Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Does the confinement have any impact on the team members you manage?
- At the level of productivity
- In the field of interpersonal relations and communication
- The existence of conflicts and the way they are managed Saving Changes...
I am personal finding this almost self confinement can be very claustrophobic and not a long term sustainable alternative to working in an office or a workspace that is not located at home or primary residence.
Having remotely worked one or two days every few months before and using it as a work office during periods of subcontracting I find that long term I do not see it as an equal and better alternative.
Also there still needs to be workspace for team meetings face to face and hotel lobby's and coffee shops are not a professional environment to conduct business.
Also working on you own does not imbue a team work environment and when you are not located near or by your project team then other issues may crop up.
Daire
Dear Luis,
As for interpersonal relations and productivity, I find a change of scenery does improve productivity but having a routine that takes you away from you home in a way that tells you here to work and to act professionally is important for me.
I find I need a clear demarcation line between work life and home life and when these two worlds merge for any extended time period things can get blurred, standards can drop and complacency and lack of interest can creep in to my work life.
Balancing both worlds in the same location can be difficult and I do not see it as a way to increase productivity amongsts workers.
I would say theoretically office based workers could work from home but in reality it is not as straight forward as it seems. There is a lot to be said and gained by being located in a office location.
Daire
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1 reply by Luis Branco
Mar 30, 2020 4:46 AM
Luis Branco
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Dear Daire
Thank you for sharing your opinion with us
Interesting what you wrote: "I find I need a clear demarcation line between work life and home life and when these two worlds merge for any extended time period things can get blurred, standards can drop and complacency and lack of interest can creep in to my work life. "
What is the risk of this happening to your team members?
What is the impact on productivity and interpersonal relationships?
Hello dear Luís B.
Yes the confinement has impact on the team members at
1)the level of productivity. People access systems remotely, but some tasks can't be accomplish without having having people in place, e.g. physically installing and connecting hardware.
2)Yes,in the field of interpersonal relations and communication. Video conference tools aid diminishing face to face but it is not the same thing. People miss the "breaks", chit-chat minutes. Good to strength relationships.
3)Yes, conflicts occur and they must be managed, some easier but other harder to solve remotely.
People are learning and improving, a lot.
For sure by the end of the confinement we all be better prepared to work remotely for longer periods of time.
best regards
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1 reply by Luis Branco
Mar 30, 2020 10:24 AM
Luis Branco
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Dear Tiago
Thank you for participating in this reflection and for your opinion
Interesting what you wrote: "People are learning and improving, a lot.
For sure by the end of the confinement we all be better prepared to work remotely for longer periods of time. "
Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Mar 29, 2020 11:56 AM
Replying to Kiron Bondale
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It absolutely can affect productivity and team interactions. In households where they only have limited Internet access, telling the (younger) kids to not go online during working days will only work for so long. Where both parents are working, the tablet or device might be a surrogate parent during such times.
We've all seen that humorous interview where the child's caregiver runs in and drags out the toddler from the viewing area of the interviewee's camera - that is a very real risk for many of us.
Case in point - I'm teaching a course in a week's time on the very same day that my (university going) kid is taking an online exam for one of his courses. Who gets precedence if there is an Internet bandwidth issue? I have paying customers for my course, but it is his graduation marks on the line...
As I said, working agreements will have to be revised...
Dear Kiron
Thank you for sharing your opinion with us
I don't know what internet access solutions exist in Canada and / or the options you chose
In addition to the connection via fiber I have wifi throughout the house.
I now checked the speed = Mbps
Multiple computers can have access to the internet at the same time
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1 reply by Kiron Bondale
Mar 30, 2020 7:49 AM
Kiron Bondale
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Luis -
it is not a question of access but rather quality of service. If both my son and I are utilizing very high bandwidth services and both have good use cases for needing to use those, then regardless of how "fat" the pipe is coming in to the house, we could end up saturating it. I know some folks have investigated multiple ISPs as one option - thus segregating different users between different distinct providers...
Kiron
Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Mar 29, 2020 12:04 PM
Replying to Peter Rapin
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Hard to predict. In the long term - a year maybe two - very little change in our work and social habits. The younger generation is already social distancing with the use of smart phones, texting rather than starting relationships with those in proximity. Maybe this event will encourage that but I believe that humans are essentially a social animal and we'll get back to near-normal. In the short term total production will decrease however productivity may spike as people extend themselves to make up for absence of others. The novelty of individual effort will provide for temporary motivation.
Confinement is a relative term. We may be physically confined but modern technology still allows social contact. Once physical social separation is no longer required there will be a rush to re-establish the physical contact and this may lead to a secondary motivation and productivity peak
An interesting time we are living in. The studies focused on behavior before, during and after the current event will continue for decades. We have recovered (mostly) from wars, famine, pestilence, pandemics in the past - with little lessons learned - and we will do so again with the same results.
Dear Peter
Thank you for sharing your opinion with us
Interesting what you wrote: "An interesting time we are living in. The studies focused on behavior before, during and after the current event will continue for decades" Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Mar 29, 2020 1:35 PM
Replying to Rami Kaibni
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Luis
So far in our projects and line of business, working virtually is working well up to date.
RK
Dear Rami
Thank you for participating in this reflection and for your opinion
How long have people been confined?
