The game has moved on and we need to accept this. Covid19 has driven WFH (Work from Home) – or as I prefer to think of it: WFW – Work from Wherever.
The challenges of WFW
I am reading about the challenges posted by WFH or WFW. City centres are empty – empty office blocks, empty shops and restaurants, empty car parks, empty bars. Retail in city centres dying on its feet – shop owners unable to pay rent and rates.
The benefits of WFW
Those of us who need to get to work (e.g. hospital workers) can get there -no traffic challenges. Kids will be able to get to schools. Roads will be safer. And more room for cycle paths. And less pollution. And lots of us are enjoying working from home – no commute, cheaper to dress and eat, more relevant to our families (kids in the morning,drop/ collect, etc.).
Have we thought about how to make WFW work for us?
Yes – we have done the basics. Internet access, remote access to work systems, cloud based applications. conference and video calls. Some even have docking stations, multiple screens and fold away desks at home. And some are using collaborative software.
But most of this is basic. We have not yet really thought about how to make WFW work for everyone. How can all of the advances in technology be used to enable people to work MORE EFFECTIVELY by Working from Wherever? How do we do this without losing the positives of WFW? As businesses we want to be more productive and more profitable – or more sustainable. We have been looking for ways to motivate our teams, to encourage innovative thinking and to retain key talent. How do we leverage WFW without screwing it up?
Rethinking work – with teams Working from Wherever
We still want to grab market share, be profitable, be attractive to new talent, improve quality and efficiency, reward our stakeholders, grow. Can we do this more easily with a team who spend, say, 70% of their time WFW? How do we redesign processes around planning, marketing, product development, manufacturing, support and maintenance – to work better, when the team spend 70% of their time WFW?
