Why could many employers in China practice telecommuting amid the outbreak?

It is important to note that the information provided in this Series is intended for your general knowledge only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, the Chinese government has imposed strict control measures on economic and social activities. Employers were required to postpone work resumption while employees had to quarantine at home after travelling. Under such circumstances, many employers adopted telecommuting to sustain operation. Telecommuting is broadly practical and applicable in China because of the following reasons.

First, there have already been solid foundations and conditions for working from home in China. Remote working has emerged in China as a new work model as the country has undergone rapid digitalization and living conditions have improved after the turn of the century. According to the Forward (Qianzhan) Industry Research Institute[1], there were merely 1.8 million remote workers in China in 2005, which increased to 3.6 million in 2014 and further to 4.9 million in 2018. Hence, even without the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, China already has established a basis for telecommuting.

Second, the wide use of new technologies and tools has created technical conditions for telecommuting. After years of research and development, various remote working applications, including integrated working software, audio and video conference systems and task management applications, have gradually matured. Applications such as ByteDance's Feishu, Alibaba's DingTalk and Tencent's WeChat Work provide technical support to telework. According to iiMedia Research, during the 2020 post-Spring Festival work resumption period, 76.8 percent of employees working at home expressed that their companies had tried new-type online work software to carry out tasks such as clocking in, conference and communication, project management and coordination as well as online approval. [2] MobTech data shows that during the business resumption phase, more than 400 million Chinese users have used remote working applications, and among them new daily users of working collaboration applications exceeded 3 million. [3]

Third, active guidance of employers and proactive adaptation of employees enable innovation of organizational and collaboration model. Hit by the COVID-19 outbreak, a large number of employers are under the pressure of bankruptcies and layoffs as the economy encounters difficulties. Given the daunting situation, both employers and employees are willing to proactively adapt from offline to online work model. Employers change and innovate organizational models through establishing online systems and mechanisms of attendance checking, conference and communication, and work approval, and accustoming employees to telecommuting. Through self-learning, most employees also adapt themselves to the new work model, including keeping normal working schedules, learning new working methods, and balancing work and family care, etc.

In conclusion, while existing foundations and new technologies have enabled telecommuting for a large number of Chinese employers, companies and workers have made their contributions through shift of mindsets and proactive adaption in the face of difficulties. Further challenges of telecommuting remain in terms of optimizing technical support and improving remote working efficiency.

References:

[1] "2020年中国远程办公行业发展现状与前景分析 疫情催化需求爆发",https://www.qianzhan.com/analyst/detail/220/200211-66af1d24.html.

[2]"艾媒报告|2020中国职场新春居家办公行为状态调查研究报告",https://www.iimedia.cn/c400/68775.html

[3] Mob研究院:《2020远程移动办公行业洞察报告》

Author: Wang Xiongjun,Center for International Knowledge on Development