The workplace has become synonymous with home since the beginning of the COVID-

19 or coronavirus pandemic that is wreaking havoc on the world. Businesses have had to quickly

pivot and adapt to a world wherein being less than six feet away from another person could bring

about severe illness and even death. Nearly two-thirds of workers in the United States have been

working remotely since the pandemic began in early March (Brenan, 2020) and as businesses

have shuttered and the future remains uncertain regarding a cure or vaccine, it is likely that

remote work will remain the norm for corporations. Prior to the pandemic, working from home

was a luxury or a slight accommodation for workers who needed flexibility in their schedules.

Rarely did a corporation’s employees primarily work from home, as it was only meant to be a

bridge or a supplement to in-office work. The necessity of an in-house, 40-hour, five-day work

week had already been heavily contested and with the pandemic, remote work has the great

potential to become the new norm. In the midst of a global pandemic, businesses and employees

are living through the effects of working from home, such as impacts on productivity, corporate

and employee cost savings, and what going to the office again may look like.

The pandemic has brought a great upheaval to the workforce and to some corporations’

anxieties and dismay, it may have made the realities of less productivity when not in the office a

reality. However, studies in the past few months have shown that employee productivity remains

largely undeterred by the shift to remote work. Mercer, a human resource and workplace benefits

firm, surveyed more than 800 employers, 94 percent of whom responded saying that productivity

was at the same levels or even higher than before the pandemic, even with remote work (Maurer,

2020). The “forced” experiment around remote working proves that employees can be trusted to

complete their work from home, only adding credence to the argument that daily in-office

working is unnecessary. The pandemic has shattered the longstanding aversions to remote work
including lack of in-person communication, technology issues, and the other distractions that

may be present in the home that are not in the workplace, such as young children and animals

(Sahadi, 2020). However, workers have shown their capabilities in handling flexible work

options that should have already been a part of the workplace. 83 percent of respondents to

Mercer’s survey note that even after the health crisis is over, they plan to implement more

flexible workplace policies. Remote work does have its drawbacks, but it appears that the

benefits are far outweighing them. Companies will have to contend, though, with the reality that

many workers are also working longer hours and the potential point of losing productivity per

hour.

Evaluating remote employees has become necessary in the pandemic and picking the

right metrics is more important than ever during the pandemic. Now that managers can no longer

track keystrokes or look over employees’ shoulders, as well as being obligated to consider

mental health, it is more imperative to focus on output and quality (Jones, 2020). To combat the

reality of workers possibly working overtime, an important metric is to keep track of hours

worked and overtime. Tools such as Time Doctor and Zoomshift are employee timesheet

applications that show how long employees spend on their work computers. Knowing the

workload that employees are managing should prompt managers to increase or decrease work

wherever needed. The lines between work and home being blurred makes it easier for employees

to overextend themselves and in this case, it is best to redistribute the workload. Another metric

is employee satisfaction which can be found out using surveys. Even in a highly sensitive and

stressful time, it shows to workers that their voices, concerns, and mental well-being matters as

everyone adjusts to a new reality (Boland et al., 2020). The results can yield the deepest thoughts

of employees, especially that of job security, work/life balance, fair treatment, and their overall
health. Tracking user and remote desktop activity can yield information on how to best improve

an internet connection, especially for businesses that rely heavily on it for video conferencing,

creating graphics, and more. Some corporations use a VPN to connect to servers for the office

which can drastically reduce speed. Ensuring that each person has access to a reliable local

server makes their jobs easier and increases productivity.

The companies surveyed by Mercer noted the obstacles that they felt presented while

implementing a more flexible workplace. The largest were resistance from leaders and a lack of

skills on behalf of leaders and managers on how to handle a flexible workforce. This resistance

and lack of knowledge is not enough to do away with the idea of a remote workforce. It has

proven in the pandemic to have no negative impact on the productivity of workers overall,

though there are certainly cases of individual difficulties. It is the responsibility of managers now

to keep employees safe and remote work is the most efficient way to do so.

The future in its entirety is uncertain and it remains to be seen how COVID-19 will shape

the rest of humanity’s days, especially in the workplace. Measuring the productivity of

employees working from home should take into account the constantly changing conditions of

the world and the added stress and pressures that the pandemic has brought on.
 References

Boland, B., De Smet, A., Palter, R., & Sanghvi, A. (2020, June 19). Reimagining the office and

work life after COVID-19. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-

functions/organization/our-insights/reimagining-the-office-and-work-life-after-covid-19. 

Jones, O. (2020, August 11). 5 Metrics for Remote Workers You Should Track. Fond.

https://www.fond.co/blog/5-metrics-for-remote-workers/.

Maurer, R. (2020, September 16). Study Finds Productivity Not Deterred by Shift to Remote

Work. https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-news/pages/study-productivity-shift-

remote-work-covid-coronavirus.aspx.

Sahadi, J. (2020, August 27). 90% of employers say working remotely hasn't hurt productivity.

CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/27/success/work-from-home-employer-plans-for-

more-flexible-policies/index.html.