The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown has meant that the entire face of how we work as a nation was turned on its head overnight. This meant that many people were furloughed and asked not to come to work at all, whilst others had to adjust to a ‘new normal’ where they worked from home for the foreseeable future. As lockdown eases somewhat we are starting to see a slow return to what we knew as normal at the start of the year. For many companies and individuals however, there is a clear desire to continue this new type of flexible and remote working. In fact, we have seen a rise in the levels of remote work across multiple industries and it would be no surprise that in the future there are more people searching for remote work roles as opposed to working in-house.
There has definitely been a significant increase in the amount of people searching for remote work since the lockdown began. Whether this is data entry posts, marketing roles, copywriting posts or head of marketing roles, there is now an idea that the flexible working patterns of remote working could be here to stay for a much wider portion of the population than has ever been evident in the past. In fact, for many people during lockdown, working remotely has increased productivity and performance levels. This is a surprising part of the lockdown experience for many who have been forced to work from home full-time or part-time. People have felt a bit freer to focus when they have the time, and this has led to fewer instances of a lack of focus for hours on end.
As lockdown work monitoring software eases it will be interesting to see how many companies look at the stats and the levels of efficiency and productivity that have either remained the same or increased during lockdown and think about implementing this approach as a long-term strategy. If your workforce is happy working from home full-time or moving to a more flexible approach without set hours or with a rotation of working hours in the office, why would the company not take this up as a longer-term option. If you think about it, it can boost staff morale and employee retention rates, whilst saving a company money in the costs associated with offices that we all know about.
If you are looking to work in a different way to how you ever have before lockdown, with remote work desirable, or at the very least a more flexible way of working where you might work part-time in an office and the rest of the time remotely at home or elsewhere, it might be time to look for a new job role. When you make a big decision like this it is important to have in mind exactly what it is that you want out of your career. Find a recruitment company with the reputation that helps match you with your perfect employer. They can help tailor your CV and job applications, finding remote work that most suits your needs, skills, qualifications and salary expectations.
