The remote-working revolution: how to get it right
Summary
TLDRThe video explores the lasting impact of remote work post-pandemic, with a focus on policy and employer challenges. Donna Sarkar's move to Barbados on a remote work visa exemplifies the trend. Legal issues like immigration, tax liabilities, and employment laws are discussed. The video highlights the importance of a supportive work environment, with Finland's successful remote work culture as a model. It also touches on the potential for legislation to address work-from-home challenges and the market's role in determining remote work compensation.
Takeaways
- 🏡 The shift to remote work is likely to continue post-pandemic, with many employees preferring to work from home at least one day a week.
- 🌐 International remote work poses challenges like visa and immigration issues, as well as potential changes to employee benefits and company tax liabilities.
- 💼 Employers have a duty of care to provide a safe and suitable work environment, which now extends to employees' homes.
- 👥 The experience of remote work can be deeply unequal, with factors like home environment and career stage affecting productivity and career development.
- 🌐 Remote work can blur the lines between work and personal life, raising concerns about privacy and work-life balance.
- 🇫🇮 Finland is highlighted as a leader in remote work, with a supportive culture, infrastructure, and legislation that facilitates effective remote working.
- 💼 Companies are considering changes to office spaces and are grappling with how to maintain employee well-being and productivity in a remote work context.
- 💼 The pandemic has accelerated the need for governments and organizations to develop policies and laws around remote work.
- 💼 There is a debate over whether remote workers should face salary adjustments, with some companies proposing pay cuts and others suggesting increased compensation.
- 💼 The future of work is likely to involve a hybrid model, with ongoing discussions needed between employers and employees to define working arrangements.
Q & A
What is the current trend in working from home post-pandemic?
-Despite the easing of pandemic restrictions, many office employees prefer to continue working from home at least one day a week, indicating that remote work is likely here to stay.
Why did Donna Sarkar decide to work from Barbados?
-Donna Sarkar, a software engineer for Microsoft, moved to Barbados after learning about their one-year remote work visa for foreigners. The visa allowed her to work remotely while paying income tax in America.
What are some potential legal issues employers face with employees working remotely from different locations?
-Employers may face immigration or visa issues, potential voiding of employee benefits, and tax liabilities in foreign countries where employees work remotely.
How can working from home affect an employee's benefits like private medical insurance?
-Working abroad might void certain benefits that employees have due to their employment, such as private medical insurance, depending on the terms and location.
What is the current debate over state taxes for remote workers in the northeastern United States?
-There is a legal battle over whether states like Massachusetts should tax people who officially work there but are currently working remotely from outside the state.
What is the employer's duty of care regarding a safe work environment when employees work from home?
-Employers have a duty of care to provide a safe work environment, which includes ensuring that home workplaces are safe and adequately equipped for employees' well-being.
How does the experience of working from home differ between senior and junior employees?
-Senior employees like Sarah, who have established networks, may find remote work beneficial, while junior employees like Luke might struggle with building networks and find it challenging to advance their careers without in-person interaction.
What role does Finland's culture of trust play in remote working?
-Finland's culture of trust, supported by legislation and digitalization, has contributed to a high satisfaction rate among remote workers, with many feeling productive and able to balance work and personal life.
What challenges do governments face in updating laws to accommodate remote work?
-Updating laws to accommodate remote work is challenging due to the complexity of considering factors like work-from-home equipment provisions, expense claims, and the division between work and home life.
Why might some companies consider getting rid of the office post-pandemic?
-Some companies are planning to review or even eliminate their office spaces to save on costs, as remote work has proven feasible and in some cases, more productive for employees.
What proposal has been made by Deutsche Bank regarding remote work taxation?
-Deutsche Bank proposed that remote workers should be taxed an additional five percent to compensate those who cannot work from home, with the tax being paid by the employer if a permanent desk is provided, or by the employee if they choose to work from home.
