Page 22 - IMDR EBOOK 20 OCT 2020

"Pandemic and Beyond: Naviga ng the New Normal" E - Book Year 2020

Impact of COVID19 on working of organizations : -
3 Shifting to Virtual Working using technology platforms

Dr. Abhijeet Shivane, Assistant Professor, DES’S IMDR, Pune
ABSTRACT
This paper is a study of the impact of COVID19 pandemic lockdown on the working of the
organizations. It was observed that many organizations were shifting to virtual
working/work from home style of functioning because of the Lockdown period. Based on
the certain observations of the Lockdown period, the author has predicted about the post
COVID19 working of the organizations. A survey of 76 respondents from 13 different
companies was conducted with the help of a structured questionnaire to test the
forecasts & suggestions given by the author. The conclusions were drawn from the same.
Similarly a couple of cases have been studied to verify the opinions expressed by the
author.

Key words:- Work from Home (WFH) , Virtual Working, Telework
INTRODUCTION:-
PM Modi said on the Life in the era of COVID19 “Home is the New Ofce, Internet is the
New Meeting Room” … (Date :-19th April 2020)“
First time, COVID19 Lock down was announced from 21st March 2020 to 31st March
2020 in the Mumbai, MMR Region, Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad and Nagpur cities. Later a
nationwide lockdown was announced from 25th March to 14th April 2020 and
subsequently second & third phases announced from 15th April to 3rd May 2020 & 4th
May to 17th May 2020.
In this Lockdown period, the author realized the importance of ICT (Information
Communication Technology) from a different perspective. Even though we use ICT for all
sorts of communication regularly but the author had never thought of its potential for
‘work from home’. In this Lockdown, he came across number of application software like
Microsoft Teams, Google Duo, Cisco Webex and Zoom for conducting meetings and
seminars. The Author also learnt that pollution has decreased because of the Lockdown.
It was thought that why can’t we use ICT fully for work from home and reduce trafc on
the roads even after the end of the Lockdown. Why can’t we ask some of our employees in
Corporate and Govt. organizations to work from home permanently so that no. of
travelers in the buses, cars, local trains, metro trains can be reduced? It will reduce load
on the existing infrastructure for transport. Similarly the area required for an ofce can
be reduced and a lot of rent can be saved particularly in metropolitan cities like Mumbai,
Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru and Chennai. It was thought that if we could implement the work
from home culture for employees who need a Laptop, an Internet connection and a Smart
Phone to work then we can certainly reduce cost of operations on infrastructure and
transportation, similarly reduce pollution drastically to save the environment.
It was also observed that right from the Prime Minister to District Collector, every one of
them was using virtual platforms for conducting meetings very easily then why can’t we
continue the same practice even after the lockdown period which will benet us by
saving of a lot of cost spent on transportation of people and reducing noise and air
pollution. With this point of view a survey was conducted to verify the opinions stated
above. Similarly two cases of IT companies were studied to check the viewpoints
mentioned above.
OBJECTIVES:-
1. To analyze the change in the working of the organizations because of COVID19
Lockdown.
2. To know whether Virtual Working/WFH can become a regular practice in the
organizations where most of the jobs need a laptop, an internet and a smart phone.
3. To analyze the pros and cons of the Virtual Working.
4. To test the forecasts and suggestions given by the author regarding Virtual
Working/WFH functioning of the organizations.

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