As companies scramble to continue to function in the face of social distancing, working from home has proven a measure that is serendipitous to company morale and safe during the pandemic.
“My agency understands it will be difficult to work remotely with the kids home. However, I’m a planner, so I get up early to have my work day early and will be starting school activities with the kids shortly,” said Sarah Samson of Bayport, describing a sce- nario that many have found themselves in, where both they and their children will be “telecommuting” for at the least the rest of the month.
From 2005 to 2017, there was an increase of 159 percent in telecommuting work with technology rapidly adapting to the new demand. In a poll done by FlexJobs in February of this year, they found that 80 percent of respondents would turn down a prospective job that did not offer remote working. It’s not surprising, especially since in 2019 there were 4.7 million, or 3.4 percent of the population telecommuting.
“I remote in for work daily, so not much has changed for me other than that my daughter is home with me. We actually ran out over the weekend and picked up another laptop in preparation of my wife having to work from home,” said Jason Borowski of Blue Point, who went on to lament that his wife’s company has been dubious of telecommuting and is not prepared for the transition to working from home in the wake of the pandemic.
Companies with the capability to work from home have traditionally saved the “perk” of telecommuting for more senior staff, but have now had to open the option to all staff in the face of govern- ment mandates and safety.
“I teach graduate students in a physi- cian assistant program in the city. I had one remote day a week until last week when we all moved to an all online synchronous learning platform. This generation of students is very tech savvy; however, as faculty you don’t have to be. The programs that we use to teach are simple to use. For me it frees up four hours a day I normally use to commute, so I love it!,” said Tracy Dura Mater, a clinical associate professor at Pace University, confirming that a technology-based learning and working system is likely to overtake industries once traditionally seen as in-person only.
As the pandemic continues and timelines to return to normal social activities remain unknown, telecommuting has been a savior in continuing job productivity for many professions, with companies realizing capabilities they had not envisioned in this scope before.
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