Home Office could be mandatory in Mexico: Is your company ready?

To attract talent, organizations must adapt to smartworking and new ways of working. Nowadays, with mobile devices and the emergence of the cloud, work is anywhere, it is not necessary to have a physical place to develop the work activity. That is why Mexican companies need to incorporate the appropriate technology so that their employees can work remotely, for example, from home.

In many companies, the cafeteria, common areas or open spaces have echoed this concept. Their environments have been adapted to become that "third place". Today's knowledge workers require an Internet connection and to be safe and comfortable to work, even activities that require inspiration to generate creative ideas require more of an open environment than being enclosed in offices.

Reasons to adapt to the home office modality

The first reason that comes to mind when companies encourage this movement is to reduce their costs, infrastructure, electricity consumption, maintenance, optimize workspaces, etc. But this is not the driving force behind the decision; this also generates job opportunities for many people that would otherwise be impossible. For example, by favoring the integration of people with reduced mobility, or the conciliation when it is necessary to take care of a dependent person or child. In fact, the consulting firm 3G1 points out in a study that 50% of jobs are permanently empty. Herein lies the success of one of the growing trends: the hot desk allows companies to optimize their space, the worker does not have a fixed location for the development of its activity, and has lockers or smart cabinets to leave their belongings: laptops or mobile devices.

Home, sweet office

When it is mandatory to work from home (home office), many companies give employees the possibility of adapting a home environment to develop their activities. In this way, it is not necessary to commute to the office, with its corresponding space-time benefits. To achieve this, employees must create a favorable work environment and spaces for concentration.

There is a paradigm shift at work. If we prioritize objectives, reward productivity and promote talent development, flexibility becomes an ally. Productivity is not linked to strict compliance with the schedule, to presenteeism, to the number of hours that the chair is heated, which is a growing phenomenon in our country. Increasingly, physical spaces outside a company will be more and more important in the development of work quality. In addition to this, there will be flexibility policies that favor the reconciliation of personal and professional life. Those organizations that incorporate smartworking can achieve a substantial improvement in motivation and commitment, without increasing their costs.