What is the hybrid teleworking model?
“Some people don't like change, but if the other alternative is disaster, you have to embrace change.”
Elon Musk
The year 2020 has brought unprecedented changes to the global economy and the working world; The Covid-19 outbreak has also been a “turning point” for remote work. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the catastrophic 21st century, remote/home working has become a necessity for most of the global workforce. Businesses have started to quickly transform their way of doing business into a remote working model by creating new working models that are completely different from the old ones. As a result of the rapid developments in information and communication technologies, it has become possible to work remotely with the widespread use of computers and other communication tools. This compulsory transformation has increased the importance of technology and digitalization in working life, and today many services have begun to be made using technological tools. More and more businesses have had to turn to a new and flexible remote working system such as freelancing, mobile working, working from home as a hybrid model.
The implementation of the home working method during the Covid-19 quarantine period has accelerated the creation of innovations that can provide hybrid model remote working. Working from home is working from home instead of working in a classic office environment. Remote work is an employer-employee business relationship established in writing, based on the ability of the employee to perform his/her job from a place freely determined by the person outside the workplace with technological communication tools. According to the 177 Work-at-Home Convention published by the ILO in 1996, remote working; It is the work of a person for a fee at a place of his/her choice outside of his/her home or workplace. In other words, remote work means working at home, in a cafe, or in a city around the world. Remote work is not a new concept, although it has become widespread with the Covid-19 outbreak. Studies on remote working started in the 1990s. In 1992, the "Inter-Agency Remote Working Pilot Project" was initiated in the USA in order to expand the use of external remote work centers for government agencies in Washington. In 1994, September 20 was declared as "Remote Working Day" in the USA. “Convention No. 177” and “Recommendations No. 184” published in 1996 are the first international documents of the ILO (International Labor Organization) regarding remote work. By 2010, the United States General Services Administration adopted a mobile, flexible working style for its employees with the basic idea of “Our job is what we do, not where we are”.
The concept of remote work in Turkey was included in the 14th article of the Labor Law No. 4857 in 2016 for the first time. However, the Remote Working Regulation, which will be applied in public and private workplaces in accordance with the social isolation rule to protect against the virus due to the Covid-19 epidemic, has been published in the Official Gazette on 10/3/2021 and entered into force. According to the Remote Working Procedures and Principles of the Published Regulation;
A written employment contract for remote working is made. This contract includes the definition of the work, the way it is done, the time interval of the work, the duration and place of the work, and the payment of wages and wages. According to the regulation; The necessary materials and work tools for remote work are provided by the employer. In addition, according to the regulation, the employer is obliged to inform the remote employee about the protection of work-related data and occupational health and safety, to provide the necessary training and to take precautions.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Remote Working:
The reason why remote working is preferred by employees is that it provides flexibility in space and time. It is preferred by employees for reasons such as using time flexibly, allocating more time to family and private life, and saving time spent on the road. Research shows that female employees with young children value flexibility in working remotely. Because remote working is advantageous for parents who prefer to be closer to their children. Telecommuting offers employees a better work-life balance and encourages more women and seniors to join the workforce.
Another reason why remote working is preferred by employees is nutrition and sleep. Instead of consuming fast and often unhealthy food during the day, remote workers consume healthy food prepared at home. Remote workers get better sleep because they don't have to get up earlier to get ready for work in the morning and they don't waste time in traffic. On some days when they feel very tired, they may take short sleep breaks during the day. The rush to get to work in traffic is more difficult because there are no managers watching their every move in the office or coworkers waiting at their desks to complete a job.
they become stressed. As a result, remote workers work more efficiently with less stress.
Businesses prefer to work remotely because it reduces some costs. It is an important advantage especially for companies that have to be located in a place where real estate costs are high and employ a large number of personnel. And with the flexibility of remote working, companies can recruit and retain talented people globally.
According to studies, the most obvious disadvantage of remote working for employees is that employees have difficulty in establishing a work-life balance. “Work-life balance” refers to the balance that a person tries to establish between his work and his private-personal-family life. Flexibility, which is seen as an advantage and where employees decide where and when they work themselves, can blur the lines between work and non-work life. Loss of work-related control, inability to disconnect from work, confusion between work and private life, and difficulties in managing the boundary between working time and personal responsibilities may arise. This situation is especially seen in parents who have school-age children at home and people who have responsibilities to care for elderly relatives. Remote working may not be efficient when there is no discipline and a certain work routine is not established. Spending time on websites, doing homework, sitting in front of the television, and a sudden guest are among the distractions that prevent efficient working while working remotely. However, while working in an office environment, noisy coffee breaks, loud phone calls, and air conditioner noises are distracting elements that make it difficult to focus on work in shared open offices. It is recommended that remote workers create a spatial boundary between work and non-work life in order to establish a work-life balance and be disciplined to overcome distractions.
Another disadvantage of remote working for employees is that they stay away from the social environment and opportunities offered by the work environment because they do not go to work. Not being able to meet with colleagues face to face can lead to a decrease or even disappearance of social relations that go hand in hand with business life. This is thought to cause remote workers to become lonely and weaken their social skills.
