Remote working is a form of arrangement where the employee does not have to commute to the workplace. The rise and success of remote working have been facilitated by technological development. Technological advancements offer the ability to get work done despite the worker’s location and enable communication with coworkers and clients. These forms of technology include local area networks, collaborative software, conference calling, internet access, private visual networks cloud computing, video telephony and Voice over Internet Protocol (IP) technologies. Teleworking has been assisted by the technology involved in telecommunication, such as smartphones, tablet computers, laptops, landline telephones and desktop computers. There have also been developments of software that have come in handy to facilitate remote working, such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Cisco WebEx, Stack, WhatsApp and Google Meet.
The history of remote working is traced back to the 1970s when Jack Nilles developed the name telework or telecommuting. Technology was significant that linked the satellite offices to the mainframes downtown using dumb terminals used as a network bridge. Five International Business Machines (IBM) corporation employees were used as an experiment and were allowed to work from home, which was a success (Yu et al., 2019). The number of telecommuters increased to 2,000 in 1983, and the figure continued to grow in the coming years. From 2003 to 2006, the number of remote workers increased by 4 million (Espitia et al., 2022). The number of remote workers then rose drastically following the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, many companies have mandated their workers to work from home permanently or temporarily. Other companies were involved in the payment of home office equipment. The technologies have advanced quickly, and many companies have shifted away from the traditional offices and encouraged a remote workforce adversely.
Remote working has affected individuals differently, and its success involves the effective use of technology. The employee may need to purchase equipment if the company does not provide it. Most older workers may find it hard to utilize the technologies applicable to telecommuting, unlike the younger workers (Burke & Raad, 2019). When it comes to gender, female workers fancy remote work more than men. Remote working has enabled women to gain flexibility and adequate time to care for the family (Nash & Churchill, 2020). Women have been advantaged where remote work has narrowed down the gender gap in employment. Remote working has decreased gender-based harassment and racial discrimination at workplaces.
Remote work has affected income, and some employees have experienced salary adjustments. Some allowances are taken away from the employees as they no longer have to incur the cost of commuting. The people in urban and suburban areas are more involved in remote working, unlike those in the rural regions, as the technology development and access to resources is higher in the town centers (Peters, 2020). Remote working requires a reliable internet connection, which may not be efficient in rural areas.
Remote working has had both positive and negative impacts on society. The service industry largely can be impacted by the economic challenges due to the reduced need to travel. The number of customers who go for these services becomes fewer, leading to loss of employment and income (Islam et al., 2021). This effect may lead to a need for less service workers in the offices, such as cleaners, receptionists and cyber services. Those working are likely to need adjustments to their working spaces to suit their expected work (Papanikolaou & Schmidt, 2022). There are positive impacts on the economy where lower pollution may enable the money used to cater to pollution to be invested in other activities.
There have been health impacts associated with working from home. Remote work may lead to mental health challenges. When people work from home, they feel alone without needed support to progress with work. Situations may lead to stress and an introverted lifestyle (Oakman et al., 2020). There have also been health challenges where workers have experienced where employees have reported lower back pains. These pains have resulted from a lack of office standard furniture in homes.
There have been privacy concerns that come along with remote working. For instance, increased expanded surveillance at homes and individuals profiling might be increased. In addition, there can be the posing risks to the family when there is electric surveillance, cookies, spyware and availability of personal information (Williamson et al., 2020). When the workers work remotely, it also increases the chances of secondary unauthorized access to the company’s information and data misuse, including identity theft.
Working from home, especially after the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, has affected community life. Telecommuting has increased work-life balance as remote workers gain more time to spend with their loved ones and other community members (Xiao et al., 2021). This time created improves community socialization and connection. The quality of life improves for the worker as they get less pressure from commuting to and fro the workplace. The workers also may get a chance to share work skills and experiences with the community members who work from home.
In conclusion, technology development has played a part in encouraging remote working. There are different forms of technology such as local area networks, collaborative software, conference calls, internet access, and private visual networks that can facilitate teleworking. Others include cloud computing, video telephony and voice over IP technologies that have been useful for working remotely. Remote working has affected society in different ways causing health impacts and privacy issues and also remote working also affects the community life of the individuals.
References
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Nash, M., & Churchill, B. (2020). Caring during COVID‐19: A gendered analysis of Australian university responses to managing remote working and caring responsibilities. Gender, Work & Organization, 27(5), 833-846. Web.
Papanikolaou, D., & Schmidt, L. D. (2022). Working remotely and the supply-side impact of Covid-19.The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, 12(1), 53-111. Web.
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