Working Remotely During the Covid-19 Pandemic
With the Covid-19 virus, there have been radical changes in most areas of our lives. To prevent the spread of the virus, countries have imposed some restrictions such as curfews, closure of non-essential places, schools' transition to distance education, and bans on mass events. Within the scope of these restrictions, many companies have switched to remote working systems.
Remote work is carried out outside the environment where the current work is done, through various communication technologies such as mobile phones, tablets and computers. The work to be done is planned between the employer and the employee, and the employee is expected to stick to this schedule.
From the employees' perspective, it can be said that working remotely has both advantages and disadvantages. The ability of employees to determine the environment in which they will work and to choose the temperature, design, light and clothing of the environment are examples of these advantages. In addition, the employee can use the most productive work interval for himself by determining the tasks he is responsible for according to his own timetable. In situations where it is necessary to go to the workplace, the advantageous points of the employee can be mentioned. For example, traffic, conflict with someone, etc. The likelihood of encountering stressful life events will decrease. Thanks to all these, it is predicted that employees' motivation for their jobs will increase, and at the same time, remote working will be a system that helps them get to know themselves, as employees have flexibility in choosing the work environment.
Besides the advantages of working remotely, there are also many disadvantages. The biggest of these disadvantages is asynchronous communication. Asynchronous communication is the delayed and irregular communication between employees. As employees turn to an individual work schedule, their priorities may not match those of other colleagues, thus creating the foundations of asynchronous communication. This may disrupt the employees' work schedule. Although people can determine their own working environment, for some people, their environment may not be suitable for working under pandemic conditions. For example, having problems with the internet connection, too much noise in the work environment, and insufficient technology resources can be considered disadvantages for the employee. In addition, having the working environment and private life in the same place may create problems in terms of determining boundaries. Especially if the employee is inadequate in planning or if there is no suitable environment to separate his/her private life from work, it becomes inevitable that the work-private life balance will be disrupted. If the balance is disrupted, the employee may feel like he or she is constantly working and may begin to have negative feelings towards his or her job, or family conflicts may occur as he or she reconciles the situation with his or her family. Another big disadvantage of working remotely is not being able to socialize. This situation becomes a bigger problem for employees, especially since socializing under pandemic conditions poses a risk to health.
Certain arrangements can be made to minimize the disadvantages of remote working. First of all, it is recommended that the manager or employees prepare a work schedule among themselves to eliminate asynchronous communication. In addition, preparing the employee as if he were going to work, designating a room of his own at home, and spending all his working hours in this room could be a solution in terms of work-private life balance. However, if the employee does not have the opportunity to designate his own room, he can designate his own work environment in the same room as other members of the house but in a certain area. In addition to the contribution of the employee to work-private life balance, preparing the employee as if he or she is going to work will also contribute to the employee's motivation as it prevents monotony. In addition, socializing with friends, even from a distance, can increase employee motivation. Thus, remote working can become an advantageous system with few disadvantages for employees.