How long will it take before we have a vaccine for Corvid-19? What’s your guess about the “new normal” and work from home? My guess? It will take a year or more before a vaccine is found, manufactured, distributed and applied to millions of Americans. Even then, there will be a wait and see period. The pattern of working from home has been set and will continue. Why? Because businesses are:
- Selling off or shrinking the cost of large office space
- Finding that remote teams are forming effective links for getting results
- Reducing their costs while keeping high performance to gain back revenue
- Experiencing flexibility/alternatives in work-force planning and execution of strategies
- and finally, they are finding larger pools of talent nationally, when before the talent pool was local, around an office, and not having to transfer a new hire to the central office.
Since the talent pool is now expanded, companies can hire a remote worker a hundred if not a thousand miles away. Those individuals who can work remotely have the flexibility to establish their own work patterns to meet both their organization’s needs along with their own personal requirements.
Glassdoor research indicates that remote job openings are over 28% in the past 12 months while location-only postings are down 23%. Manpower also estimates that one in four jobs in the U.S. specify no location, from one in 10 at the beginning of the year. A Project Manager can be located almost anywhere and use special software to keep track of progress, connect with team members, document results and maintain liaison between customers and management. Job functions considered impractical for remote work historically are now performed without a hitch. The answer is technology. Systems and capabilities have advanced to support remote work. Those individuals who received a certificate as a PMP (Project Management Professional) are reaping the benefits as the supply/demand equation is tilted their way.
Employees are also finding new options for work that gives them opportunity for greater flexibility in hours, along with a potential increase in income or promotion without leaving their homes (or computer). Jobs that lend themselves to remote work easier are finance, project management, technology, administrative roles, recruiting, human resources and many others. Even though March and April of 2020 began the meltdown, employers are now opening up opportunities in remote work at an accelerated pace, both jobs that existed and new jobs created.
Of course, some jobs are not possible from a remote location, when the task or services are required to be “hands on” at a distinct location: Examples are truck drivers, fire, police, building contractors, healthcare workers and those jobs providing personal services.
What does it mean for you? Get certified, trained, or experience technology where you can enhance your market attractiveness by being able to perform at a high level in either an office environment or at a remote location.
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