The Mt Kenya Times 
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Worth Noting:
- There are however some challenges associated with working from home including interruptions by kids, partners, other family members, friends and pets. To avoid interruptions one should set aside some space designated as a home office, establish strict working hours which everyone respects. You should explain to family members and friends why it is important for you not to be interrupted during working times.
- It is inevitable to experience technological hiccups once in a while which result in delays in ones work. A mobile hotspot or cell phone tethering can help you save precious time when the internet goes down. The employer should ensure that the worker is equipped with reliable communication facilities and have scheduled intersections if teams are in different time zones.
Remote working in the sense that we see it today started several decades ago. The internet was actually invented in the early 1980s, creating a system that was able to link different networks. However, the concept and foundation of remote working had already been laid by a NASA Engineer Jack Nilles in 1973 and had named it ‘Telecommuting’. Long before the turn of the 21st Century, a limited number of IBM workers were already working from home to test the effectiveness of telecommuting, conducted from respective homes over the telephone.
Advances in computer technology gave people the ability to use portable computers (laptops), the tablet and the smart phone. Machines that there before occupied entire rooms now fit into your back pack, purse or pocket. With the help of WiFi these devices can connect and interconnect everywhere in the world where there is internet access.
Websites and the ‘cloud’ – the great storage hub of all data that allows access and sharing of documents, files and software through cloud computing have taken remote working to a level that was not fathomable a decade ago. Companies can today be categorised as Remote-first and Remote-friendly businesses.
Remote-first businesses have teams that are able to work from anywhere and everywhere and still manage to deliver high quality output as required by their customers, managers and colleagues.
Remote friendly companies are the traditional businesses with premises in fixed locations and teams that commute to and from the business location. However, they allow their employees to perform some of their tasks remotely.
Statistics show that most people who switched to working remotely would wish to continue that way for the rest of their working lives. It is also noted that allowing employees to work remotely helps boost their retention rates. Remote working employees no longer need to bother about the inconveniences of going to work together with its associated expenses and the disruption caused when a team member leaves the employment.
To the employer, the cost of establishing and maintaining a brick and mortar office premises are eliminated. The cost of managing teams of people working together as a group in a physical location is also done away with.
There are however some challenges associated with working from home including interruptions by kids, partners, other family members, friends and pets. To avoid interruptions one should set aside some space designated as a home office, establish strict working hours which everyone respects. You should explain to family members and friends why it is important for you not to be interrupted during working times.
It is inevitable to experience technological hiccups once in a while which result in delays in ones work. A mobile hotspot or cell phone tethering can help you save precious time when the internet goes down. The employer should ensure that the worker is equipped with reliable communication facilities and have scheduled intersections if teams are in different time zones.
There is a tendency to overwork when one is working at home which can lead to fatigue, stress or even burnout. Work tends to be infinite – always having one more thing to check. To avoid this you should set appointments at the end of the day to get yourself out of the house. Set up reminders for time breaks. You can also create a physical boundary between your living space and your workspace so that you can actually close the door to the office. If it is not possible to have a physical door, a simple act like putting away the laptop (out of sight) can help as long as you overcome the temptation to log back on. Turn off notifications on your phone and computer so that you are not lured back to work after your scheduled working hours.
Sometimes it becomes boring to work alone without the usual interaction with colleagues and one tends to get lonely. You should create time to catch up with co-workers regularly and sometimes go out and work from the coffee shop or library.
Security of confidential information, worker management and productivity are other challenges management has to contend with.
The pandemic accelerated the adaptation of remote working and it is now certain that career paths will have to accommodate an increasing degree of remote working going forward.
David Ndirangu Bsc. International Business Administration (USIU- A) CPA (K) Business Management Consultant and Author of the book; This is DAVE. Email: ndirangudavid2023@gmail.com
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