Reference no: EM133946350

The Case of Remote Workers Returning

In the late winter of 2020 the global economy entered a period of forced transition, upheaval, and disarray as COVID-19 spread around the globe with no regard for national boundaries. On March 11, the World Health Organization declared the spread of the virus a global pandemic.[1] In an effort to slow the spread and spare lives, quarantine measures were put in place with varying degrees of success and severity around the world.[2] As this occurred, businesses of all types were shuttered to the public. In most places, dining, entertainment, and personal services like hair nail salons, which were considered non-essential, were prohibited from opening their stores.[3][4] Many businesses, mostly those employing white-collar workers, did their best to transition to remote work. This practice was facilitated by a rise in new telecommunications technology, the demand for which created affordability and widespread acceptance of their use.[5]

As the COVID-19 pandemic progressed through 2020, 2021, and into 2022 there were many attempts, measures, and strategies used to combat the pandemic including vaccines, masking, and social distancing. Some businesses did not survive the turbulent times, others did, and some new forms of business emerged and thrived.[4][5] As the years passed, and with the option of in-person work either prohibited or considered too risky, businesses and workers adapted to remote work. Get online assignment help – 100% Original & AI-Free Content.

Though the pandemic forced this remote work on a scale not previously experienced, the practice of telecommuting (i.e., working from remote locations via the use of telecommunications technology) does not originate in the pandemic. As the functionality and affordability of telecommunications technology increased in the 21st century, more and more companies began to expect workers to answer emails, take phone calls, and complete projects whether they were physically in the office or not. This worked for and against the interest of employees in different ways. For some, it provided the freedom to work when and where they wanted without the hassle and extra work of commuting to an office. For others, it was an intrusion into their personal lives and made it difficult, and sometimes nearly impossible, to maintain a healthy distinction between work life and home life. Many employers and employees struck up formal agreements in which they employees were granted permission to work via telecommuting on a full-time (or near full-time) basis. This was desirable for the companies because they were no longer limited to hiring by geographical constraints, and for employees they could live where they preferred to live instead of where their office was located.

However, during the second decade of the 21st century, there was a growing concern that the increase of telecommuting was harming workplace innovation and productivity. Studies emerged showing how telecommuting workers may actually be more productive in the routine nature of their work at home, but that creativity and teamwork decreased to the potential detriment of overall organizational productivity.[6] As a result, many companies such as Yahoo, Best Buy, and Honeywell began to recall telecommuting workers back to the office.[7]

In 2016 Honeywell, Inc. was a $40 billion company focused in the aerospace, building technologies, performance materials and technologies, and safety and productivity solutions. That summer they announced that, in response to market pressures and declining performance, they planned to end their telecommuting practice for all employees whose job did not strictly require it, such as sales teams and field service technicians.[7] Honeywell had already been forced to make layoffs in its aerospace division and many saw the move as an attempt to galvanize organizational productivity in an effort to avoid further layoffs. Some employees shrugged off the move as another shift in corporate strategy and prepared to start commuting back to work. Yet many other employees, who were more comfortable with remote work and had built their life around this practice, voiced strong dissent.[7] Honeywell ultimately moved forward with the proposal. As a result they saw increasing productivity, and concomitant rise in share price, throughout much of 2017, 2018, and 2019.[8] However, like many other businesses, Honeywell was rocked by the economic upheaval during the pandemic and struggled to adjust the paradigm of fully remote work coupled with the other stressors of the early 20s.