The 2020 Remote Work Pivot Point
There are a few considerations regarding how we manage the way digital work could affect us psychologically going forward.
The first is that prior to March 2020 digital technology was shifting the workplace and how we conducted work, at a slow but constant pace. But, up to mid-March 2020, even though the technology was available, most companies insisted that it was impossible for people and teams to work effectively from home or remotely. They often said that productivity, creativity and teamwork would suffer. That it couldn’t be done. That it was impossible.
Then ‘the impossible’ became ‘the necessary’. Our daily lives were upended and we had to psychologically (not just physically) re-orient ourselves, our behaviours and habits into new ways of doing things and learning new technology in the process.
However, the original ‘3 weeks to flatten the curve’ turned into almost 2 years and remote work disruption morphed into an adjusted norm. From a CyberPsychology perspective, one of the main benefits of remote working was the increase in confidence in technology use amongst remote workers. Without colleagues or IT close at hand, workers were forced to figure out how to use IT on their own and needed to acquire greater levels of IT competence (known as computer self-efficacy) in using the tools required to get the work done.
Being more confident in using the tools required to complete the work, gives the worker the ability to be more productive, efficient and effective.
