Remote Work: China

This article was researched and written by TrendStories contributor, Mallory Michael.

As of the date of this article, China’s records report that the novel coronavirus has caused over 2,000 deaths, with more than 75,000 confirmed infections. In an attempt to contain the virus by limiting social contact, millions of people in China were put under full or partial quarantine. The lockdown measures are hurting businesses, production levels and consumer spending. Analysts at Japanese bank Nomura noted that, “So much damage has already been done to China’s economy that, even with the lockdown easing in March, it is too late to avoid what is likely to be the largest quarterly drop in real GDP growth since the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989.” Even companies like Apple are feeling the hit, expecting iPhone shortages to affect worldwide revenues since much of the company’s manufacturing operations are based in China. 

As the epidemic continues to impact the nation’s economy, pressure is growing to get China’s job force back to work. So how do you get businesses moving again without risking more infections?

A Nation’s Experiment in Working from Home

China’s most recent tool in the fight against the coronavirus may come as a surprise. Growing fears of businesses and schools closing, lay offs and housing foreclosures are pushing many businesses to consider implementing flexible work options for the very first time. Many tech companies are working from home, the governments of Singapore, Hong Kong and Macao have ordered civil servants to work from home and asked private employers to do the same if possible, while teachers are conducting video based classes to prevent prolonged school closures.

It seems for some companies, especially in the digital-based sector, working from home has been a surprisingly effective solution. Brice Lamarque is a sales and account director at a web and branding agency in Hong Kong. His company has had a positive experience with the new work from home structure:

“It’s a test run that we didn’t really choose to implement, but we’re quite happy with it. Before (the epidemic) happened, we were not really keen on letting our team work from home because we value collaboration. But this experience actually showed us that the whole team collaborates quite well even if they’re not in the same room, so we’re looking at adding that into our employee benefits ... maybe two to three weeks a year.”

Communication Apps Demonstrating Ability to Respond to Growing Demand

As more Chinese companies are moving teams to home offices, the quarantine is also creating an increase in downloads for video conferencing programs, cloud based software and workplace messaging apps. Since the lockdown, DingTalk, a work force messaging app used in China, jumped from number 37 to the 3rd most downloaded free iOS app in China. This sudden user increase has caused temporary disruptions in the app itself. WeChat Work is another Chinese messaging app, and it’s recorded a tenfold increase with the work from home surge. Chinese apps are having to adapt to complications caused by increased usage, and some are responding very quickly to make additions necessary to better support the unique needs of China’s work from home force. DingTalk created a “beautify filter” feature for video conferencing. In response to the coronavirus outbreak, Feishu, a messaging app supporting file sharing and document editing, introduced a health management program. Here, workers can track their daily body temperatures to monitor health amongst the team. 

Changing Expectations

The trend towards working from home has become more and more common, and this unexpected experiment has some Chinese companies considering adopting remote work as a more permanent solution.

Remote work doesn’t just help to reduce infectious outbreaks. Studies have shown that working from home can lead to a number of benefits for employees, the companies employing them, and the environment.

• Increased productivity by reducing small talk around the office

• “Greener” model when cutting down on things like commuter car pollution

• Decreased commute time can lower stress and provide more personal time outside of work

• Lowered costs by eliminating office space expenses

• Uninterrupted routine for event driven circumstances, like bad weather or airborne illnesses

• Ability to employ best candidates for the job by increasing the pool of potential employees when not limited by location of physical office

• Increased diversity when work from home options enable physically handicapped or other differently abled individuals are able to access the work force remotely

• Greater incentive for new employees with flexible work options for unique needs

The Future of Location Independence

While working from home may have sounded like a millennial tantrum 10 years ago, global events like the coronavirus are showing that the remote work structure can provide some companies very practical relief from everyday frustrations. From a better work life balance, lower stress and greener work models, to significantly lower production costs and reductions in  missed days due to inclement weather and that cold being passed around the office - more and more of the workforce is starting to look for jobs with location flexibility. 

According to an article by FastCompany, a growing number of employees say they would turn down an onsite job for the possibility of finding a more flexible position somewhere else. Research analytics done by Flexjobs and Global Workplace found that "in the U.S. in the span of one year, from 2016 to 2017, remote work grew 7.9%. Over the last five years it grew 44% and over the previous 10 years it grew 91%. Between 2005 to 2017, there was a 159% increase in remote work. In 2015, 3.9 million U.S. workers were working remotely. Today that number is at 4.7 million, or 3.4% of the population.” And UpWork predicts that by 2028, 73% of all teams will have remote workers.

Remote work is gaining popularity from both employees and employers, and the US has seen a significant increase in the amount of  people working remotely, which is showing signs that it’s not just a fading trend. With this increased understanding of remote work and its benefits, the question shouldn’t be whether or not to consider flexible work options, but rather how your business can implement a remote work program - either as a full time model or on an as needed basis.