Do you foresee changes over time?
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1 reply by Rami Kaibni
Mar 30, 2020 2:08 PM
Rami Kaibni
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Luis
In BC, we've been like thos for almost 2 weeks now but construction is going on as usual, no interruption while taking the necessary precautions while in Quebec for example, all construction projects were instructed to shut down.
I can't foresee anything to be honest, we are living one day at a time.
RK
Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Mar 29, 2020 2:02 PM
Replying to Daire Guiney
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Dear Luis,
As for interpersonal relations and productivity, I find a change of scenery does improve productivity but having a routine that takes you away from you home in a way that tells you here to work and to act professionally is important for me.
I find I need a clear demarcation line between work life and home life and when these two worlds merge for any extended time period things can get blurred, standards can drop and complacency and lack of interest can creep in to my work life.
Balancing both worlds in the same location can be difficult and I do not see it as a way to increase productivity amongsts workers.
I would say theoretically office based workers could work from home but in reality it is not as straight forward as it seems. There is a lot to be said and gained by being located in a office location.
Daire
Dear Daire
Thank you for sharing your opinion with us
Interesting what you wrote: "I find I need a clear demarcation line between work life and home life and when these two worlds merge for any extended time period things can get blurred, standards can drop and complacency and lack of interest can creep in to my work life. "
What is the risk of this happening to your team members?
What is the impact on productivity and interpersonal relationships?
...
1 reply by Daire Guiney
Mar 30, 2020 5:04 AM
Daire Guiney
...
Dear Luis,
Each person has their own mechanisms and approaches for how they work from home as some people maybe single and living alone, married, cohabitating, living with parents, communal living or working from a hotel room so their workspace and environment at home will be structured around their own personal life and commitments.
As a result you are not creating an equal work environment for everybody if it is the organization policy to work from home.
As a result people will have to be more organised in order to achieve the same results as people do not all have the same level of personal committment.
What I have noticed in recent times is that people with children are normally more organised, motivated and ready than those who do not have children. That is because there is only so many hours in the day so organisation is key to getting anything done.
I think everybody is required to having a level playing field to work in and it maybe the legal system that defines if a person can actually work from home.
Even though it has been a given for so many years, when it come to equality and health and safety there maybe some new guidelines or even legislation that would need to be introduced in order to make working from home an actual reality.
As for the impact this is having on my own team, it is still early days and it is more seeing what can get done in this current environment, maintain lines of communication with all stakeholders and productivity is not really at play at the moment as there is not really to bench it against.
Interesting what you wrote: "I find I need a clear demarcation line between work life and home life and when these two worlds merge for any extended time period things can get blurred, standards can drop and complacency and lack of interest can creep in to my work life. "
What is the risk of this happening to your team members?
What is the impact on productivity and interpersonal relationships?
Dear Luis,
Each person has their own mechanisms and approaches for how they work from home as some people maybe single and living alone, married, cohabitating, living with parents, communal living or working from a hotel room so their workspace and environment at home will be structured around their own personal life and commitments.
As a result you are not creating an equal work environment for everybody if it is the organization policy to work from home.
As a result people will have to be more organised in order to achieve the same results as people do not all have the same level of personal committment.
What I have noticed in recent times is that people with children are normally more organised, motivated and ready than those who do not have children. That is because there is only so many hours in the day so organisation is key to getting anything done.
I think everybody is required to having a level playing field to work in and it maybe the legal system that defines if a person can actually work from home.
Even though it has been a given for so many years, when it come to equality and health and safety there maybe some new guidelines or even legislation that would need to be introduced in order to make working from home an actual reality.
As for the impact this is having on my own team, it is still early days and it is more seeing what can get done in this current environment, maintain lines of communication with all stakeholders and productivity is not really at play at the moment as there is not really to bench it against.
Daire
...
1 reply by Luis Branco
Mar 30, 2020 5:25 AM
Luis Branco
...
Dear Daire
Thank you for sharing your opinion with us
I hope that if your opinion evolves, you will share with us what is happening
My teams significantly reduced productivity
We've been confined for 3 weeks
Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Mar 30, 2020 5:04 AM
Replying to Daire Guiney
...
Dear Luis,
Each person has their own mechanisms and approaches for how they work from home as some people maybe single and living alone, married, cohabitating, living with parents, communal living or working from a hotel room so their workspace and environment at home will be structured around their own personal life and commitments.
As a result you are not creating an equal work environment for everybody if it is the organization policy to work from home.
As a result people will have to be more organised in order to achieve the same results as people do not all have the same level of personal committment.
What I have noticed in recent times is that people with children are normally more organised, motivated and ready than those who do not have children. That is because there is only so many hours in the day so organisation is key to getting anything done.
I think everybody is required to having a level playing field to work in and it maybe the legal system that defines if a person can actually work from home.
Even though it has been a given for so many years, when it come to equality and health and safety there maybe some new guidelines or even legislation that would need to be introduced in order to make working from home an actual reality.
As for the impact this is having on my own team, it is still early days and it is more seeing what can get done in this current environment, maintain lines of communication with all stakeholders and productivity is not really at play at the moment as there is not really to bench it against.
Daire
Dear Daire
Thank you for sharing your opinion with us
I hope that if your opinion evolves, you will share with us what is happening
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