Remote work and the elimination of working hours

The concept of telework or remote work is not new, in fact, it was with the rise of information technologies that it was linked to this form of work, with economic development

And the technological advancement of the last 15 years has enabled the incorporation and modification of business processes in virtually all industries.

In the last two years, more industries have been forced to implement this mode of work, and we have found various difficulties and benefits for both organizations and employees. On the one hand, for many people, teleworking has allowed them to avoid the hours in traffic and public transportation, which, for many people in cities like Mexico, extends for hours. On the other hand, mixing personal and work life has made it easier to blur the lines between these two areas. It is not uncommon nowadays to find yourself answering an email or a work message at times that were normally intended for personal matters.

For many families, there has been an increase in workload, and women have been most affected. In addition to confusion regarding how to follow up on remote work, proper performance evaluation, and lack of follow-up on policies or simply nonexistent processes in an emergency situation. Like the incorporation of telework during the last year and a half.

And a clear example of how remote work is viewed as a modality in which one is not sure if the employee is working or not, let's just look at the statements of authorities from the SEP (Ministry of Education), in which they recently indicated that the salary of teachers was guaranteed during the last school cycle, as if all teachers had been on vacation for the year. Or as if it were some kind of gift from the SEP and not a labor obligation towards their teachers. Let's understand that naturally there was an impact on children's learning, but this does not mean that teachers did not work during the pandemic.

Let's remember that teachers remained working, in a modality for which they had not been prepared, trying to capture the attention of large groups of children through screens and with very little, or zero control of the environment in which the child was trying to learn what their teachers were trying to convey.

We saw social media flooded with teachers making an incredible effort to ensure that children did not lose the school year, adapting their homes to make them more attractive to children and facing criticism from parents and society, who insistently emphasized that the teacher's salary should be given to them for having the children at home. And with zero empathy for the fact that the teacher prepares their material and delivers their class, grades, and attends parents outside of what is considered their working hours. Many empathetic teachers received evidence of assignments from parents and mothers who could only give attention to their children at night when they returned from work. Because yes, not everyone was able to isolate themselves.

This last example is just one of the important disadvantages that telework has in a society like ours. And in organizations where it is not managed by objectives.

Now, what to do in this situation? My natural tendency is to insist on the importance of change management in absolutely all organizations. Learn from experiences like the pandemic and have a prepared action plan for a new crisis. As well as considering the return to on-site work as another change process, which must also be planned.

Having policies that clarify to everyone that telework is also work and that employees have the right to compensation for their time and execution of functions, regardless of where they are located.

And finally, the importance of maintaining an adequate process of objective management and performance evaluations. An organization that has clarity in its strategic objectives and how all employees participate in achieving the strategy, does not need to chase its employees. Nor does it have doubts when it comes to compensating, because all those involved have clarity of what is expected of them and under what criteria they will be evaluated. Any organization can implement a process to manage its workers, regardless of the industry or size of the company.

Performance Evaluations

Insist that there must be consistency with evaluations and consequences for employees. If performance evaluations are done every quarter and there is never recognition for exceptional work or layoffs are associated with non-compliance with objectives, it is better not to even make the effort to follow this type of process. Without consistency and consistency, the process itself loses credibility. Employees fill out the evaluations as a meaningless formality and do not express the reality. They see it as something that just wastes their time.

Not all recognition has to be monetary, of course I have never known an employee who complains about receiving monetary recognition. But even if this situation is not viable for the company, there are many other things that can be given as recognition for outstanding work. Such as flexibility in schedules, access to specific benefits, taking committed personnel into account for development, providing more training or simply giving internal recognition to someone in particular for their effort.

Undoubtedly, technology can facilitate the implementation of this type of process.

Eliminates biases and automates activities that are virtually impossible to carry out without the physical presence of the worker.

I hope that the trend for more companies is to learn from the crisis and thus improve their business processes, not only to seek more productivity, but also an improvement in the quality of life of workers. And finally recover the lines that separate working time from personal life.

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