Outlines
🏠 Remote Work's Lasting Impact
The script discusses the permanence of remote work post-pandemic, with many office employees favoring a hybrid model. It introduces Donna Sarkar, a software engineer for Microsoft, who relocated to Barbados under a special remote work visa. The visa allowed her to work remotely while paying taxes in the U.S., highlighting the complexities employers and policymakers face regarding immigration, visas, and employment benefits when employees work abroad. The script also touches on legal issues like potential tax liabilities for companies when employees work in different countries.
👩💼 & 👨💼 Work from Home: Inequalities and Solutions
This paragraph explores the unequal work-from-home experience, contrasting the setups of a senior manager with a dedicated office space and an entry-level employee working from a shared living space. It emphasizes the challenges junior employees face in network building when working remotely and suggests looking to Finland, a leader in remote work, for solutions. Finland's remote work culture, supported by broadband access, digitalization, and a culture of trust, eased the transition during the pandemic. The paragraph also discusses the need for laws and employer policies to support remote work, including providing appropriate equipment and defining work-life boundaries.
💼 The Future of Remote Work and Its Financial Implications
The final paragraph delves into the financial aspects of remote work, such as Deutsche Bank's proposal to tax remote workers to compensate for those who cannot work from home. It contrasts this with the idea that companies, saving on office space, might consider paying remote workers more. The script also mentions companies reducing pay for those choosing to work from different locations and the potential need for legislation to address work-life balance and privacy concerns. It concludes by acknowledging that the transition to a new world of work will take time and that experiences, like working from Barbados, are valuable even if they come with a salary cut.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Remote Work
💡Work-from-Home Visa
💡Hybrid Working
💡Employment Law
💡Duty of Care
💡Work-Life Balance
💡Digitalization
💡Cultural Shift
💡Tax Implications
💡Legislation
💡Right to Disconnect
Highlights
Working from home is likely to continue even after the pandemic, with many office employees preferring at least one day a week of remote work.
Donna Sarkar, a software engineer for Microsoft, moved to Barbados and continued working remotely with a special visa.
Employers and policy makers are grappling with unforeseen issues related to remote work, which could affect workers globally.
Employers need to consider immigration and visa issues when employees want to work from different locations.
Benefits like private medical insurance could be voided if employees work abroad.
There's a risk that foreign authorities may regard remote employees as setting up a permanent base for their company, leading to tax liabilities and employment law compliance.
Employers have a duty of care to provide a safe work environment, which now extends to employees' homes.
The experience of working from home can be deeply unequal, affecting employees differently based on their home environment and career stage.
Senior staff like Sarah, who has a separate office room, may have an easier time working from home compared to junior employees like Luke, who works from his bedroom.
Building professional networks is more challenging for junior employees working remotely.
Finland is a world leader in remote working, with a long tradition and specific legislation supporting it.
Finland's remote working law allows employees to work from somewhere other than their office for at least half the week.
The pandemic has prompted governments worldwide to consider laws around remote working, including work-from-home days, equipment provisions, and work-life balance.
Legislation changes are challenging and may take years to implement, suggesting that employers will likely develop their own policies in the meantime.
The blurred line between work and social life is a significant problem with remote work, with some countries like France having specific legislation around the right to disconnect.
Deutsche Bank proposed taxing remote workers 5% more to compensate those who cannot work from home, with the tax paid by the employer if a desk was provided, or by the employee if they chose to work from home.
Some American companies have announced pay cuts for remote workers, while others argue that companies are saving on office space and should consider paying remote workers more.
The future of remote work is likely to involve a mix of company policies, legal considerations, and market evolution, with the aim of balancing work-life integration and employee well-being.
