How COVID-19 Affected Businesses and the Advantages of Remote Work

This report investigates the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses, exploring both the challenges faced and the opportunities presented by the shift to remote work. The report delves into how companies have adapted their strategies to navigate the crisis, including measures for employee safety, revised operational models, and the adoption of digital technologies. It examines the economic consequences, such as increased unemployment and financial strain, while also highlighting the advantages of remote work, such as improved work-life balance, increased employee productivity, and cost savings. Focusing on Microsoft Corporation as a case study, the report analyzes the company's strategies and the benefits they have realized from remote work during the pandemic. The report includes a literature review examining the effects of COVID-19 on businesses and the advantages of remote work, a description of the research methodology employed, data analysis, and conclusions with recommendations for businesses navigating similar challenges. The study emphasizes the need for businesses to rethink their operations and leverage technology to thrive in a changed world.

How businesses been affected by
COVID- 19 and advantage of working
remotely

Contents
TOPIC..............................................................................................................................................2
Title..............................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................6
Theme 1: review about the affect lead by COVID 19 on businesses..........................................6
Theme 2: Possible advantages associated with working remotely in context of Microsoft
Corporation..................................................................................................................................9
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...........................................................................12
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS................................................................................................17
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION......................................................20
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................24
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TOPIC
Title
“How businesses been affected by COVID 19 and advantage of working remotely. Case study on
Microsoft Corporation”
INTRODUCTION
During the time of COVID-19 pandemic so many businesses are been affected.
Companies are working towards taking serious implications for health and safety of their
employees. The novel corona virus crisis has forced companies to revitalise their strategies so
that they can also work in this environment. This crisis is significantly affecting business in a
really negative way. Organisations have gone work from home because the safety of employees
and also because of the novel corona virus crisis lots of work of them has also been suffered. The
world economy has been collapsed and so many of the people have lost their job because of the
lock down implemented by so many countries. The unemployment rate has been increased
because of the novel corona virus pandemic. Various companies have also implicated cuts in
employees’ salaries and so many of them have to even fire their employees as the organisations
were unable to pay (Gebreslassie, 2020). As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, there
has never been a more pressing need for organisations to rethink and reconfigure their businesses
for a changed world. Various companies have also implemented incident management plan so
that they can firmly handle the situation of crisis. This is basically being implemented in order to
mobilise and stabilised the company during the time of the severe global pandemic. It has also
been analysed that various organisations because of COVID-19 has even decided to work in
shifts and to bring only half of their work force in offices. Some of them has even decided to go
work from home for even a year (Donthu and Gustafsson, 2020). These measures are basically
taken in order to ensure the well-being and health and safety of employees. There has been a
striking rise in the COVID-19 cases and for this various strategy has been implemented by the
organisation’s leaders. Operations models of company has come under pressure and because of
this so many companies are facing situation of uncertainties. Unemployment rate has also been
increased during the time of this global corona virus crisis. Employees has become more stressed
and anxious which has also affected their quality of work. The companies are trying to managing
risk by going digitalised and also, they are really eager to seek tremendous support from their
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employees. All these situations have been faced by people during the time of this novel corona
virus crisis. It has hugely affected the business.
Employees has also supported their companies during this global crisis they have also
work down even on half of the salaries. Various small firms have been closed down because of
this and also many repeated organisations have even gone bankrupt. This means that because of
the novel corona virus crisis, so many businesses have been affected adversely. On the other
hand, there are various advantages of working remotely. This has led to developing better work
life balance and also it allows employees to be freer. Working outside from the environment of
office is really beneficial for the employees and even for companies. This step is being taken by
organisations in order to make sure that none of their workers suffer from this chronic disease.
Benefits of working remotely is been given to both employees and managers. In this the
productivity related to work of employees increases as more flexibility and freedom is been
given to them (Brammer, Branicki and Linnenluecke, 2020). They can work according to their
