Covid-19 pandemic getting worse with days and people getting vaccinated, the IT sectors opening slowly and trying to get back to the pre-pandemic scenario. But the push by the employees to get back is turning against those people who have embraced the new remote system (work from home).
Big companies like Google to Ford Motor have promised flexibility in the workplace according to their choice and even chief executives of the offices have explained the bad effects of not being in physical contacts and how it diminishes company culture. But employers are not sure of the pros.
The past year has proved how big works can be done from any part of the world. Half of them have got accustomed to the advantages attached to it and other half are hesitant due to the virus fear.
A six-minute meeting drove a 33-year-old lady named Potia Twidt to quit her job. She is from Marietta Georgia. “I had just had it,” says Twidt.
She was working as a research compliance specialist in February by the promises of remote work. Then a day came to go back to her office for piled-up meetings. The in-person meeting was all about 6 minutes. She got ready and dropped her 2 kids at daycare. Then she drove to the office, had a brief meeting and decided to quit.
Twidt also said “It’s a boomer power-play”- that the bosses who are accustomed to the old traditional techniques and not very fluid with the new remote techniques are keen to regain tight control of their juniors. She says “They feel like we’re not working if they can’t see us”.
It’s kind of glimpse of the post-pandemic environment. Only 28% of the US office workers as back to work in their buildings according to an index of ten metro areas. Many employees are still lenient and not very serious about their work-life as the virus lingers.
“High-five to them,” said Sara Sutton, the CEO of Flex jobs, a job-service platform focused on flexible employment. “Remote work and hybrid are here to stay.”The top benefits of remote work are a pack of commuters and cost savings according to FelxJob survey of 2100 people. Respondents say they save an amount of $5000 per day because of the remote benefits which are a clear big add on.
A 30-year-old software developer named Jimmy Hendrix gave up his job in December as he was called back to the office. “During covid, I really started to see how much I enjoyed working for home,” says Hendrix. Now he does freelance work and also helps his girlfriend with her art business.
Getting accustomed to new-normal has increased a lot of time in my personal life. You can manage time according to your wishes while in the workplace, the wishes are not always left in our hands.
Some have opinions from the other side of the coin. A survey conducted in May showed that out of 1000 US adults 39% of adults would consider quitting if their employers are not flexible about remote work. The generation gap shows clearly here. Among Gen Y and Gen Z, the percentage was around 49 according to the poll on behalf of Bloomberg News.
Alison Green, founder of the workplace-advice website says that some things are definitely lost with remote work but added “I think we need to have a more nuanced discussion than hustlers only do well in the office”.
Twidt, the specialist has already lined up new job options for herself by the time she handed her resignation letter at a Washington-based company when she was called back to her workplace, her final straw came. She would prefer something 100% remote.People getting accustomed to the new normal is bringing a new curve of the world to play.
People want their life to be more flexible now to have choices from both sides of a coin, which we could never think about if we wouldn’t have witnessed this pandemic havoc.