Remote job is a reality now

The 9-to-5 grind has long been the quintessential marker of corporate conformity and routine. But fear not, my dear readers, for the tides of time have swept away the monotony and brought in remote work, an era where the boundaries of the office blur and the possibilities are endless!
For many of us, working remote jobs has replaced the stress of daily commutes and closed-off conference rooms with the comforts of our own homes and the freedom to work from anywhere. The lonely cubicle is but a distant memory, now replaced by a variety of remote jobs that allow us to embark on our professional journeys from the cosy embrace of our own element.
Gone are the days of being bound to a desk, tied to a specific location, and limited by the constraints of traditional employment. In this post-pandemic world, workers can now Zoom, slack, or Skype from the beach, mountaintop, or even their favourite coffee shop. Cloud-based storage and collaboration tools like Google Drive or Dropbox facilitate easy sharing and collaboration of documents. The choice is theirs, giving rise to a new era of flexibility and freedom. Positions like software developer or web developer, marketing and management, writing, customer service, and numerous other administration jobs are the typical players popular in the remote labour market. More and more corporate jobs are starting to follow suit.

Why is this so? CEO of Airkwrk, a Bangladesh-based recruitment platform, Sayem Faruk, told the writer, "The infrastructure that allows for remote work has stayed around post-Covid-19 simply because it works." He shared Airkwrk's belief that "talent knows no boundaries", meaning the best-fit candidate could be anywhere in the world, and both companies and candidates no longer have to be limited to the 10-km geographic limitation. They can now attract and hire a wider variety of talent best fit for their role without worrying about the commute aspect. Faruk further added, "Anyone can work for any company, anywhere."
Remote jobs certainly take out the geographic limitation aspect. Does that mean productivity is compromised? Turns out it is absolutely not the case. According to a study published by Chicago Booth, productivity levels remained the same in a comparison between remote and non-remote levels. This study was done at a Chinese travel agency where they found a 13 per cent increase in productivity among remotely working call centre employees. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also says, "Working remotely has given me more space for long-term thinking and helped me spend more time with my family, which has made me happier and more productive at work." No doubt, this frees up more time for the employee while on the company's side; not having to rent out an office space means they also save largely on this fixed cost. This leads into the query: How do productivity levels stay constant working from home? The answer is quite simple. People can stay home, spend time with their families, and have some time for leisure, which is eliminated by the daily stress of rush while maintaining steady productivity levels. A new work-life balance model can be created somewhere within the bedroom and kitchen.
Even appearance-wise, people seemed to spend less time trying to fit the "corporate aesthetic" on a regular basis. The freedom to lounge out in sweatpants while leading professional development presentations is an irony at play and exercised by remote workers.
While remote jobs may seem like the future, they are not without flaws. There is a lack of intimacy that leads to isolation. Many also believe that remote work doesn't allow for spontaneous idea generation. While there is truth to these facts, resources are available to help alleviate such concerns. Virtual team-building exercises and the social connections of online communities are proving to be the saviours, banishing the shadow of loneliness. The CEO of Airkwrk emphasises that the future of remote work is a hybrid model. Traditional companies have adopted remote-friendly policies, allowing employees to work from home for part of the week or under flexible arrangements.
Reliable technology and constant access to the internet can pose an issue for Bangladesh. Surely, the city regions are well-lit, but we must also take the rural areas into account. If a skilled candidate wants to work out of her/his hometown, having reliable internet may often be an issue. The lack of communication from time to time, with no fault of the employer or employee, may not be ideal. This also ties in with the concern of supervision of employees. Through remote work, professional lives and personal lives get closely intertwined, even more so. The freedom to monitor an employee by accessing their computer or laptop cameras has also been a privacy concern that has led to lawsuits in the United States. Since there are no current labour laws in Bangladesh to address this, it can be a potential concern. Companies are responsible for creating better work policies and need better supervision of employees without prying on their personal lives.
There is no doubt talent resides in every corner of Bangladesh. Every day, this talent goes unnoticed and undeveloped due to a lack of knowledge, resources and connections. The Bangladeshi economy can benefit significantly through developing and outsourcing local talent. When local talent lives within our land, it has a much greater impact on the development of the surrounding environment.
Bidding farewell to the 9-to-5 grind that has given way to a dynamic and diverse landscape of remote jobs that could help to unleash the full potential of the modern Bangladeshi workforce. Remote jobs can help keep this talent home while allowing their narrative to be expressed one click at a time.

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