What Does COVID-19 have to do with The Pajama Effect?
Over 100,000 workers have been sent home to work. Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Bank of America and Citbank have all responded to the coronavirus threat by taking a proactive postion and sending people into the virtual workplace. The decision came from many of these companies after the potenital coronavirus pandemic reached higher levels this week and continues to climb. Obviously, these are progressive companies that value people. The virtual workplace relies on clear expectations, and independent workers. It values creativity, self -assessment, reflection, high performance and connection. It also requires trust. Trust on everyone’s part, employer and employee. The facts are over 40% of our workforce works virtually sometimes and that is over 50 million people.
It takes strong leadership and clear expectations to manage performance in the virtual workplace. The benefits to everyone can exceed the costs. There are benefits from saving money, ($20,000 per employee annually for the employer and $140 per month for the employee), to reducing traffic congestion, accidents and greenhouse gases. Working virtually saves fuel, energy costs, global warming and can reduce terrorist threats. It limits threats from pandemics, health risks, medical costs and can increase overall productivity. It gives the individual 15 to 25 days back each year because the average commute in the US is half an hour or more. It reduces accident related deaths and makes people happier. These are just some of the benefits from working virtaully, even more benefits are likely to be discovered. The more we all learn about how to respond in the virtual environment, the better we will be able to face new challenges. The virtaul workplace requires autonomy. It is a frontier that embraces self-reliance; no excuses, no victims, no alibis. The endless blending of work and play, family and profession has lessons for us all. It requires a different approach to managemnt and a very different view of compliance. Old rules no longer apply. How this all plays out will be very interesting. We all have a lot to learn from this expereince. This is the first time in history we have been able to have this many people working in the virtual workplace. We have the tools, we have the intention, now it’s time to make sure we have the leadership and support needed. Let’s see what we can learn from this. And thanks to these wonderful companies for being progressive and putting people first. #BobbeBaggio, #VirtualWork, #VirtualTeams, #ThePajamaEffect, #VirtualTouchpoints, #Touchpoints, #PJEffect, Virtual Office, #RemoteWork
