Migrating from cubicles to laptop screens - The art of creating a virtual office environment
In a time with more individuals telecommuting, the customary work environment is rapidly developing. This development, here and there, is moving the working environment away from a solitary actual space as its anchor point.
In spite of the fact that innovation permits numerous employees to work efficiently from any place they are, there is as yet a craving by numerous businesses to concentrate their corporate culture and tasks around an office, regardless of whether that office is at a virtual point and not an actual one.
Creating a Virtual office environment
Kussh Malhotra (Senior Manager, North America at PlanetSpark) in order to keep his team motivated and provide them with a more office-like atmosphere, came up with an idea of creating a virtual office.
Traditionally, virtual office is a company that operates as one unit and has a physical mailing address, but does not exist in one specific location. The development of tools such as video conferencing and messaging services has led to the increased usage of the virtual office.
Kussh Malhotra has been a part of the corporate world for over 4 years now. Understanding the need for employees to engage and interact with eachother, he came up with his own version of a virtual office.
He makes sure all of the employees are connected to each other throughout the working hours via video conferencing or audio calls.
For Kussh, it is not only about working together but bonding too. He creates a virtual office environment by having healthy and fun conversations with his team before and after work along with working together on audio calls.
Is work from anywhere the future of work?
Work from anywhere is beneficial to not only employees but also businesses around the globe.
To employees
Employee Productivity during the pandemic has gone up. With work from anywhere, employees can now have the corporate right in their hands sitting anywhere, anytime.
Physical working hours led to employees feeling burned out and exhausted. This further led to decreased productivity and low levels of job satisfaction.
Work from Anywhere had resulted in a better work-life balance along with flexibility and freedom to choose one’s own working hours.
For businesses
The biggest remote working advantages for enterprise employers all revolve around employee well-being, daily operations, and revenue.
Even though it is a well known fact but worth mentioning, it does help in lowering the costs of production. Companies save up on renting spaces for work, social events, corporate parties etc.
Along with WFA, enterprise employers are no longer limited to hiring local talent, thereby expanding the talent pool. Companies can easily hire employees from different parts of the world and thus bring in new perspectives and people from different backgrounds.
Virtual office in WFA? How?
We know what you are thinking! The whole point of working from home is to work from one’s own comfort zone and who doesn’t enjoy the freedom and flexibility of choosing one’s own working hours?
Then how does the concept of creating a virtual office environment fit here?
Well, with a list of advantages of working from anywhere comes a list of disadvantages. For instance, employees tend to face increased levels of stress and anxiety. People who are unable to manage work and life tend to fall apart in the process. This results in feelings of loneliness and helplessness.
Therefore creating a virtual office environment helps in keeping the employees together.
People who work together grow together.
Virtual office helps in distributing work across various departments and therefore increasing the efficiency and pace of communication among employees from different backgrounds and departments.
In a nutshell
Virtual offices create a fun and engaging environment for employees to work in and feel comfortable and happy at the same time.
What is to wonder is not whether it is feasible but whether an organisation is willing to go that extra mile to make its employees feel like they are in an office while sitting in any part of the world.