The Impact of the Work From Home Setup

And its Advantages in New Normal

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December 2022
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Since the Covid-19 virus spread rapidly over the past two years on every continent,

there have been required health regulations that must be followed in every corner of the

world. This has had a profound impact on everyone's life, especially those of those who are

employed. Some people have lost their employment as a result of corporate failure, but on the

other side, some businesses have adapted to the changes, and these sorts of occupations

include those in offices, call centers, and teaching.

Many people had never heard of WFH before the epidemic, and practices like these

were thought to be impractical in densely crowded areas like Hong Kong. This is mostly due

to the fact that working from home demands a peaceful, dedicated place, which can be

difficult for individuals who live in compact homes. The average living area per person in

Hong Kong was about 161 sq ft in 2018 (Task Force on Land Supply), which is around 25%

less than Tokyo and 60% less than Singapore (Ng 2018). Hong Kong is undeniably famed for

its small residences. The city as a whole has long held the view that employees must

physically be present in the office to perform their duties. Many people are working remotely

for the first time because of the pandemic's forced trial run of WFH in the city, and for the

most part, it is working well. As a result, it would be highly significant to evaluate if WFH

may serve as one of the city's future working models given its high population density.

The tendency toward remote work was already accelerating before 2020. But with the

COVID-19 epidemic, it skyrocketed. In 2021, the pandemic will continue to affect how we

do business. 45% of those who work remotely cite the epidemic as their primary motivation.

While 46% of respondents state that their organizations plan to make remote work

permanent. Even if a lot of individuals are now required to work from home, it seems that the

majority approves of the trend and wants it to continue. In fact, 97% of employees who work
remotely say they would prefer to continue doing so for the rest of their life, at least

periodically. The benefits of working remotely for workers seem to outweigh the drawbacks.
II. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

For the past two years when the Covid-19 virus spread widely in every continent that

leads to a lockdown, travel restriction, and with mandatory health protocols that is need to be

followed in every corner of every places are the minute where every individuals’ lives

changes mostly to every working individuals. There are some who lost their job due to

company bankruptcy but on the other hand there are some company who adapts the changes

and this types of jobs are office type of job, call center companies, and teachers.

Work from home setup during pandemic is one of the big step, mostly for foo people

who are used to and prefers on-site job but in order to afford daily expenses people need to

adapt changes and find some job that is suitable with the educational background and

experience. Based some research (2022) their study examines: how the forced transition to

WFH arrangements changed the allocation of time across different activities (e.g. the relative

importance of activities performed alone vs. those that require communication and

coordination with others); whether the transition affected how these activities are conducted

(for example, length of meetings); whether the changes in time allocation and activity

structure varied across knowledge workers with managerial responsibilities vs. individual

contributors; and how new work arrangements are correlated with objective and subjective

measures of well-being.

Since 2020 when pandemic arise that affect our daily living and lifestyle most

specifically on our working setup and status working from home is very convenient. There is

no close contact to anyone mostly to those suspected cases or asymptomatic patients and save

up time and effort when reporting on work. Before Pandemic based on a research (2020),

discussions on the future of work-life were unclear and often questioned. COVID-10 forced a

decision upon people, nad with the world having to adapt quickly. Many businesses opted to

try WFH. The WFH practices have been employed widely, as can seen in the U.S., where
studies shown in May 2020, 35.2% of the workforce worked from home, an increase from

8.2% in february.

Before the pandemic, the idea of WFH was a fantasy to many people, but such

practice was considered not practicable for heavily populated cities like Hong Kong. This is

principally because home working requires a quiet and dedicated space to perform work

duties, which can be a real challenge for those living in tiny homes. Hong Kong is

undoubtedly famous for having tiny homes, in which the average living space per person was

only 161 sq ft. in 2018 (Task Force on Land Supply 2018), which is about 25% lower than

Tokyo and 60% lower than Singapore (Ng 2018). Over the years, there has been a belief

throughout the city that workers need to be physically present in the office to carry out the

job. Now that the pandemic has forced a trial run for WFH in the city, for many, it is their

first time to work remotely and to a large extent it is proving to be successful. Therefore, a

unique opportunity to assess the possibility of having WFH as one of the future working

models for such a densely populated city has high impact.

