How Queensland businesses are handling new work-from-home practices

Queensland businesses have experienced a decade of change in the space of three weeks due to the coronavirus, the boss of a leading tech firm says.

Businesses around the world were forced to adopt working-from-home practices very rapidly as governments increased restrictions on movement and the number of people who could gather.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many businesses to rapidly transition their workforces from office based to work-from-home.Credit: Dreamstime/TNS

Kelvin Ross, the founder and chairman of technology consultants KJR, said it had been a "busy month" as many of the businesses his firm advised went from considering social distancing to having most of their employees work from home.

"It’s been an amazing momentum shift. If the pandemic hadn't happened we would still be talking about five or 10 years before some of these businesses adopted work-from-home practices," Mr Ross said.

"What’s interesting is these tools didn’t really exist five years ago to enable people to work from home in the way they’re doing now, so in that respect, we’re actually fortunate this is happening now."

Among its services, KJR provides solutions for businesses for things like teleconferencing, which has understandably become a priority for many companies previously only using it in exceptional circumstances.

Many company managers had to change their mindset rapidly as well, he said.

"I think, initially, some managers were a bit resistant but now through this process, I think they'll learn we can still maintain productivity, they've just got to adjust to this new way of doing things," Mr Ross said.

He was surprised the technology transition had been relatively easy; it was the social aspects of working from home that proved to be the biggest challenge for many businesses.

"[Within KJR] we’ve set up things like Slack channels just to check in on people and see how they’re going," he said.

"The other change I’ve noticed is that I’m actually busier now than I was before we made the transition. I’m always in meetings because I'm accessible in a way I wasn’t before and other businesses have also found that."

That could be a good thing, he said, but it needed to be managed to avoid burnout.

With many companies putting workers on "hold", or even outright firing them as a result of the shutdowns, Mr Ross said businesses that were able to pivot were not just helping themselves but also the economy.

The retail and hospitality sectors have been hit especially hard, but many other sectors with businesses that are largely office-based have found they have weathered the changes surprisingly well.

The key, Mr Ross said, would be whether companies continued with work-from-home practices once the pandemic passed and distancing measures were lifted.

"I think there will be some return to office-based approaches, but I think there will be some who say 'can I factor in a work-from-home arrangement now these tools are in place?'" he said.

"As we return to normal, it might be that we carry some of these changes with us."