With the impromptu rise of COVID-19 throughout our world, we have been forced to adapt pretty much every aspect of our modern lives. Whether it be the inability to do such a simple thing as grabbing a coffee with a friend at a local café or something less tangible like having to book everything in advance, we have been forced to react and implement change at a fast pace. Without a doubt, the working arena has seen change occur on a large scale that has never been heard of. It could be said that businesses are always looking to implement change. Change and innovation are what the working community is built upon. In olden times, a monumental change for a small business would be something like implementing new software within the business or hiring a new manager to increase efficiency. But none of that can ever be compared to the considerable changes businesses have had to adopt during the COVID period. To put it simply, what used to be considered a change, such as new software, is now considered a daily practice. Small businesses alike have been forced to find new & innovative ways to ensure their ultimate survival in this contemporary climate.

One of the most damaging features of the COVID-19 virus is its innate ability to spread like wildfire. The virus’s contagious nature is the main reason economies will fail. It is the reason why many small businesses will never recover. The issue with a contagious disease, or anything of the contagious nature, is that there is only one solution to combating it (other than a vaccine). Isolation. Isolation, along with it entails more than a handful of grievances. There will be many social issues that arise from this period and these may haunt our societies for many years to come. But the biggest area of our life that isolation impacts is our work. How can we work if we cannot leave the house? Pre-COVID times, working from home was generally reserved for freelancers, writers, sole traders. Businesses or individuals who did not require an office space. But now, working from home has become the new normal. So here lies the biggest question of all, will we ever return to the common workspace environment?

Granted, some businesses require office space or at least a shop in which they can operate. A restaurant can’t serve hundreds of people working from home. A pub cannot provide an atmosphere from home. But many industries can. Most of the finance and consulting businesses have seen a swift and relatively smooth transition to working from home. Client meetings in an office have been replaced with a laptop and zoom. Workplace catch-ups have been taken out of the office and onto zoom.  Zoom this and zoom that. Our new life is lived on zoom! But zoom has not seen exponential growth for no reason. It is the master enabler in the contemporary world. It allows us to stay connected whilst being further away than we ever have.

So, let’s breakdown it down. What do we as individuals gain from working from home:

• More time to spend with family

• Maximum flexibility with our lives

• More time to exercise

• Less pressure to perform

• The freedom to know that you won’t be confronted by any disgruntled employees

But like anything in life, there are always to sides to every story. So, what are the disadvantages of working from home:

• Families are now living on top of each other making it hard to find some alone time

• The lines between work and rest have become blurry

• Not all homes are conducive to working from home

• More distractions are at the ready

Multiple arguments could be taken for this topic. I like the office. I like getting out and about, being in a different environment every day. But that is just me. Most businesses will look at it from a commercial point of view. Does the $50,000 they are spending on rent ensure them that their employees are that much more efficient? The property market in Sydney is nuts. Whether you buy or rent, either way you must fork up some serious dough. So is it worth the money? Does an office provide that much benefit? This is something that I think many large corporations will put some serious time and effort into weighing up. It’s too early to pull out stats, but don’t be surprised if many businesses find that their employees have been more productive working from home. These are all things that will be weighed up in due course. So, I’ll leave you with this, what do you think? Do you want to keep working from home or go back to the office? Will the modern-day office become our homes or stay in the office? Who knows where we’ll end up… it is 2020 after all!

Written for you by Baylee Jones