The 'work from home' scam
Thanks to the Covid-19 breakout and the serious lockdowns of 2020, working from home has taken a completely new turn and while many organisations keep fighting it, we know it's here to stay.
Before 2020, working from home wasn't exactly very common in a lot of parts of the world. However, they realised that with a lot of measures put in place many people in different sectors could work adequately from home.
From the banking sector to logistics. Showing up at work became only relevant when it was the last course of action. If a situation couldn't be handled over the internet or through a phone call, that's when you needed to see the person in charge.
What impressed me the most was this was able to work in a county like Nigeria where everyone leaves their home for the simplest of jobs. I was impressed with how people in the banking sector who made showing up at work so important were able to work really well from home.
I remember a certain instance in 2020 when a bank staff drove to my house just to complete an application I was being too stubborn to complete online. I think he had a thing for me and used that as an excuse but I found his work ethic interesting.
How's it going now
These days, we now have hybrid staff. These staff work at home but have to show up at work for meetings and on any random day, their boss decides to see their faces.
This also became a thing after the lockdowns. I think this option is unnecessary right now because if I can work from home, why do I need to show up at the office?
It's more like a middle ground so people don't mind it. Anything but a 100% office job. The cost of running an office in comparison to what it costs to have your staff work within those office hours in their homes makes the better option pretty clear.
It saves a lot of stress and in some cases, you even get to use your staff like slaves by reaching out to them every time of the day just because you can.
Some offices even opt to pay their home staff a little less than they would normally pay or they get staff from other less developed countries who have the same or even more skills than their other staff just so they get to pay them a lot less.
There are still a lot of fixes to be made but as far as working from home is concerned, it's a no-brainer. The fight will go on like all developments, but in the end, it's bound to take over as many aspects of the workforce as possible.
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Working from home is nice in some ways. I run my own business from home, but when it is your own business, that is very different to working from home as part of a team in a larger organisation.
Here in the UK, it has become an excuse for companies to slash their customer service teams, and the quality of customer service from most large companies is now virtually non-existent.
But for people who are used to working in an office as part of a team, who are used to being supervised and given guidance, working from home can become an isolating experience. People lose their sense of connection to the company, and without the discipline imposed by an office environment, can easily become lazy and unproductive.
A friend of mine, who is a manager in a medium-large company summed it up nicely. He said, "Work from home ? We have enough trouble getting them to work from work !"