{"id":33939,"date":"2020-03-17T08:57:41","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T12:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/?p=33939"},"modified":"2020-10-05T13:06:04","modified_gmt":"2020-10-05T17:06:04","slug":"telecommuting-and-the-coronavirus-what-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/2020\/03\/telecommuting-and-the-coronavirus-what-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Telecommuting and the coronavirus: what you need to know."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Telecommuting<\/p>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a dramatic increase in the number of people working from home, driving uncertainty for both employees and employers. Today\u2019s landscape includes more people working remotely for an indefinite amount of time, while having other worries top of mind.<\/p>\n

Not even businesses and employees who are accustomed to remote work are exempt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all have to recognize that this isn\u2019t business as usual,\u201d said Ravi Gajendran, associate professor of global leadership and management<\/a> at FIU Business. \u201cEveryone is focused on getting the work done, but it has to get done against a backdrop of so much uncertainty \u2013 managing the kids, school closures, buying groceries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ravi
Ravi Gajendran<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Key to success is having proactive communication from both sides.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmployees have to be proactive in reaching out to whoever they\u2019re working with and be willing to overcommunicate,\u201d Gajendran said. \u201cThey shouldn\u2019t hesitate to reach out to their manager or boss and ask what\u2019s needed from them on a weekly basis or how to break up those responsibilities into daily to-do lists.\u201d<\/p>\n

The advice is the same for managers and the business\u2019 leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re a leader, daily check-ins with subordinates once or twice a day will let you see that the person is able to get their work done,\u201d said Gajendran. These check-ins will also provide a closer look at the employee\u2019s circumstances \u2013 whether they\u2019re coping or overwhelmed, if they have children at home, or if they need deadline flexibility. \u201cYou help them troubleshoot and you provide reassurance that you\u2019re there to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

The challenges faced by workplaces have become an important component in the battle against the coronavirus. Since mid-February, 46 percent of U.S. businesses have implemented remote work policies and by all indicators that figure will continue to rise, according to a survey conducted by consultants Willis Towers Watson.<\/p>\n

One of the most serious threats to employees and companies impacted by the coronavirus outbreak is the lack of face-to-face interaction that telecommuting results in. Working in teams, getting input from others, walking over to someone\u2019s desk and even knowing someone\u2019s availability are put to the test.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of things are more obvious in an office setting, but within the context of working away, things become a little more uncertain,\u201d said Gajendran. \u201cThat\u2019s where being proactive is important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Telecommuting as a whole has been on the rise since 2005, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the U.S. Census. The BLS\u2019 2017 American Time Use Survey indicated that 23 percent of U.S. employees did some or all of their work at home.<\/p>\n

For companies and employees accustomed to remote work, transitioning to the current state should be relatively simple, Gajendran explained. By contrast, those who have never done it, or whose managers haven\u2019t been properly trained, may find it a terrible experience and never want to do it again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too early to say what kind of experience people are having, given that they\u2019re forced to do this,\u201d said Gajendran. \u201cThere\u2019s no blanket case to determine if working remotely will be more or less popular. It depends on the circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a dramatic increase in the number of people working from home, driving uncertainty for both employees and employers. Today\u2019s landscape includes more people working remotely for an indefinite amount of time, while having other worries top of mind. Not even businesses and employees who are accustomed to remote work are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":33947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4611,4],"tags":[4585,4387,4389,4483,4481],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33939"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33939"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33959,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33939\/revisions\/33959"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}