Introduction

The pandemic has forced most offices to temporarily shut and with it the biggest shift in working processes since the industrial revolution. Like it or not, remote working is here to stay and with it a changing attitude to Employee Engagement, Outsourced Labour and Office Space. Novelty has its winners and losers. Sectors like BPO, Tech, Cybersecurity and Logistics industries experienced unprecedented growth yet declines in Retail and Hospitality have been attributed to restrictions on workplace gatherings on top of the obvious lack of customer footfall and demand. In this first volume of The Quote, we are going to explore what the impacts of this detachment look like and a prediction of the changes this will bring.

3 Impacts Of Workplace Detachment

One of the remarkable impacts has been how quickly we have accelerated the shift to remote work. With change happening at breakneck speed, some surprisingly contrasting statistics have emerged. Global Analytics firm Gallup concluded in a study that even though 41% of fully remote workers claimed higher productivity, only 30% were actively engaged in their work. Tom Haak from the HR Trend Institute suggests “that by working from home it becomes more difficult to create a clear boundary between work and private life…Boss and colleagues are out of sight most of the time.” The increasing detachment from office and employee, the longer restrictions are in place, will only lead to investment into new employee engagement software’s and management systems in order to better track employee progress.

Additionally, it has also become easier to outsource talent to the international market thus benefiting countries like the Philippines affordable and highly-skilled labour force. Flagship areas of the Philippine economy, like the BPO Sector, have benefited greatly from this. An Everest Group Study has projected outsourcing to the Philippines to increase by 64% amidst the continued ramifications of the global pandemic. As mentioned in the previous section, the inevitable decline in company engagement means that cost-saving measures, like labour outsourcing, are likely to be a constant feature following the years after restrictions lift. This could give rise to an upskilling of talent in countries like the Philippines so online training platforms and virtual schools, like SkillBean, could increase in popularity.

Clearly, however, one of the biggest casualties of a lack of office work has been the tradition of “going to the office” and all the nuances we have come to expect. The certainty is that one day the pandemic will stop, but so too will traditional work practices. Why would people go back to the office when output is still the same at home? This will lead to a reimagining of office spaces and the reasons for why people may travel to work. For example, Mckinsey suggests employees assigned to cubicles would work better from home, but for companies reliant on collaborative brainstorming, perhaps 80% of the office space can become dedicated collaboration rooms. Undoubtedly, a reimagining of office spaces is likely to occur and with it new methods around team collaboration.

How do we help?

Q2 HR Solutions Group of Companies 20 years of industry experience has helped nearly 3000 Filipinos despite the pandemic. Our bespoke HR By Design can help input key HR processes to manage your remote workforce. Our Recruitment by Design service can also tailor to your specific requirements to find the right people whether you are a multi-national or a domestic-based enterprise.