In the first, very difficult days of this pandemic, there were many who, "seeing" a little more in front of everyone else, said that it is a given that our life after all this adventure, will be very different in relation to this that we knew until today.
If someone sits down and sees the changes that have already been made then it is certain that they will chant (probably with a dose of reflection) that these people were right.
Many changes are coming or have already come. And we are not talking about the temporary restrictive measures. We are talking about those who, perhaps on the occasion of the restrictive measures, seem to have come to stay. Nothing more permanent than temporary, one would say, and especially in this case he would be absolutely right.
Some of these changes will be for the better. Some others, again, no. For all, however, the best judge is time. He will show if they help or make our lives even more difficult.
One of these changes (one could more roundly call them "new trends") is the abolition of the physical offices of large companies abroad and the introduction of its now permanent form. working distance.
No one can say for sure that this will "work out" for the good of the employees or for the bad. For the time being and given that the risk of the coronavirus spreading has not disappeared, it is good, given that having many people together in the same place and with the air conditioner in full, obviously poses risks.
Η pandemic, however, sooner or later it will expire. This new treaty will radically change the lives of workers.
And if someone is in a hurry to say that it would be good for employees to work permanently from their homes, they should probably reconsider reading surveys such as conducted by the European Union Eurofound service, which showed that more than a third of workers in the 27 EU member states have started teleworking due to the pandemic. Of these, 26% live in homes with children under the age of 12 and 10% with children aged 12 to 17. Of those living with younger children, 22% said they have difficulty concentrating at work all the time or most of the time. . In contrast, the percentage of households without children or with older children experiencing teleworking problems is 5% and 7% respectively.
Clearly, then, it is a situation that can not be described as easy, and the most important thing, as many experts say, is that without control and the necessary institutional framework, the development of this "new trend" could lead to further flexibility of labor relations.
The next day of his pandemic coronavirus, however, it is here and a closer look at the business reporting abroad shows how the big companies will move. Employees in them are now faced with a new reality.
Some of them have announced that they will open (at best) either in the Fall or at the beginning of 2021!
This may sound almost normal today, but a few months ago, it was moving in the realm of science fiction.
Twitter's Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg Facebook made the first announcements. They find many imitators, especially in technology companies with a leading position in their field - which means that soon others will follow the decision.
"The Facebook that it will begin to allow most of its employees to request a permanent change in their jobs that will allow them to work remotely. The company will start today, making most of its jobs in the US eligible for remote recruitment, and will start accepting applications for exclusively remote jobs later this year, the company said in a statement.
Similarly, Twitter for the time being "employees can continue to work from home for as long as they deem necessary", but it has already been announced that the measure will be extended to the post-covid-19 time.
On the same wavelength is the popular Shopify that is now… establishing itself as a digital company. "We will keep our offices closed until 2021, so that we can re-process this new reality. After that, most will operate remotely. "The central position of the office is over," he said in a statement.
Aweber, a leading email marketing software company with more than 1.000.000 customers worldwide, announced that "the future for AWeber's begins today as a telecommuting company - representing our biggest organizational change in 21 years".
"Employees will be able to work in the office but will all have the option of working remotely or splitting their time between working in and out of the office," said cryptocurrency company Coinbase.
The same goes for the "Lambda School" which announced that it will close its offices by at least next August but at the same time presented a permanent policy for work from anywhere! "Employees are free to work from home, from an office, or from anywhere within the United States. "Our offices will remain closed until the end of August at least," the announcement said.
A few days ago Otis launched Work from Anywhere. We will maintain our office in New York as our headquarters (these are rental offices). "Everyone can work from anywhere in the US!"
What Jack Dorsey applies to Twitter It also applies to Square, where it has already announced that "moving forward, Square employees will be able to work permanently from home, even when the offices start reopening".
Finally, Upwork, which has been implementing a similar model for many years, decided to make it μ more permanent and announced that because it "knows first hand the incredible results that decentralized teams can offer, based on our 20 years of experience as a remote work company "We are now permanently embracing a predominantly remote model."
In addition to the companies that have legalized this particular working model, there are also those that have closed their offices for many months in an attempt to see if all this can work on a more permanent basis.
First and best h Google which to some extent already implements remote work but all indications are that it will soon extend it. For now, the internet giant has announced that its offices will remain closed until January 2021, and we will see.
Companies such as Salesforce and Zillow will also open in the first month of next year. For February 2021, Box has set the opening of its offices.
On the contrary Amazon and PayPal it seems that before moving on to the new model they will try to open their offices next October.