Another disadvantage of remote working for the employee is the lack of professional support. When employees encounter any problems or need some technical support or services while at work, they can easily contact the people they can get help from. If work is carried out from home, it may be difficult to get support, it may be delayed or sometimes not possible. This can harm the business process and work efficiency. In addition, working remotely can reduce the sense of commitment and belonging to the workplace. There may be some difficulties in ensuring that people who work remotely adopt and assimilate the corporate culture. Since corporate culture and knowledge spread through interactions between employees, working remotely may cause employees to become alienated from the corporate culture, new employees not learning the corporate culture, and a decrease in the exchange of ideas, harmony and cooperation that comes with being in the institution.
The biggest problem brought by the remote working practice for the employer is the issue of how to monitor and control whether the working hours are followed by the employees. Remote working may have difficulties in implementing centralized management and may require investment in new auditing methods. Most of the managers worry about losing control when they cannot observe their employees. In such work environments, managers are often concerned about whether employees are performing their jobs and responsibilities as meticulously as they do in an office environment. However, businesses with suitable technological infrastructure can determine the online and offline times of employees connected to the remote business network, and they can partially control whether the working hours are complied with. Thanks to the online tracking programs, it is possible to follow the steps of the employees at the computer, to report their e-mail sharing, file movements, time spent on social media and user activities. However, according to experts, such a practice can cause stress and undue anxiety on employees. It can also create distrust towards the institution and disrupt relations with managers. According to experts, if the employee performs the assigned tasks on time and diligently, it should be accepted that the working hours are followed.
There are factors that determine whether a business can potentially be run remotely. According to the remote work potential research conducted by the ILO in 2020 in countries with different levels of economic development, economic and occupational structure, access to broadband internet and having a personal computer
Factors such as the probability of working remotely are important determinants of remote work. Especially in business areas where information and communication technologies (ICT) are used intensively, the effectiveness of the remote working model is higher.
Since remote work is carried out through various communication tools such as computers and smart phones, it is considered not suitable for every profession. Physical space is not a problem for those who carry out their work on the computer. Managers, experts, white-collar workers, administrators, academics, teachers, educators, real estate agents, media workers, artists, those who can sell online are among the occupational groups suitable for remote working. According to the research conducted by Deloitte for Turkey in 2020, the sectors that rank high in remote working are; media, advertising, service, technology, e-commerce, energy and education sectors. In addition, the sectors with the highest rate of transition to remote work in the research were e-commerce, media, advertising, medicine, construction and technology.
Business sectors eligible for remote work:
education services,
Professional, scientific and technical services
Management of businesses and companies
Banking, finance and insurance
it
E-commerce
Industries not eligible for remote work:
Transport and storage
construction industry
Retail trade and sales
Health sector
security industry
Distribution industry
agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting,
Accommodation, food and beverage services.
In addition, according to the results of the research, jobs suitable for remote working are directly proportional to the level of economic development of the countries. It has been observed that the most significant increase in teleworking occurred in countries where teleworking was well developed before the global epidemic. According to EU-OSHA & Eurofound-2017 data, the rate of remote work of the workforce before the COVID-19 outbreak is 30% or more in Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland, 10% in the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy and Poland, and in the United States 20%, this rate was 16% in Japan and 1.6% in Argentina. However, 4 out of 10 employees in Europe have switched to remote work during the COVID-19 outbreak. About 60% of workers in Finland and over 50% of workers in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark have switched to remote work. Finland changed the Working Hours Law in January 2020 to a completely new flexible working order and determined the average normal working hours to be a maximum of 40 hours per week. According to another study conducted at the end of 2020, 63% of employees in the USA started working remotely due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and 54% of employers stated that they plan to continue flexible working after the epidemic has passed.
Twitter, Slack and Facebook are among the companies that have completely switched to remote working and have decided to change their working lives in this direction. Salesforce, on the other hand, plans hybrid working, that is, working remotely on certain days of the week and working from the office on some days. GoPro, Coinbase and Reddit companies have also informed their employees that they can work from anywhere. Apple, one of the largest companies in the world, plans to work remotely on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and on other days from March 2022. Amazon, Google, and Uber plan to have their employees three days a week in the office and the other days remotely. Microsoft and Adobe, on the other hand, offer their employees the option to work half of their time in the office and the other half remotely.
Many companies in Turkey are planning to make remote working permanent with the hybrid working model. Sabancı Holding plans to permanently switch to hybrid or fully remote work, with 75 percent of its employees. In addition, additional benefits that will occur in the environment where they work remotely, such as computer and technical infrastructure (internet, printer etc. if necessary), fixed expense aids (electricity, water, heating), ergonomic support packages (ergonomic chair, work kits, etc.) They aim to provide support packages that will meet their needs.
Eczacıbaşı Group, as one of the companies that has been implementing the flexible working model since 2013 and the remote working model since 2016, with the motto "Our address is different, our location is the same", by providing ergonomics and technology support packages to its remote workers, and with the title "Your Time" for online meetings. stated that they established common principles for more participatory, more effective, shorter and more concise meetings. Yıldız Holding announced that they are developing hybrid, remote and field working systems, depending on the duties and responsibilities of the employees, with the "Satellite - Next Generation Working Models" project.
Turkcell states that they have been implementing the 4-day remote working system for about 5 years and that with the 'Flexible Working Model', employees can continue their working life at any time from within the country, abroad or from any Turkcell office they wish. Vodafone switching to hybrid model, total working times
It plans to perform 40 percent of its work from the office and 60 percent remotely.
In parallel with the developments in the economy, businesses have to instantly react and adapt to the changes in the market in order not to lose their competitive advantage and survive. Change had to be embraced because, as Elon Musk said, "the other alternative would be disaster".
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