In the short time span of more or less three months, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced the world to adapt. Amid uncertainty, mitigation efforts are needed to ensure the economy continues.
By
ARI KUNCORO
·4 minutes read
KOMPAS/IWAN SETIYAWAN
Naira (left) and Raina, first graders at SD Dharma Karya elementary school in South Tangerang, reda Islamic Religious Education materials while taking a year-end assessment exam online at their home in Cinangka, Sawangan, Depok, West Java, on Tuesday (2/6/2020). Online exams are being held because schools remain closed due to social restrictions to prevent COVID-19 transmission.
In the short time span of more or less three months, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced the world to adapt. Amid uncertainty, mitigation efforts are needed to ensure the economy continues. In this situation, major universities in the world are among the first to move to online learning and working from home to break the chain of virus transmission.
The working-from-home situation is part of a long journey in search of a way to share information between computers in one system in one work environment. The technology was developed in the US in the early 1960s, which was later followed by the development of email.
The next development was the integration of various systems into an Arpanet network, where various universities were involved. The purpose of this network was to ensure the compatibility of the software between systems that gave birth to a simple mail transfer protocol and then added other protocols, POP3 and IMAP, which have since become the internet standard.
The learning and teaching process benefits greatly from this progress, because teaching material, including homework, reference and reading lists, can be sent by e-mail to students before lectures begin.
The author began the experience of working from home when taking a postgraduate degree in the United States in the early 1990s. Professors who received research grants from prestigious institutions, such as the National Science Foundation or the National Institute of Health, tried to find a way that students who became research assistants could work anywhere, even from other countries.
A volunteer receives the first test of the China\'s Sinovac coronavirus potential vaccine from a healthcare worker as Sao Paulo\'s Governor Joao Doria looks on amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at Hospital das Clinicas, in Sao Paulo, Brazil July 21, 2020.
Sustainable productivity
In the context of the current pandemic, from some anecdotal observations, working from home clearly brings several benefits. At least we can save costs on consumables like electricity and water.
Office workers who carry out general administrative, financial and data analysis tasks are among those who can work from home. In doing so, they can save not only time but also transportation costs, which can in turn reduce pollution in urban areas.
The extra time they get can also increase productivity. The work rhythm of work and breaks can be arranged by each person according to their preferences, so that the processes of creativity and recreation can support each other.
The most appropriate model for working from home is that the type of work does not depend on the work location and relies heavily on information technology (for knowledge workers), such as consultants and data analysts. Like those experienced by the research groups at the world\'s major universities, this kind of work still requires face-to-face meetings to maintain sustainable productivity.
The Marina Bay Sands integrated resort lights up in tribute to the healthcare workers and people staying home to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Singapore, April 10, 2020.
For economic sustainability, working or living at home requires a mixed model, where the needs of meeting physically are determined by the intensity of the analysis. The more intense the knowledge and analysis in a job, the more independent the job is, and there is less need to be physically present at work.
The impact of working from home on the economy has not been revealed at a macro level. Until the writing of this article, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) had yet to publish the GDP data for the second quarter, 2020.
Reports from a number of countries show signs of increasing productivity (diminishing marginal return). In other words, although some people have begun to adapt to the new situation, it is generally predicted that there will be an increase in productivity, then a slowdown in the productivity growth. This happens if working from home is done as is.
The problem revolves around humans as social beings. Companies in various parts of the world are reporting missing factors, namely the improvement of social capital. Factors such as leadership, supervision, togetherness, opportunities to collaborate and socializing cannot be done through working from home.
Repetitive work may be better to do in the office, because the boredom factor reduces productivity and can only be reduced by socializing with coworkers. In addition, overworking and seclusion in the room are most likely to occur when working from home due to the lack of a fixed schedule.
KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO
Ari Kuncoro
In the short term, the biggest impact of working from home is its indirect effect on other sectors due to the emergence of new habits. The growing trend of cycling in a number of cities in Indonesia is an attempt to balance the loss of social capital formation due to working at home. With the human instinct, people try to regain it.
ARI KUNCORO, Rector of the University of Indonesia.
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