Working From Home: The New Norm

THE implementation of the concept of working from home (WFH) by the government and private sectors which started since the Movement Control Order (MCO) has provided an extraordinary experience for the staff of the Faculty of Applied Sciences, in particular.

Although at first it seemed a bit awkward, but day by day it is increasingly accepted by many and the proof is that many tasks can be completed by staff who work from home. Based on general observations, the WFH policy does not negatively affect the productivity of the staff and the administration can still run smoothly even if we are not physically present in the office.

Work from home is more than just having a laptop and doing things online. The challenge of most staff working from home is to maintained the rhythm of the norms associated with traditional work disciplined. This challenge could disrupt productivity and quality of work if not managed properly.

For working from home to be sustainable, the organization needs to create some boundaries, for instance when a minor decision is to be made, it can be taken care of with a quick phone call, not a video conference. It also helps to set “office hours” for staff, share tips on how to track time so that their working hours is not extended beyond the normal office hours, and announce that there is no expectation that emails will be answered after a certain hour, to make sure the mental health of the staff is being protected.

At the same time, lack of office equipment facilities may disrupt the momentum of doing work, especially computers and disruption of internet facilities that failed to function properly.

For academic staff, the main challenge is related to teaching evaluation. Lecturers need to be creative in finding the most suitable method to assess students online and without the need for physical presence such as written tests that can be done in the lecture hall.

In addition, teaching and learning sessions can also be disrupted as there are some facilities that are easily accessible from within the university area itself compared to off campus. However, it is not an obstacle for lecturers to use skills and technology in ensuring that learning and teaching can continue in the best way. Especially involving work related to teaching and learning, internet facilities for students should also be given priority.

In ensuring that tasks can performed well, special broadband network facilities for tasks that require staff to access the system are very helpful especially in some residential locations that do not have adequate broadband network coverage.

In general, it may not be all work or task entrusted to be done from home, however if part of the task can be performed without the need for staff to come to the office, it may be an interesting development.

Of course this new work norm has certain advantages and disadvantages, but if the experience of its implementation during the MCO is taken into account, the operation of the office that implements the work from home system can be run well and smoothly. In fact, could be better than working from the office.

Among the advantages of working from home to staff is that they can pay full attention to the task given without having to think about wasting time facing traffic jams.

They also no longer have to pay the cost for petrol or tolls every time they go to work. It is no exaggeration to say that the problem of traffic congestion that plagues city dwellers as well as residents of major cities will be overcome when the number of those who go out to the office to work can be reduced.

For employers, operating costs will be reduced because if the new norm of working from home is implemented, of course they will no longer need to provide large office space.

When the office space is not large, then the utility costs such as electricity bills, telephone, water can be reduced.

The question is, should the new norm of working from home be continued even after the Covid-19 pandemic ends and what will be the impact on staff and UiTM, if it is actually implemented in the future?

Even so, this new norm of working from home needs to be scrutinized in depth before being implemented.

Among them are matters involving aspects of digital technology support, information security, suitability of implementation to certain services as well as the legal implications involved must be given attention first.

The most important is the question of productivity which of course there is no compromise on it because it is useless for an employer to allow their staff to do the given task at home but the productivity results are disappointing.

Most importantly, it must be able to truly fulfill the real purpose of its implementation and provide benefits to both UiTM and its staff.

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*Azrena Abdul Karim is a Senior Lecturer of Eco-Technology Programme from the Faculty of Applied Sciences, UiTM Shah Alam.

**The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of Astro AWANI