Working From Home Is Common Due To The Outbreak Of COVID-19

Illustration of remote working or working remotely (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The outbreak of the coronavirus or COVID-19 in a number of countries has forced various industrial sectors to change their working styles. Not a few companies have been forced to lay off their employees to prevent the spread of the corona virus.

Google's parent company, Alphabet even recommends that all employees in North America work remotely or work from home until April 10. Google also prohibits its employees from making work visits to several countries.

Not only Google. Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook (FB) and NASA also encourage their employees to work from home for a while. Even the microblogging service Twitter has campaigned for remote working as an effort to limit the spread of the corona virus.

It's not just companies that have to lay off employees to prevent the corona virus outbreak. Many schools and universities have also started to change their teaching methods, from conventional methods to teaching online classrooms.

Launching from the CNBC page, the spread of the corona virus has made the policy of working or doing activities from home more commonplace. In terms of technological developments, video call conferencing or streaming services are much cheaper and easier to use to replace one's physical presence at an event.

The trend of working remotely from home is not new. However, for sure, since the outbreak of COVID-19, working from home has become an alternative to avoiding physical contact with other people who are sick or infected with the corona virus.

Gartner Fellow analyst Daryl Plummer revealed a surge in the number of companies laying off their employees since the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States (US). Moreover, the number of reported cases of corona virus infection has reached 900 cases.

Profit and Loss Working from Home

Working from home is felt to be more effective than having to come to the office, especially in order to prevent the widespread spread of COVID-19. Remote working can take advantage of the latest technologies, from communicating using e-mail to video call services.

In detail, the reasons for working at home seem right with the condition of the coronavirus outbreak which can infect people around without being noticed. Concerns are also what change the conventional system in the world of work.

Remote working, of course, will be very effective if it is supported by adequate internet services. The reason is, a number of jobs can be easily adapted to remote working styles.

Meetings can be replaced by teleconference services. Interface discussions can be replaced with video call services or through instant messaging services.

The remote working option also eliminates the need for large expenses for transportation and lunch. These things can be done simultaneously from where you live.

Remote working is suitable for those of you who have difficulty getting up in the morning, because you are not fixated on working hours like office people. So, of course there is no need to rush to leave in the morning because you can freely start sitting in front of the laptop. Most importantly, the work is done and the targets are achieved.

Remote working illustration (pixabay)

Loss

New York Post columnist Kevin Roose says working from home is not the best way in the world of work. According to him, working from home actually makes all jobs more difficult.

He admitted, doing work from home did improve communication relations with the family to be more harmonious, reducing transportation costs and other unexpected expenses. However, a number of studies have shown that those who complete work from home are much slower than working in an office.

According to Kevin, working together in the same room tends to be easier to solve a problem faster, rather than having to communicate remotely. Kevin believes that working remotely is fun because it can take longer breaks.

"However, not a few of those who work remotely find it difficult to separate their work from life at home," he wrote.

Opportunities for miscommunication between co-workers or even superiors will be very prone to occur. Instructions will be limited to instant messages or e-mails to personal e-mails.

Hopefully, the internet connection is not interrupted. Instructions from superiors and colleagues can be executed better. However, if your internet connection is being interrupted, it could be that the choice to work at home may actually worsen your career.

Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs, for example, is an opponent of remote working. He believes that the best work of Apple employees comes from accidental ideas with people around him, rather than sitting at home and just watching a computer screen all day.

"Creativity comes from spontaneous encounters, from random discussion," Jobs said. "You meet someone, you ask them what they are up to, you say 'Wow,' and immediately you come up with all kinds of ideas."

Until now, the number of cases of the corona virus or COVID-19 worldwide has reached 119,044. According to Johns Hopkins CSSE data, the most COVID-19 patients outside China occurred in Italy with 10,149 cases. Then followed by Iran 8,042 cases and South Korea with 7,755 cases.

Meanwhile, the number of patients who recovered and were declared free of the COVID-19 corona virus reached 65,762 people and the number of deaths due to COVID-19 reached 4,284 people. The most deaths outside of China were reported in Italy with 631 deaths, Iran 291 deaths, and South Korea 54 deaths.

In Indonesia, the number of patients identified with the corona virus has reached 34 people with one foreigner who has reportedly died. While only two patients have reportedly recovered and are free from the corona virus.