Transcripts
what has your desk look like for the
past year
despite the means tweets and videos it's
likely working from home is here to stay
even after the pandemic most office
employees
want to keep doing it at least one day a
week but this brave new world of working
is forcing policy makers and employers
to wrangle with some
unforeseen issues many of which will
have far-reaching effects on workers
around the world
for decades to come
[Music]
this is donna how's that
and this is donna's office hey
i'm donna sarkar and right now i am in
barbados
donna works as a software engineer for
microsoft
[Music]
before the pandemic she rarely worked
from home
when this pandemic set in i honestly had
culture shock
i've never worked a job where i have
zero human interaction
in my 20 years of tech so
it all started in june of 2020.
we'd been now in lockdown since march
we're not going outside we're not
meeting anyone
i see this random article that said
barbados has offering a one-year remote
work visa to foreigners all over the
world
and i thought that's kind of interesting
three months later donna and her husband
said farewell to their home in seattle
and up sticks to barbados
last night we sat out on the boardwalk
and had rum punches and tacos and
overlooked the ocean
and it was magical it was a throwback to
a time like
almost a year ago when you could do that
working from paradise was made possible
by a special visa
which allowed donna and her husband to
continue doing their jobs in barbados
while still paying income tax in america
when i dial into meetings people are
like oh look at you and your beautiful
sunny skies outside
and i'm like yeah yeah sorry not sorry
at all given that in seattle it's gloom
and doom and dark at four o'clock and
raining
but before you start packing your bags
for your own overseas adventure
you may want to heed the advice of an
employment lawyer
we're seeing quite a lot of requests
coming through
from employees to employers to work in
other locations
i think employers need to consider those
requests very carefully
depending on the location of where the
employee wants to work and their own
nationality there could be immigration
or visa issues
as to whether or not they're actually
entitled to work in that other location
i think they would need to be mindful of
some of the benefits that they have as a
result of their employment could
potentially
be voided if they're working abroad so
i'm thinking of things like
private medical insurance
and having employees working abroad
could cause a headache for their
employer too
say for instance an employee based in
britain
decided to relocate to india but to keep
working for their british company
just by being in india there's a risk
that the indian authorities would regard
the employee as setting up a permanent
base for their company
which means their employer might be
liable for indian taxes
and they might have to abide by india's
employment laws too
and this question doesn't just arise
when crossing national borders
there are some interesting legal battles
now developing
across the world including in in the
north eastern united states where
massachusetts and some sort of nearby
states are in this kind of interesting
battle over
whether or not massachusetts should be
allowed to tax people who
officially work in massachusetts their
offices in massachusetts
but at the moment they're actually doing
most if not all of their work from where
they live which is outside massachusetts
and employees are not only having to
consider challenges around
where people work but how they work
in the early days of the kova 19
pandemic i think we saw
quite an ad hoc approach to the
provision of
office equipment to home workers
we saw in the press those photos of
people taking their
monitor under their arm or even their
office chair on the tube
employers do have a duty of care in
relation to providing a safe place of
work and that extends to
an employee's home if that is where they
are working because what might have been
an okay chair to sit on for
a week or two you know six months down
the line and perhaps isn't suitable
a work environment however is much more
than a desk and a laptop
and the experience of working can be
deeply unequal
take two employees of an imaginary
company sarah is a senior manager
and has worked at the company for 20
years luke
is an entry level graduate who has been
in the job for less than a year
sarah lives in a big house and has a
separate room that can be used as an
office
luke lives with three flatmates and
works from his bedroom
sarah has reached the top of her
industry as she no longer has to commute
she gets more time to spend with her
family luke meanwhile is sick of his
flatmates
his career would benefit from being
around senior colleagues
like sarah so when you're at the start
of your career perhaps the biggest thing
you want to try and get right is to
build your your networks both within
your firm and
outside your firm and in a world where
there's more working from home
that does become a bit more difficult
it's not really so much of an initial
issue for senior staff because they've
kind of already developed their networks
so i think that would probably be the
biggest challenge uh faced by junior
employees as we
move towards a more hybrid way of
working
more than half of british 18 to 34 year
olds
then working from home challenging
compared with less than a third of 55 to
75 year olds
so how can employers ensure the physical
and mental well-being of their employees
when they work from home
for inspiration it might be worth
looking to the world leader
in remote working finland has been at
the forefront of flexible working since
the 1990s
even before the pandemic almost a third
of finns occasionally work from home
including gersomai blinkfest
i got a small electronic desk and i have
this large screen before
