This is the COVID work from home, hybrid, full office work you have done earlier.
Each reply must be at least 1 paragraph and 100 words in overall length.
Each post must address the original post and can either agree or disagree with the original
poster’s position. As with the original post – support your arguments, but you are only required to
have 1 supporting argument and cite at least 1 external source for this reply.
Statement1:
I work as an Information Technology Specialist at a small community college, and I remember
that at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, my employer, like many organizations, was
scrambling to implement its continuity of operations. Fortunately, we were in a good position, as
I had been charged with a project in 2014 to design, develop, and implement a technology known
as virtual desktop infrastructure, or more commonly known as VDI. I won’t go into all of the
geeky technical details, but basically, VDI allows one to access their work-provided desktop,
files, drive mappings, the whole nine yards, from anywhere, whether it be on premises at one’s
employer or from one’s home. All an employee needs is internet access.
Once we transitioned to work-from-home mode, I quickly realized that I missed the daily faceto-face interactions with my peers and students. Also, as the administrator of our VDI system, I
realized many needed direct supervision as I could see when employees logged in as well as
when they logged out. It was very easy to tell who was dedicated and who was not. Make no
mistake, I wasn’t snooping, but rather, I had to monitor resources to make sure our system had
high availability.
While remote work offers many benefits to employees as well as employers, such as increased
freedom and flexibility, a better work-life balance, and dramatic cost reductions for businesses
(Kitazawa, 2022), based on my personal experiences, I believe a hybrid work model is a better
solution for both employees and employers.
A total remote work-from-home policy presents challenges such as scheduling and coordinating
work across teams, providing opportunities for managers to praise and offer motivation, and
allowing managers to detect when to intervene with employees who are having problems
(Kitazawa, 2022).
Many companies believe that remote work does not promote or maintain an organization’s
culture or allow for effective employee management (Taplin, 2023). While many believed,
during the pandemic, that remote work was the way of the future, many tech companies are no
longer embracing a total remote work policy. Many organizations are realizing that it is difficult
to monitor the job development skills and progression of junior workers. Employers have also
realized that it’s hard to spot potential issues like worker dissatisfaction and health problems
(Taplin, 2023).
For many companies, remote work is a privilege or benefit, not a worker’s right. With the job
market being tight, a worker will need invaluable skills to secure a remote job, as pure remote
job opportunities are fading. However, flexible arrangements will help employers manage
employees and maintain culture while giving workers the flexibility they’re demanding (Taplin,
2023).
Statement2:
My position is to adopt a fully remote work schedule. Going into 2020, I don’t think anyone
expected a global pandemic, nor were businesses prepared for it. This may have caused some
panic in the workforce but many companies learned how to adjust their business model to be
successful with working remotely. After the Pandemic, some companies allowed their workers
to remain remote as they realized the positive aspects to this new way of running a business.
One reason that supports remote working is the large amount of money that companies can save
by not having to pay expensive commercial rent in urban areas. This includes office furniture,
utilities, office equipment and supplies, reimbursement for employee parking and gas, etc. All of
these overhead costs make up a large percentage of monthly business expenses. “Sun
Microsystems identified savings of $68 million a year in its real estate costs” (Silvermann, B.)
This large amount of excess money can be invested in creating easier and more efficient
communication to help improve remote work.
Another reason that supports remote working is positive work-life balance, especially when
workers are commuting into the city every day. By eliminating the one hour or more commute
each way, workers are free to spend more time with their families. They don’t arrive home
burned out from a long day at the office and another hour sitting in traffic. “Given that 36% of
respondents reported round trip commutes of two or more hours, it’s not surprising that the
“found time” has made workers happier, more productive employees. Another 73% said that
they had a better work-life balance thanks to working at home.” (Pelta, R.) These numbers are
based on 4,000 people who are currently working remote.
Now that remote work is the new norm for some employees, it may be difficult to transition them
to in person work. I believe it would be even more difficult for employees who have showed
increased output and productivity to bring them back to a hybrid schedule, much less a full time
in office schedule. There have been so many useful sources of communication like Zoom,
Microsoft Teams, and many other screen sharing and collaboration tools. These are examples of
why I believe a full remote schedule is not only beneficial for the employee and employer, but
also the business as a whole.