The Coronavirus started out as a small outbreak in Wuhan, China. Since then, it’s spread like wildfire, taking over major parts of the country and beyond.
Now, with thousands of cases across Europe – most specifically in Italy and France – people are beginning to really take notice of what is to come. With many companies playing risky games over who can and cannot get to work from home, though, it could leave people in a weird position.
Do you want to risk infection? Or do you want to risk losing your job for not complying?
The coronavirus might become the first big opportunity for companies worldwide to actually try out a proper working from system. Many companies have tried it over the years, with varied success. Remote working, especially for those in the IT industry, is inherently possible.
From stopping people traveling to and from work for a job they could do at home, to making people work harder in their own comfort zone, working from home has a lot of positive benefits to it.
Indeed, this has been proven more times than it has to be. With the number of sick days and vacation requests going up for those who need to go back to working in the office, added to poor staff morale and lowered productivity, it’s easy to see why people might be worried about what is to come.
Why, then, are companies being so needlessly obtuse about the ability to let staff work from their own homes?
Working from Home: A Net Positive
Having people working from home is good for the environment. Making people have to drive to work is bad for pollution, but also bad for their health. It means that many of their personal hours per week are taken up by driving to work, vastly reducing your opportunities.
It also means that more people get ill due to sedentary lifestyles, meaning we need more health treatment, further hurting personal budgets and the public purse.
We also make sure that paper and plastic reduction is massively aided by not having everyone travel into work on a daily basis. While some might not like the idea of being isolated at home and losing that social contact, in the middle of a virus outbreak that might not be something they can decide.
It can also lead to you feeling like you can never be away from the keyboard, leaving you feeling as if you never truly stop working. After all, if you can do something at home, your boss(es) might just expect you to do it all for them even after company hours.
Still, in this period of drama caused by the 2020 Coronavirus outbreak, it’s vital that changes are made as soon as possible.
Working from home is better for the majority, it’s not going to limit productivity, and it could stop the spread of the virus – all the while ensuring that businesses don’t need to lose their ability to operate.
Why, then, would this be a bad thing?
The sooner we can get more people working from home, the sooner we should see a reduction in Coronavirus numbers.