Work-From-Home Becomes New Normal: Korea Times

With countries encouraging isolation and shelter-in-place and communities put into lockdown, companies encourage employees who can to work from home. “A recent report by Hana Financial Investment pointed out that so-called ‘telecommuting,’ or working from home, has been increasing since the 2000s with the rapid development of information technology, and it was to grow in the near future, even without the impact of COVID-19,” reports Anna Park for the Korea Times. “According to the report, telecommuting is largely based on the development of IT infrastructure systems, such as video conferencing, clouding computing, and cyber security.” About 5 percent of US workers have worked at home since 2016, and analysts anticipate the pandemic to spur telecommuting trends in other economies with new investments in software, cloud computing, telemedicine, wearable devices and online content. With the vast majority of these positions relying on digital skills, companies can easily track the amount of work accomplished. Owl Labs reports that employees who can work from home at least once a month report being 24 percent happier and more productive than employees who cannot work remote. The movement exposes another layer of inequality in society: Analysis of US data from Global Workplace Analytics suggests that about half of all employees in developed economies hold a job with at least some duties that could be done remotely. – YaleGlobal