Extended quarantine pushes employees, businesses to expand Work-From-Home capabilities

With the enhanced community quarantine extended in Metro Manila and certain regions/cities in the Philippines, a lot of companies are continuing work-from-home (WFH) procedures. While it seems that most workers have been forced to WFH suddenly because of the quarantine, according to research by Lenovo, an increasing number of employees have been at least somewhat ready to shift to such a setup, at least in some countries that is.

The Lenovo study, which looked at employee attitudes towards WFH in China, Japan, Germany, Italy, and the US, found that a majority of employees (87%) felt at least somewhat ready to make the shift to WFH when required. Most had already been either encouraged (46%) or required (26%) to WFH as part of COVID-19 mitigation measures. Furthermore, 77% expect that companies will either encourage or at least be more open to letting staff work remotely in the future.

“Our survey suggests that the employee experience was already changing before the pandemic hit,” said Michael Ngan, President and General Manager of Lenovo Philippines. “For example, in the past 15 years, the number of those regularly working from home has grown 159% in the US and the same increase is happening in other markets. While our current situation is extraordinary, we are seeing a real willingness from workers to adapt and adopt flexible work arrangements. This confirms that corporate technology investments are paying off, as most people now feel productive at home and believe that the workforce will move more in this direction once the crisis has passed.”

Given that the rapid transition to WFH setups worked for a number of industries, it won’t be surprising to see companies continue to this trend even when the quarantine gets relaxed or even lifted entirely. After all, the Telecommuting Act (R.A. 11165) was signed into law even before the quarantine, and it allows employees to conduct work at home or remotely outside the workplace.

Of course, working from home brings a lot of unique challenges. If you’re struggling with such as setup, here are some tips from Lenovo: