As searches spike for “remote working” on LinkedIn amid COVID-19 concerns, there’s increased discussion in making remote work, work

Remote working is currently a hot topic of discussion on public forums and social media.  Employees across Asia, from Japan to Singapore, are working from home amid the COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) crisis. As companies start to encourage work-from-home arrangements, both employees and employers are adjusting to this relatively novel concept and searching for expert advice to ensure productive remote working hours. A deep dive into LinkedIn’s data shows a sharp spike in searches for “remote working” content on the LinkedIn Learning platform since late January.

Searches for content on remote work grew by 2.6X since March 2018

Key Asian markets including Singapore, Hong Kong (SAR) and Chinese Mainland are the ones driving this trend. While organizations prioritize the health and safety of their employees and encourage more people to work from home, there are intrinsic challenges to be addressed for remote working to be implemented at a larger scale. Social media has been bearing witness to a surge of posts, articles and challenges sharing tips and tricks to ace working from home. Employees are searching for tips that will enable them to be productive, while employers and team managers are searching for tips on how to effectively manage a remote workforce. Trending search terms on LinkedIn Learning related to remote working, such as ‘Communicating in virtual meetings’ and ‘Managing remote teams’ reiterate the same story.

Remote working, or work flexibility, used to be a distinctive perk. Today, it is increasingly an expectation in a multigenerational workforce. As more employees search for flexible work environments and more employers try to win the war for talent by offering what entices employees, this particular topic is one that we think will only grow in popularity. Trending courses such as ‘Working remotely” and ‘Leading at a distance’ offered on LinkedIn Learning teaches skills such as setting up home offices, virtual collaboration and virtual leadership to help learners ace remote work.

Takeaways

Ensuring the success of a remote work arrangement has to be a collective effort. While team members act on time management and productivity tips, team leaders have to understand how to manage virtual teams and ensure that team members are engaged.

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