satisfaction and engagement, leading to significantly higher performance and retention.<\/p>\n

In June, 54% of finance leaders support making remote work permanent for positions that allow for it, up from 43% in PwC\u2019s CFO March survey.\u00a0 In a different study, the numbers were higher: 74% of CFOs surveyed by\u00a0Gartner<\/a>\u00a0said at least some of their employees will be allowed to permanently work from home after the pandemic ends.<\/p>\n

Not every employee can work from home<\/b><\/h2>\n

While remote work is something both leaders and employees want, it\u2019s not an option to most. Only\u00a037%<\/a> of jobs can be done from home.<\/p>\n

And for employees who can work remotely, 68% still want at least some access to the office. Of those, 8% want to work full time in the office and 60% want to take a hybrid approach and be in the office one to four times a week, according to PwC\u2019s remote work\u00a0survey<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The top reason people say they want to go into the office (50% of survey respondents) is to collaborate with other team members. Difficulty collaborating is also a major reason people give for being unproductive while working from home (39%). They miss face-to-face interactions.<\/p>\n

Others are simply more productive in the office because they have too many distractions at home. PwC found that 38% of remote workers feel balancing work with home duties, such as childcare, made them unproductive while working from home.<\/p>\n

Coronavirus reshapes remote and office work<\/b><\/h2>\n

When the health crisis is over, employees for some companies will return to their offices full time. Some companies will transition to 100% remote work. But most will likely take a hybrid approach, where employees work at home half the time and in the office half the time.<\/p>\n

A permanent, flexible workweek has broad support among both executives and office workers, according to PwC\u2019s latest remote work\u00a0survey<\/a>. While 83% of office employees want to work from home at least one day a week, more than half of employers (55%) anticipate that most of their workers will do so post-pandemic, the survey found.<\/p>\n

Preparing for the remote-first future<\/b><\/h2>\n

Remote work has earned a permanent spot in the corporate world, and as we recover from the pandemic, more and more people will work from home partially or fully. That\u2019s because not only is remote work better for safety purposes, but also fosters higher engagement and job satisfaction. Apprehensions around productivity have either been quelled or diminished, and it\u2019s ready to usher in a new era of work.<\/p>\n

At the same time, it\u2019s also clear that many workers can\u2019t work remotely. From restaurant staff to hardware engineers, many industries will return to normal after the pandemic. At least for now, most offices won\u2019t go anywhere\u2014but that can change in the near future.<\/p>\n

Companies planning to expand remote work opportunities will need the right tools to maximise productivity amongst remote teams. While office workers can simply walk to a colleague\u2019s desk to collaborate, remote teams don\u2019t have the same convenience. It\u2019s up to a company\u2019s tools to facilitate communication and collaboration.<\/p>\n

Unified communications solutions like the RingCentral App<\/a> bundles team messaging, video conferencing, and cloud phone into a single platform in the cloud, allowing employees to access all of their communications from anywhere, on any device, and at any time. Employees can easily switch from messaging to voice or video calls with a single click, keeping collaboration as effortless as possible to start.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In early March, Twitter and Facebook were among the first companies to close down offices and send staff to work from home\u2014even before government agencies issued lockdown orders to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Just two months later, the two social media giants\u00a0declared\u00a0that most employees will one day be able to telecommute permanently. Large …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":31315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[485],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-future-of-work"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWill we work from home forever? | RingCentral Australian Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"n early March, Twitter and Facebook were among the first companies to close down offices and send staff to work from home\u2014even before government age\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/will-we-work-from-home-forever\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Will we work from home forever? | RingCentral Australian Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"n early March, Twitter and Facebook were among the first companies to close down offices and send staff to work from home\u2014even before government age\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/will-we-work-from-home-forever\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"RingCentral Australian Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-12T03:55:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-13T12:05:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/au\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/will-we-work-from-home-forever.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1050\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"RingCentral Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"RingCentral Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Will we work from home forever? | RingCentral Australian Blog","description":"n early March, Twitter and Facebook were among the first companies to close down offices and send staff to work from home\u2014even before government age","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/will-we-work-from-home-forever\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Will we work from home forever? | RingCentral Australian Blog","og_description":"n early March, Twitter and Facebook were among the first companies to close down offices and send staff to work from home\u2014even before government age","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/will-we-work-from-home-forever\/","og_site_name":"RingCentral Australian Blog","article_published_time":"2020-08-12T03:55:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-01-13T12:05:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1050,"height":360,"url":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/au\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/will-we-work-from-home-forever.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"RingCentral Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"RingCentral Team","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/will-we-work-from-home-forever\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/will-we-work-from-home-forever\/"},"author":{"name":"RingCentral Team","@id":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/eecf34bbf3d95321a36af1d3cca76cd8"},"headline":"Will we work from home forever?","datePublished":"2020-08-12T03:55:58+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-13T12:05:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/will-we-work-from-home-forever\/"},"wordCount":1032,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/will-we-work-from-home-forever\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"\/au\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/will-we-work-from-home-forever.jpg","articleSection":["Future of work"],"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/will-we-work-from-home-forever\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/will-we-work-from-home-forever\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/will-we-work-from-home-forever\/","name":"Will we work from home forever? | RingCentral Australian Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/will-we-work-from-home-forever\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/will-we-work-from-home-forever\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"\/au\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/will-we-work-from-home-forever.jpg","datePublished":"2020-08-12T03:55:58+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-13T12:05:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/eecf34bbf3d95321a36af1d3cca76cd8"},"description":"n early March, Twitter and Facebook were among the first companies to close down offices and send staff to work from home\u2014even before government age","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/will-we-work-from-home-forever\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/will-we-work-from-home-forever\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/will-we-work-from-home-forever\/#primaryimage","url":"\/au\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/will-we-work-from-home-forever.jpg","contentUrl":"\/au\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/will-we-work-from-home-forever.jpg","width":1050,"height":360,"caption":"Will we work from home forever?"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/will-we-work-from-home-forever\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Will we work from home forever?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/","name":"RingCentral Australian Blog","description":"RingCentral Australia News and Tips","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/eecf34bbf3d95321a36af1d3cca76cd8","name":"RingCentral Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/653ced44b45dcc318ea2c525fb1adfcbd3f949ac02b7029f4df68f6d79aab27f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/653ced44b45dcc318ea2c525fb1adfcbd3f949ac02b7029f4df68f6d79aab27f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/653ced44b45dcc318ea2c525fb1adfcbd3f949ac02b7029f4df68f6d79aab27f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"RingCentral Team"},"url":"\/au\/en\/blog\/author\/rcteam\/"}]}},"rc_img_url":"\/au\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/will-we-work-from-home-forever.jpg","rcblog_by_author":"<a href=\"\/au\/en\/blog\/author\/rcteam\/amp\" data-dl-events-click=\"true\" data-dl-element=\"link\"><span class=\"image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/653ced44b45dcc318ea2c525fb1adfcbd3f949ac02b7029f4df68f6d79aab27f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\" alt=\"\" width=\"30\" height=\"30\" layout=\"fixed\"><\/img><\/span><span class=\"by-author-name\">RingCentral Team<\/span><\/a>","rc_author_full_name":"RingCentral Team","rc_author_avatar":"\/au\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/21.jpg","rc_author_link":"\/au\/en\/blog\/author\/rcteam\/amp","rc_post_categories":"<a href=\"\/au\/en\/blog\/category\/future-of-work\/amp\">Future of work<\/a>","amp_link":"\/au\/en\/blog\/will-we-work-from-home-forever\/amp","excerpt_title":"Will we work from home forever?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}