2020 was a year like no other, with major stress and disruption for most of us and hardship for many.
The pandemic, with its resulting lockdowns and restrictions, precipitated and accelerated emerging work trends, which are unlikely to be reversed. We saw very large organisations spurred into action, enabling home-working for thousands of employees within a couple of days, realising in the process that productivity and efficiencies were not compromised. Smaller organisations embraced Zoom and Teams with a vengeance and got on with business whenever possible.
The outlook for 2021 is somewhat brighter, at least for the second half of the year, when many people will have received one of the available vaccines and will feel more confident returning to ‘normal’ life.
With this more optimistic outlook, and light at the end of the tunnel appearing, albeit faintly, businesses of all sizes can reflect on their future working styles and practices and decide how they wish to work with their employees and customers and continue to support flexible/home-working.
In the medium term, major town centres will be very much quieter than pre-COVID days and the daily commute into a central office will become a thing of the past. High-profile employers have already stated that they will not require their teams to return to the office on a 5-day basis.
It may well be that, to attract the best, flexible, remote, or home-working will be offered as an employment benefit. This is scheduled to come into law in Germany this year.
The role of the office will change to allow for human interaction, team meetings and staff training. Workspaces are likely to be smaller in size and may be moved out to local hubs.
The pandemic has amplified the role of technology across multiple sectors, from digital economy to communications, e-commerce, delivery services, and healthcare, facilitating business and creating new opportunities for organisations of all sizes.
So now is the time for smaller businesses to consider how to evolve their own working practices. Careful planning and phased implementation will ensure that your business can respond quickly and flexibly to any unforeseen changes with minimal pain, expense, and adjustment.
Pen Telecom Ltd are ideally placed to help future-proof your business. We have worked for many years with SMEs and fully understand their issues:
