Home Office or Office?

Bluebird

May 27, 2021

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Companies are permanently incorporating the home office into their lives. The future is for hybrid work, 3 days in the office, 2 days at home.

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The era of the industrial revolution was the last time when people drastically changed their working habits. Masses migrated from the fields and their homes closer to the factories to try to make a living. The pandemics had a proportionately important impact on the labor market, only this time it went the other way around. People left their offices to work from home, from a safe distance. Today, a year later, it seems that a hybrid work model is the future.

At the beginning of the pandemic, companies supported the home office and remote work models on different scales. Even those, who were doubtful tried and experienced the comfort of working from home, and the leaders could relax: their employees kept working. Home office and remote work models are no longer counterproductive.

Becoming a Permanent Part of Company Life

Several studies and researches show that remote work and home office have an increasingly bigger part in company life. According to data published by KSH (Hungarian Central Statistical Office) in summer 2020, after the first wave of the virus 7.5% of the employees worked remotely regularly or at least occasionally. It is 4 times more than before the pandemic.

On a regional level, this working method will remain more popular than it was before the virus. In the capital, during summer 2020, 21.2% of the employees were in a home office. (Before, in July 2019, this ratio stood at 6.2%). In other parts of the country, we can witness an even more spectacular change. In some counties, the once non-existent remote work and home office jumped to 5.5%.

What is Remote Work?

According to paragraph 196 of Labour Law remote work is:

« Remote work is the tasks one executes away from the company’s premises, that can be accomplished using a computer and the results of which are delivered electronically ».

In practice, this meant the employees who did their job away from the company. Typically, these people used to meet their employers and colleagues once a month. They didn’t have their own working station in the office.

During the pandemic, remote work became more accessible due to government decrees. It enabled setting the terms of an employment contract outside the boundaries of Labor Law. For instance, employees can now choose their preferred location of work and perform partial remote work during regular working hours. The employer can also reimburse part of the employee’s expenses while in remote work, up to 10% of the minimal wage.

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What is a Home office?

With the change in Labour Law, the difference between the home office and remote work became blurry. Before the pandemic, the home office was when the employees worked from home 1 or 2 days a week and went regularly to the office where they had their own workstation. Working from home was also possible on such occasions when a parent couldn’t go to work because of a sick child, however, they were able to do their job from home.

Common Home Office Jobs

Jobs done in an office environment using a computer are usually easily reorganized to remote work. After creating a safe office environment at home, you will need team communication software such as: Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, Google Meet or Zoom. The employer usually provides a computer enabling them to work from home, Occasionally the employees use their own, personal computer. In both cases, the personal data of the employee must be treated according to GDPR. A cloud-based IT infrastructure can greatly facilitate remote work. With adequate safety measures, these resources are accessible from anywhere in the world with an internet connection.

Which Jobs Are Inaccessible via Remote Access?

Jobs that need physical presence are unfortunately unfit for remote work. Even among computer-related jobs are some that cannot be performed in the home office. For instance, if the job includes sensitive data handling which requires special access program clearance due to security reasons. The situation is the same with companies that require teamwork and creative thinking, which is a lot more complicated to coordinate from afar.

Bluebird blog - home office

But What About IT?

The good news is that you can accomplish many tasks from your home office with the help of IT. Most of the development tasks for instance: software development, web development Frontend and Backend development as well as project management tasks, but also the automated testing jobs, DevOps and Data Science are perfectly adaptable for the home office. Moreover, you can work from home as an IT administrator or even as a security specialist thanks to remote access.

It is more difficult to accomplish tasks remotely for system coordinators and analysts as well as consultants given that hardware development depends mainly on the place and the tools at their disposal.

Is Home Office Efficient?

There are managers who believe that home office workers are less productive than those who work in the office. However, usually, the main problem is the managers themselves who would like to have their team insight every day. A lot of surveys and researches show that employees are more efficient working from home than in the office.

However to accomplish this a well-organized time and work management and quiet home environment are necessary. Even if the working hours are not set in stone, it is better to have a schedule. Place the work area in a well-separated space, corner, or separate room where you can work without interruption.

By making a to-do list every day for the following day can help increase efficiency. Put your daily tasks in one of 4 categories: important, urgent, not important, and not urgent. Start with important and urgent tasks, especially with those you do not want to do. If you accomplish unpleasant tasks early in the day, the more pleasant ones will feel like a treat.

Hybrid Work is the Future

It is already clear that working in a home office, without personal meetings is not sustainable in the long run. People need change and variety. Our work determines part of our social life. Online communication tools can maintain the connections for a while and help in team building. In a long term, however, the absence of personal interactions can lead to misunderstandings, decreases morale, lower, motivation and efficiency. We feel good in a community, we like to live in society, a lack of which affects our work as well.

Summary

Hybrid work is the future. 3 workdays in the office, and we finish the week with 2 days in the home office. The experience shows: hybrid work combines all the benefits of office and remote work, such as creative work, a happy employee, a better balance between professional and personal life.

Also, employers should not give up the concept of the home office or remote work, because natives of the digital era, workers of Generations Y and Z will not even talk to a potential employer without having the possibility of the home office. From this point of view, remote work is a great tool for employers wanting to build a brand.

If you are curious to find out if we have jobs that you can do from home, search for « remote » in our job offers!

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