Without leaving home

The coronavirus has accentuated teleworking around the world. More than two million Spaniards have been working at home for the last two months. And half a million teachers have launched a new way of teaching that will extend into the next academic year. The government has asked them to remain confined. What at first might appear to be a social conquest and an area of freedom is beginning to be a contested model. Sociologists are wondering if it is possible to live without the contact of one's colleagues and the complicit smile of the boss's secretary.

Teleworking does not mean, precisely, working on TV, as it may seem at first sight, but working from home. Forget about the early morning, the daily traffic jam; give up the stress, the routine, the bad looks and even the promotions. They are part of the heads and tails of a new way of understanding long-distance working relationships. 

More and more liberal professionals, heads of multinationals, and concerted officials are deciding to visit the office only when strictly necessary. We call this teleworking.

In principle it could be considered an alternative to conventional relations, but behind so much liberality, so much flexibility, there is a world that is not sufficiently studied where comfort can translate into depression. Lack of affection is contagious and harmful to health. Therefore, the disadvantages of teleworking are not less than the advantages.
 

Some innovative organizations are betting on the flexibility of this new modality - sometimes there is only a verbal agreement and not an employment contract as it is the case with press collaborators - in order to save costs and improve performance.

Does it increase competitiveness? It is possible. The truth is that you work two hours more on average than if you were in the office. How can you boost your self-esteem?  With discipline. How do you make promotions in the company compatible with living together permanently when your partner also works at home? This is a pending subject. What can you do with your free time? Does this system create addiction? Unanswered questions that require analysis by medical and psychological specialists.

Because how does a worker react when he or she is sequestered in his or her own home and isolated from the office or factory environment? Is there anything comparable to having a cup of coffee, after a sandwich in the company of colleagues, while the incompetent boss and "the brown noser" at work are mercilessly censured? A new sociology of self-esteem is born where self-responsibility and self-discipline are elements that make up the whole personal calendar of the week. It is known, for example, that the absence of direct leadership cannot produce beneficial effects on dependent or unmotivated workers.

Quality of life, without rigid timetables, should be inscribed in the credit of the teleworker. But all that glitters is not gold. Depersonalisation and depressions due to lack of tension are some of the arguments already being studied by psychologists as new illnesses for white-collar workers, or rather, those in tracksuits and sportswear.

This is a (provisional) decalogue of advantages: 1. Convenience. 2.- Not being assigned to an office. 3.- New sociology of self-esteem. 4.- Self-responsibility and self-discipline. 5.- More leisure time. 6.- Absence of direct leadership. New concept of employment in the company. New way of self-evaluation of the quality of work. 9.- Handling of the computer science. And, 10.- Increased competitiveness.
 

But all that glitters is not gold. The disadvantages run parallel to the visible advantages. Let's move on to three: loneliness, lack of human contact in relationships and little promotion in the company. 

Teleworking is more widespread in times of crisis. Having a stable and permanent job, with a work place (desk, computer and telephone) will remain - we must be realistic - for civil servants in public administrations. Because it is the City Councils - the story began in Rotterdam, (Holland) in 2004 - that have outsourced employment and send their work in from their first or second home. It is true that large corporations (Alcatel, Indra, Nintendo, HP, Unisys, IBM, PwC and Vodafone, for example) are trying out this working method but it has not been proven that it is more effective in human relations than the daily contact between bosses and subordinates.

New technologies, especially rapid access to the Internet, facilitate teleworking. E-journalism is creating a new caste of professionals who must combine their specific knowledge with their own computer lessons. From handling PowerPoint to reinstalling computer add-ons. The PC has become an essential tool. But it is no less important to use a mobile phone, ADSL, printer, digital camera or word processing or a large screen TV to relax alongside other leisure systems such as a small gym to avoid the health problems that come with sitting in front of a computer screen.

Let's list some disadvantages a)-Loneliness. b)-Lack of human contact. c)- Disconnection from the company. No one remembers a person who is not around. d)- Hostile environment when living in the same house. Especially if the wife does not work outside. Very dangerous relationships. e)- Problems of self-control for the undisciplined. f)- Adaptation (or not) to a prolonged or definitive situation. g)- Little promotion in the company. h)- Scarce contacts with the related labour environment and, in the long run, the relations of the journalistic sector and the opportunities are strengthened. i)- Propensity to illness when social interrelationship is lacking. And, j)- Depersonalisation and depressions due to lack of tension.
 