and i have a good chair and i have a
window now out to the
yard of garden and forest and also this
is my yoga studio as well so it's
perfect
gesimae is a finnish professor who's
been researching remote working
in finland there's a long tradition for
remote work
there's several reasons but one is that
we have
a good broadband all across the country
and then also i would say that the
digitalization at the workplace so you
don't have to take all the papers from
work to home
and the high portion of knowledge
workers in finland
and then another thing which i also
think is quite important
is the culture of trust and that is
something we also see
in our research finland even has a
specific remote working law
which allows employees to work from
somewhere other than their office
for at least half the week all this
meant that when the pandemic hit
the shift to remote working for many
finns was
surprisingly easy by april 2020
finland had the highest proportion of
people working from home
of any other eu country
although many countries already had
employment laws on flexibility
working hours and health and safety few
had specific remote working legislation
like finland the pandemic has changed
that
around the world governments are playing
catch-up considering laws not just
around how many days a week people can
work from home
but also what equipment an employer
needs to provide
what workers can claim on expenses and
even the division between work and home
life
but changing laws is not easy
even if legislation was proposed at this
stage
with the various readings and
consultations that would be required it
would be
some time likely a couple of years
before we'd actually see it come through
i think the more likely route for the
moment is development by
individual employers of policies perhaps
further guidance for example from
health and safety executive on health
and safety requirements for working from
home and yes perhaps in the longer term
specific legislation but for the moment
i think we're likely working within the
framework of what we already have
for many perhaps the biggest problem
with working from home
is the blurred line between work and
social life
some people you know like the commute
to actually get that physical removal
from the office and
you know any issues or stresses that
might be associated with that
i think if there were to be legislation
potentially one area could be working
ours
and that delineation between work and
home life
there's kind of growing concerns i think
about the question of privacy
the right to have a personal life and
the right
uh to be sort of for your
for your boss to have some oversight of
what you're doing as they would when you
were in an office
but not so much oversight that you feel
that you're never able to actually have
privacy and personal space so i think
sort of negotiating those boundaries is
going to be
a kind of quite interesting area over
the next few years
some countries like france already have
specific legislation around the right to
disconnect
in finland legislation on flexible
working hours
has helped the work-life balance gears
and maya's research
found that during the pandemic 75
percent of finns
felt they could well balance their work
and personal life demands
and 86 were satisfied with working
remotely
people have been very happy for working
remotely
they feel that they are very productive
they are highly satisfied for their work
and they have been able to also have a
work life
balance a survey of british businesses
found that more than a third were
planning to review their office space
requirements after the pandemic
but some companies have already
announced that they will be getting rid
of the office
altogether
i think it will require a conversation
between employer
and employee to reach agreement if
possible
as to what the working arrangements will
be going forward
and i think that there does need to be a
degree of recognition that
not everyone's home is
sufficiently set up to enable them to
comfortably and efficiently
work from their home so how can remote
working
be made more equal one proposal by
deutsche bank
is that those working from home should
be taxed five percent more
to compensate those who cannot work from
home
if the worker was provided with a
permanent desk the tax would be paid by
their employer
but if the employee chose to work from
home they'd pay the tax themselves
some american companies have already
announced pay cuts
for those who want to work from a
different city or state
i mean there is another way of looking
at this which is that companies are
saving
large amounts of money on office space
and in somewhere like san francisco
those savings can be fairly significant
so there's also i think a theoretical
argument for saying that when people are
working from home
you need to pay them more rather than
less i think really this is a question
for the market rather than for the state
and we'll just sort of see how it
evolves over time
even if companies did insist on a salary
cut for remote workers
some may see it as a worthwhile
sacrifice to have a different
working environment i probably would
have taken a salary cut to come work in
barbados if it required that
because it's an experience and one thing
we've learned from
this entire pandemic period is money
cannot buy you experience
even after the pandemic it's likely
remote working is going to be here to
stay
the switch from the office to home may
have been forced to happen overnight
but ironing out the intricacies of this
new world of working
is going to take many years
you're on mute
sorry i'm calling williams the senior
economics writer at the economist
you can read my special report on the
future of work by clicking on the link
opposite
thanks for watching and don't forget to
subscribe
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