COVID-19 has forever changed the way we work by changing the perception of people towards working from home (WFH). According to research, 50% of those who were employed before the pandemic is now working remotely.
Company executives can now see for themselves that productivity is not limited to only the workplace. More companies are ready to risk changes in their project by adopting the WFH concept.
Although most companies are trying to put the health and safety of their employee, there are certain risks involved. Organizations need to know how project risks change with working from home. Here are ways project risks change with the WFH concept.
Factor #1: Falling Employee Productivity
If your employees are working from home, they may not be unable to work due to sickness – directly or indirectly. Your projects may be affected if their family members are even ill. Companies need to have flexible working hours in place due to school and daycare closings. This is because husbands need to help their sick wives' pick their children from school.
To ensure workers devote their energy to the most important issues, you need to specify the top-priority work. If you're sending mail to employees, you can mark it as important. With that, workers will tackle the issue on time.
Factor #2: Stressed Supply Chains
Due to the pandemic, the global economy has hit a standstill especially for companies that rely on vendors for their business. With the WFH trend, the project will likely encounter purchasing delays. Companies that use heavy equipment for their project will need to source for their raw materials locally.
Factor #3: Disruption Due to Social Distancing
Social distancing is defined as actions recommended by public health officials to prevent or hamper the spread of the COVID-19 virus. A Project that needs workers to be present at the workplace will need to change strategies. Organizations need to adopt online purchasing for their customers.
Factor #4: Moral Support
The small talk at the office between employees can have a huge effect on their morale. Some projects lean on the person-to person interaction to aid the flow of mission-critical information. Workers that are having a hard time at home will have a hard time delivering the desired result. The project manager must be able to spot anyone not meeting the target and investigate.
Factor #5: Risk to Confidentiality
If the family members of the workers are working for your company's competitors, there might be a problem. Project details that shouldn't be seen by anyone might be shared with others. Companies need to set up guidelines and policies that'll prevent workers from leaking top secrets about projects.
The most important lesson learned from this pandemic is that projects can change the way they operate because of the WFH concept. Although there are risks involved, there's nothing too challenging to tackle. To stop declining in productivity, just put in place flexible working hours.