III. TRENDS, ISSUE AND/OR BEST PRACTICES

Working from Home [WFH] has been rising for years, as more occupations use

computers and telecommunications, more people have reliable home Internet connections,

and more families have both parents working full time. The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated

this process by forcing a large fraction of the global workforce to switch to WFH at least

temporarily. Compared to Working from the Office [WFO], WFH has the potential to reduce

commute time, provide more flexible working hours, increase job satisfaction, and improve

work-life balance. However, little is yet known about some of the more fundamental

consequences of WFH, including its effects on productivity and which factors play a role in

making WFH more or less productive than WFO (WSJ, 2020; Financial Times, 2021b).

Some of the issues that is commonly tackled about WFH setup is due to their WiFi

stability and status, geographical areas, and health status. Most of the times there are lots of

troubles regarding to the WiFi connection because lot of company most specifically PLDT

and Converge who is the most common WiFi that is been useed whitin our country has a lots

of trouble shooting and system problem that has a huge effect to their work and tasks.

Before 2020, the trend toward remote work was already accelerating. But after the

COVID-19 outbreak, it shot through the roof. The epidemic is still having an impact on how

we operate in 2021. The outbreak, according to 45% of remote workers, is the reason they are

working from home. While 46% report that their companies intend to make remote

employment permanent. Despite the fact that many people are now compelled to work from

home, it appears the majority is content with the development and wants it to continue. In

actuality, 97% of the workforce that works remotely would like to do so for the remainder of

their lives, at least occasionally. It appears that for employees, the advantages of remote work

outweigh the disadvantages.

 The best practices for a WFH setup is first setting your schedule so that your time is

manage and being timeliness is very important in your work because it will cause you less

effort and stress. Creating a workplace within your home that will give you bounderies with

your home is much better on focusing to your work and task, plus it also give you a peace of

mind, no noise or someone who might distract you on your work time.And lastly, WFH setup

will give you much more time and let you have lots of learning opportunities on your own

way and time within the place you are comfortable with and with the clothes you are prefer to

wear.
IV. CONCLUSION

It's probable that WFH also caused a reduction in intangibles that employees value.

and associates Corporate culture, professional networks, and working relationships would

have suffered. Subtly, persons who work in the same place come into contact with each other

inadvertently. that is cause "productive accidents" that promote creativity and new working

partnerships. It is not easy to create comparable unanticipated interactions during

teleconferences. Lastly, there were less opportunities for workers. for mentoring and face-to-

face meetings with managers. This probably hindered the growth of human resources.

We looked at a number of potential causes for the productivity drop. Our major

justification is that performing some tasks in a virtual environment is more challenging. We

offer. There is abundant proof that this is the case. Meetings took up more time and

frequently included bigger teams. Direct interactions with the boss or other employees took

up less time. Employees also reduced the number of persons and business units they

interacted with in their communication zones. outside and inside the company. Collectively,

these show that communication and cooperation costs When done virtually, efficiency and

coordination are improved. Additionally, these elements are probably the causes of

alterations when it comes to productivity reduction, concentrate time, and both.

V. REFERENCES

Working from Home during COVID-19: Evidence from time-use studies (2022, Sept 5).

https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/21-094_d4978fbf-11ea-49aa-bb88-

09d39e88a272.pdf

The impact of working from home during COVID-19 on work and life domains: an

exploratory study on Hong Kong (2020, Dec 23)

https://doi.org/10.1080/25741292.2020.1863560

Work From Home & Productivity: Evidence from Personnel & Analytics Data on IT

Professionals (2021, July 13)

https://bfi.uchicago.edu/wp-content/upload/2021/05/BFI_WP_2021-56.pdf