The fact is this: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way people work and live. It has changed everything. All 50 states have now reported cases of the virus, with 42 states issuing some variation of a \u201cstay at home\u201d order for their citizens. It is now estimated that nearly half of those still employed are working from home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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As the world adapts to this new paradigm, the trucking\nindustry asks itself: Can we work from home? Absolutely. And technology helps.\nRamping up your technological capabilities and adapting to the new times will\nhelp you see productivity gains and so much more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the world approaches 2 million COVID-19 cases, everyone\nis asking whether they will adapt to the new way of thinking and working or\nhold on to the old ways. The trucking industry is not immune from these\nquestions. Already many are already beginning to speculate aloud how they will\nmake the adjustment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While many might find it hard to be optimistic during these\ntimes, there is still a lot to be hopeful for. Humans do a very good job\nfiguring out how to make the best of nearly any situation. We are adaptable.\nAre there any silver linings that can come from this situation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Remote Work Takes Off <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There are two sides to every coin. And just as this\nsituation has been bad on so many levels, there are good things that have come\nout of it. Certainly, pollution has decreased around the world. As driving and\nmanufacturing hit the pause button, nature has taken a deep breath. In a lot of\nplaces, people report connecting virtually with friends and family they did not\noften speak to before. As the virus has ripped families apart, it has also brought\nothers closer together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another area that could be considered a silver lining is in\nthe area of remote work. There are many benefits to working remotely and\ncompanies are beginning to realize them in this new environment. Some of the\nkey benefits to working remotely include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The problem lies in habit. Old habits die hard, but perhaps\nthe COVID-19 situation has taken a hammer these old habits. It still may be\nhard for leadership teams to fully appreciate the benefits enough to continue\nthe programs post-virus. Let\u2019s take a closer look at specifically how remote\nwork can benefit both companies and workers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Benefits of Remote Work<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While being in a central office can be good for coordination and collaboration in a physical sense, they can also be focal points for stress and anxiety. Working from home allows employees to create their own workspace and remain focused with fewer distractions. There is also plenty of evidence to show that when employees can set their own hours, they are more productive. Take away the need to drive to work and even more time is saved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n [wp_ad_camp_2] <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Other studies show that when employees can work in their own\nenvironment, they take more pleasure in their work. Working from home allows a\nsense of pride and ownership over one\u2019s output. This is a natural offshoot of\nthe self-determination working from home allows. The direct result? Increased creativity\nand higher levels of employee loyalty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While there are sometimes concern of losing a bond of\n\u201cshared culture\u201d that you get from an office environment, many companies still\nfind it difficult to create in an office. After all, it is kind of a vague concept.\nWhen they are working remotely, workers have less of an opportunity to engage\nin gossip or other types of counterproductive behavior. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, consider your talent scouting potential when you\ncan hire anyone from across the country. You now have a much larger pool of\ntalent to choose from. There has been plenty of anecdotal evidence that working\nremotely gives firms greater flexibility in finding the right people for the\njob. The question at hand, however, is how trucking companies can make this transition\nwithout severe disruption to their operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trucking Adapts to Remote Life<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While not every trucking company can make this kind of\nadjustment, it will take some creativity. Until we reach Class 5 autonomy,\ntruck drivers will still be driving trucks. Granted, automated freight delivery\nis expected to largely turn trucking into a desk job, we are still many years\naway from that new paradigm. Let us deal with one new paradigm at a time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n No, truck drivers still need to be in the cabs out on the\nnation\u2019s roads and highways hauling the lifeblood of America. But this will\nresult in some obvious changes at the home office. There are plenty of workers\n– from the executive team to the accounting department \u2013 that can easily get\ntheir tasks done from home with a strong internet connection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Working from home also exposes an employee\u2019s devices to the\noutside world. When they are using company-based systems, this could expose\nsensitive information to outside threats. That\u2019s why you need to turn to a VPN.\nThis will require some investment. Large networks are needed to handle the\nrequirements of large organizations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Companies will need to turn to corporate virtual private\nnetworks (VPN). But will these VPNs be able to handle the strain? It depends on\nthe size of the trucking company. VPNs encrypt data and provide secure\nconnections for employees working from home. Still, VPN\u2019s are not a silver\nbullet for all problems. Everything from eavesdropping to exploits and lateral\nmalware attacks, there comes some risk with allowing employees to work from\nhome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Teleconferencing represents another way trucking companies\ncan move something into the virtual space and save money on overhead. Many have\nturned to Zoom, one of the stock market unicorn darlings from 2019. It has even\noutperformed the stock market during this crisis as demands for its services\nskyrocket. Whether you use a third-party resource or build something in-house,\nteleconferencing provides another way to tighten up your operation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Smaller companies will be dealing with the same problems.\nThe biggest problem companies will face are technological issues that can crash\nthe system. Fortunately, the cloud can be utilized to offload much of the\nserver strain. Whether you go with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, or another\nsolution \u2013 as we have said so many times before at the QuickTSI blog<\/a>, technology\nis the answer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Saving Time and Money<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If there is one thing that any trucking company big or small\nwants to do, it is reduce costs. Some trucking companies have big, elaborate\nheadquarters. Others exist in a small office. However you want to look at it,\nyou are spending money on heating, cooling, lighting, in some cases food or\namenities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet, when a downturn happens, it allows companies to look\ninward at how they can improve their operations, streamline processes, and \u2013\nperhaps most of all \u2013 save money. If you can cut back on rent or office costs\nwithout disrupting operations, that seems like a no-brainer. This is especially\ntrue if you are facing financial problems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Would saving money on your headquarters, office rent,\nexpansion, and depreciation work wonders for your bottom line?<\/p>\n\n\n\n What else could you do with this saved money? Perhaps you could\ngive your customers more favorable pricing or pay your employees more? You\ncould also add more benefits or simply add a greater level of financial\nsecurity to your operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Stepping into the Future<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We are always big advocators of using technology to advance\nyour organization. COVID-19, while being a horrible crisis, has reminded us all\nthat we can, and must, do more to be prepared moving forward. Working remotely\nshould not be viewed as something that is merely tolerated but used to your\nadvantage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Consider the following technologies as you implement your\nown work-from-home strategy for your office employees:<\/p>\n\n\n\n [wp_ad_camp_2] <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n As companies try to figure out how to make the most of this situation, working from home will increasingly become a go-to option. Certainly owner-operators and some trucking companies simply do not have the capacity or need to go remotely, but for a large number of the over 1 million trucking companies<\/a> in the United States, change can happen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"