NEWS

Changing business models in recent years, preventing loss of time due to heavy traffic in major cities, reducing staff costs where office and shuttle costs are high have made working from home the preferred way of working.

Initially viewed as a means to reduce costs by the companies, working from home later started to be questioned in terms of yielding the targeted performance.

This opportunity, which at first was perceived as a chance to avoid stress factors such as traffic, crowds and everyday hustle, can lose its appeal if it’s mismanaged.  However researches indicate that the number of people working from home continues to increase every year on a global scale and this upward trend is likely to continue in the future.

Although the number of people working from home is rising around the world, there is still no consensus on whether it is an ideal way of working. People who are not productive in an office environment can fail to bring the work discipline home. Reduced or no social interaction is the biggest challenge of working at home.

Increasing productivity at home is only possible with implementing a more strict work discipline than at the office, not by sprawling on the couch. Forcing everyone to work at home without any prior assessment may lead to reduced productivity of those that require energy and human interaction to work. Employees can get a lot of information about what’s going on at work even through small talks with their colleagues. 

It becomes important for people to be able to communicate with others about non-work related topics.

Office or home, which should be preferred for efficiency? The key is finding the balance. This balance varies according to the companies’ industry, how they do business, company culture and their level of maturity in terms of communication.

In addition to working from home, the number of companies trying open office are also on the rise. The latest trending practice seems to be working without desks. Companies that prefer this system create open offices with less desks than the number of employees, who are not provided a designated desk. They merely use a vacant desk and leave when they are done.

Companies, who have achieved a good level of leadership, can make these fine tunes in their personnel management methods and determine the method that’s best for them.