To begin with, many of the labour relations are not with individuals (persons) but with legal entities (companies); therefore, the possibility of applying for a job is done through SMEs or self-employed workers (self-employed). Writers, scriptwriters, creators, journalists and publicists are some of the activities specially prepared to face teleworking and adapt to the new circumstance. 

The office has to be comfortable, with little furniture, ergonomic and convenient because we will spend most of our time there. It must have some essential elements such as: ample exterior light. Sun if possible. Ventilation. Heating and cooling systems. Main and auxiliary table to have everything at hand. Anatomical chair to avoid back problems. It would be desirable to have an office of 30-40 square meters to avoid claustrophobia.

Tablet PC. With this touch screen laptop you can work anywhere in the house. Notebook computers are replacing laptops. But a laptop is not a bad solution. You can even use a desk top and that's despite the space it takes up.

WIFI Access Point. It's the easiest way to bring the Internet into every room. No need to cut wires or drill holes. A WIFI access point gives coverage up to 30 meters. Some telephone operators give away routers when you sign up for an ADSL or fibre optic line. Always in broadband.

Projector. In addition to Power Point presentations, this device can be used for an afternoon of cinema. If the plasma screen is very expensive, the projector can be a good alternative to watch a movie. The new ones come ready to shoot the image in 16:9 widescreen format, from DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television).

Ink printer. Scanner and copier, all in one machine to gain space. These tools have become essential, just like the digital camera.

Phones. The landline phone is the umbilical cord that connects us to the world. Telephone, logically wireless, complemented by the mobile phone.

It is very healthy to combine work and leisure. And interchange them. In the absence of a good walk every four or five hours, we will highlight some essential elements: 1. The bigger, the better. 2. DVD player. The undeniable companion of TV and the most successful technology in history. 3. Digital recorder (starting the commercial tour). It can store different programs. 4. Sound: Good speakers are essential to enjoy the cinema without leaving the living room. And music. 5. Family computer so that the children do not interfere with the "office professional".  6. Digital camera. 7. Video camera. 8. Digital receiver. Television with 4K quality 9. Small gym to stretch the muscles or, if not, a Wii with personal trainer. (It is not advisable to spend more than 1 hour at a time in front of the TV screen).

Experience shows that the profile of the new digital citizen is best suited to teleworking. Teleworking serves not only to reconcile work life but also to complicate it. Making work from home compatible with the presence of one's partner is a whole treatise on living together that has yet to be discovered. The profile that best suits the "teleworker" is that of a mature person, around 40 years old, married, with one or two children, with higher education, own home and with an average salary of around 50,000 euros per year. In other words, a profile for the privileged.

Without a doubt, the greatest beneficiary of teleworking is the company itself: it saves on office space, energy, money on transport and food, improves competitiveness and is not aware of sick leave. In many cases the teleworkers do not have a stable contract, but are self-employed and that encourages companies because they pay for the work commissioned at a taxed price.

The headhunting firm Robert Half International, considers that work flexibility is the third incentive to attract personnel behind salary and social benefits, but ahead of bonuses and extra days of vacation. In any case, mutual trust between employer and employee is the main feature for successful teleworking. And it has already been shown that information companies are the most likely to hire teleworkers to secure talent in the software industry.

After all, to think, create or dream, they need more time than space. And, above all, they need to manage knowledge.  In Spain, Madrid, Catalonia and Murcia are the three Autonomous Communities where teleworkers were first employed. Sometimes, the commitment allows you to go to the office once a week; other times, the agreement is for an established job and most of the time, they are experiments that do not finish germinating due to the lack of a Spanish culture of teleworking. The main cause is the lack of responsibility and self-control, given our uniqueness to do the jobs at the last minute.

It still seems difficult to avoid having a boss, a leader, who encourages employees to make use of flexible time and space. In short, teleworking, even from the other side of the beach or at the foot of Everest, is not as flexible or dynamic as it is portrayed to be. It depends, to a large extent, on the most vulnerable human factor, the will. However, in times of crisis it is an excellent antidote to unemployment. 

The coronavirus, despite still being in the first phase of de-escalation towards the new normality, has imposed teleworking as a way of preserving employment. Confinement and teleworking, united by the Chinese virus that prevents us from leaving home.

We will never forget the health heroes, the ESF, the army, the transporters, the distribution workers, nor the 40,000 victims who have left us after "an invisible and homicidal axe" in the middle of spring.

Antonio REGALADO runs BAHÍA DE ÍTACA at aregaladorodriguez.blogspot.com