Since its appearance and globalization, COVID-19 has influenced every aspect of our daily lives and, for about a year, almost totally paralyzed many industries that were affected by regulations and quarantines applied in all parts of the world. One way to reactivate work without putting the lives of employees at risk was to work from home or, as it is also known, teleworking, which has seen its greatest increase in recent years as a result of the pandemic that the world is currently experiencing. .

Remote employment or teleworking is understood as any professional activity carried out remotely and has existed long before the pandemic. The number of remote workers prior to 2020 was much lower, but the promotion of this type of work has highlighted the advantages and disadvantages that it has for both the employee and the companies.

Although not all jobs can be done remotely, those that allow this modality were adopted as a way to reactivate industries and deal with the “new normal”.

In fact, a survey carried out by Statista shows that 56% of the participants had been working from home for less than a year at the time of the survey. This figure taken during 2020 compares with 21% of the participants who answered that they had been applying the remote employment modality for more than 5 years.

Another survey compares those users who worked remotely before and after the coronavirus, which is also an example of the boost that the pandemic had in this type of work. In this survey, 15% of the participants responded in September 2020 that they worked remotely prior to the pandemic, while by December of the same year 74% of the participants were carrying out their work remotely

This study also highlights that between 30 and 35% of employees expect to adopt telecommuting as a permanent way of life.

The pandemic has definitely boosted telecommuting as a way to keep companies and institutions afloat. This impulse also spilled over into other industries, such as technology, since those who were given the opportunity to work from home had to have adequate equipment in their homes to carry out their work.

Some of the advantages of remote employment include increased productivity, reduced work-related stress and considerable money savings in aspects such as mobility.

However, like everything else, remote employment also presents certain challenges for both the company and the employee, among which communication challenges, loneliness and cybersecurity can be mentioned.

Being this last point one of the most important, cyber security saw an increase in risk by having employees in uncontrolled environments and with a greater probability of committing possible errors that put information security at risk.

The impact of COVID-19 continues to be carefully observed, but its influence in promoting remote work is definitely beyond doubt.