The Covid-19 pandemic revolutionized labor markets around the world and brought new schemes that hundreds of companies have definitively adopted, but at the same time, many others refuse to implement. The “home office” or remote work is one of them.
Although many jobs are impossible to think of in remote or even hybrid schemes due to the nature of the activity, the reality is that in the world of professional services almost all occupations could carry out their activities from their homes or any other part of the world, in where labor productivity is the main indicator instead of hours worked.
In Mexico, two fundamental problems are identified that make companies still skeptical of remote work schemes: the first is that the change was revolutionary and was implemented suddenly and the second, that the evaluation measures are still not clear to know the efficiency of its collaborators.
“I think that precisely, on the one hand, remote work schemes were totally new in the case of Mexico, it was known that before the pandemic only 14% of companies supported this scheme, but in reality it was not known and companies They say that they do not know what remote schemes are like and there is some mistrust about whether workers are going to fulfill their responsibilities or if they are going to have the labor productivity that they had in face-to-face schemes, commented Rogelio Castillejos, co-founder of Remote Work, an initiative that seeks to encourage this labor scheme in administrative, accounting and economic areas.
This creates a significant obstacle to the development of remote work in the Mexican labor market, because on the one hand employers do not feel ready to apply these schemes and on the other hand, sometimes the workers themselves do not know how to manage them, added Rogelio Castillejos. in an interview with The Economist.
And why should remote work be defended?
Although there are still great barriers to remote or hybrid work schemes, multiple studies have proven that both workers and companies can bring benefits.
Remote work can serve as a weapon of labor inclusion for students and caregivers. Not only for women who are heads of family, but also to encourage the integration of men in household activities and care for third parties.
“Precisely as a consequence of the pandemic, Remote Work was born, among our circles of friends and family we thought of the need to encourage and open this market. Because during the pandemic, with the confinements, we began to have the opportunity to spend more time with our children and daughters or just organize ourselves better and take advantage of the time and suddenly return to the offices because it no longer suits you, then we realized that we had to encourage remote work and get closer to the companies,” Castillejos commented.
Remote work also opens up job opportunities for young people who are studying or have recently graduated and who probably cannot work in face-to-face occupations, but who, with the flexibility of the home office, can integrate into the labor market and be productive.
Home office work schemes can also imply a win-win for companies and their collaborators in terms of cost reduction. While employers can save on rent or utilities, workers also avoid travel or meal expenses. It’s even important to think about time savings, which are a collective benefit, having fewer people in traffic has a major impact on society and the environment, she added.
Although the home office in general is a scheme worth fighting for, it is important to encourage it accompanied by metrics and policies that are aimed at increasing labor productivity, a better balance between life and work and a reduction in employment gaps. inequality in the labor market.