Remote work means when an employee carries out his duties in a location different from the physical or central office. It may be a from home, shared offices, private places, and more.
There was a question that was asked by one of my lecturers back in my school days in a course called ICT in Business Education. He said, "Paperless Office, a myth or a reality".
Now it is a reality, it has even gone beyond a paperless office, it is now remote work.
A few years ago, it has always been an office thing for everybody, but most especially with the advancement in technology, work has been very flexible. You do not have to be in the office before you can carry out your duties. However, this has its challenges and opportunities. Let me start with the opportunities.
Opportunities of Remote Work.
During the period of the population COVID-19 pandemic, no one could go to work but that still didn't stop people from carrying out their duties, almost all organizations switched to remote work, they have to work from home and private places, and the organizational goals were still achieved and as well, it saves time and money commuting.
Also, it increases opportunities for jobs, there are lots of jobs where you don't need an office as long as you have a laptop and necessary ICT gadgets. Like graphic design, web design, marketing, online writing, and many more.
Now talking about the challenges.
In as much as working remotely is very flexible and has limitless opportunities attached to it, it has its challenges.
Even if you're working from home, it is very challenging to set boundaries between your work and home, and not let one interfere with the other.
Also, remote work can lead to a gap in communication, which can lead to delayed responses, and sometimes misunderstanding and taking you some time to get on the same page with others.
Since most remote work is technologically based, a breakdown in the technology or lack of required tech tools can ruin whatever you want to achieve at the moment and slow things down for you or may not give you the desired result.
I can remember during the COVID-19 pandemic, where we had to teach our students from home. Due to socio-economic factors, and level of computer literacy, it was difficult to get many students to participate in online classes, I had to keep reaching out to those with these tools to share with those close to them who couldn't afford them. So, it slowed down a lot of things, it was very challenging to cover the intended topics.
In conclusion, I think remote work is preferable as it has beneficial more opportunities than challenges, the challenges can be worked on to have a smooth and enjoyable work experience. And I believe, with proper support measures from the appropriate quarters, the challenges can be overcome.
Thank you for reading!
This is in response to the decency support writing contest.
I'm @psalmy05!