Crises, wars, disasters and epidemics have been accelerators of changes in human activities such as work. In many countries, employees use virtual platforms to hold meetings, carry out trainings, inform and follow the progress of tasks with their colleagues and bosses. The telework solutions that are being taken in the face of this health crisis can create a window of opportunity for its adoption in a more generalized way. However, it is not possible for all companies and all employees to work this way. The situation in education is also changing in this regard, but it is not always accessible to everyone.
Here, in the organization of Praxis, we have also had to reinvent ourselves and work from home. We stopped doing many other activities in the office and with refugees but we were able to continue working online. We continue promoting the Unesco's international days, writing articles, sharing music, recording podcasts, videos and the Spanish lessons with some Greek students, classes and activitites that are very succesfull. At the beginning it was different and complicated because we had to mentalise to work in a different way. To change the way to do the things. In my case, it was hard because I´m used and I like to work close to the people. Now we have to try to feel close in the virtual life.
Challenges involve adjustments during the transition stage that can cause major communication, trust, and results problems. The new generations of employees (digital natives) have extensive digital skills, as they tend to learn and adopt new technologies without too much effort. If the traditional leader wants to evolve into a remote leader, he will have to reconvert in many aspects, at least with respect to the new digital media and channels of interaction.
COVID-19 will pass in a while, but the experience generated with virtual team telework, organized with good management and collaboration practices, with the incorporation of 5G which is under debate yet, will mark a new era in labor relations and tasks for companies to join this evolution.
By Fernando Iturria