conditions and even they can save money which they spend on travelling and other aspects. For
managers and employers, it is beneficial that they can save whole amount of money which they
spent on paying for rents to the premises they have taken for work. It has increased the autonomy
and flexibility for employees and making them even more productive and efficient. This step was
really helpful during the time of novel corona virus crisis. This step has supported the company
and managers in achieving their set target and mission even during this global pandemic. It has
also assisted them in overcoming the other problems related to work too. Advance technology
has been used by companies like Zoom calls, skype calls, video conferencing and cloud
computing. This has assisted in making work easier and increasing flexibility.
It has also been analysed that increasing the flexible working and doing the work
remotely has increase the employee retention. This has also assisted in creating employee
engagement which is really necessary for the growth of organisation during the time of novel
corona virus crisis. It has also been evaluated that working remotely has increased productivity
and operational efficiency and this has also assisted them in achieving set goals and objectives.
Working remotely can assist in reducing down the errors which were been performed while they
were working in organisation. Novel corona virus has led to working remotely and this has also
increased the opportunity for employees as they can be involved in showing their best skills. It
can assist them in growing professionally and also because of this they can be able to achieve the
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set target and mission. It can also increase the productivity and also the low workplace space is
being required for this. Working remotely can assist in saving up the cost of premises. This can
assist an organisation to invest in something better and also it can have led to the growth of
organisation. It has also been evaluated that working remotely can also assist in having better
working life balance. Due to novel corona virus crisis employees is been given time to spend
their life with their family members. It has also been analysed that working remotely has reduced
stress and has also increased employee motivation to work. This has assisted in achieving the set
target and objectives.
Present report has laid emphasis on Microsoft corporations. It is an American
multinational technology company who has been headquartered in United States. The company
is being involved in manufacturing software’s related to computer and other technological
aspects. The main purpose of the report is to evaluated about the effect of COVID-19 along with
leading information about the advantage of working remotely. Various strategies have also been
implemented by Microsoft corporations so that they can work with better productivity during the
time of novel corona virus crisis (Bartik and et.al., 2020). It has been analysed that working
remotely has also provided various benefits to them. Present report will lay emphasis on the
reviewing of literature based on the research questions which has been identified. It will also
focus on the various methods of research which will be used in order to collect the information
on subject matter. Assignment also focuses on the recommendations which will be provided in
order to overcome the situation of crisis.
Aim and objectives
The aim of current investigation is to evaluated about the effect of COVID-19 along with
leading information about the advantage of working remotely. An investigation leads out on
Microsoft Corporation.
Research objectives
 To review about the affect lead by Covid 19 on businesses.
 To determine the possible advantages associated with working remotely in context of
Microsoft Corporation.
Research questions
 How business of Microsoft Corporation is being affected by Covid 19?
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 What are the possible advantages associated with working remotely in context of
Microsoft Corporation?
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CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE REVIEW
Theme 1: review about the affect lead by COVID 19 on businesses
Global pandemic COVID-19 has affected the working of business. It has led to downfall in
certain business and also because of the temporary lock down so many business has been closed
down. As stated by Berman and Ebisu, (2020) organisations have gone work from home because
the safety of employees and also because of the novel corona virus crisis lots of work of them
has also been suffered. The world economy has been collapsed and so many of the people has
lost their job because of the lock down implemented by so many countries. It has also been
analysed that mostly small and medium size business has been affected by the global pandemic
situation. The world economy has been fallen down and whole of the world is in situation of
crisis. Rate related to unemployment has been increased. So many brands have faced many short
term challenges whether it is related to safety of consumers and making their business learn. All
issues are being faced by them in long run.
The other issues are also being faced by them such as those related to health and safety, the
supply chain, the workforce, cash flow, consumer demand, sales, and marketing. It has also been
evaluated that successfully going through these challenges will not provide them with better
future (Sher, 2020). They need to be involved in doing deep market research so that consumers
can be retained even during the time of novel corona virus crisis period. It has also been
evaluated that so many markets related to tourism and hospitality does not exists. They have also
lost their market and jobs and it has also increased employability in the department. It has also
been evaluated that COVID -19 has led to decline in the sales and marketing business as because
of this people are not been able to do door-door selling. The novel corona virus has made the
things worst and with the span of time it will get more worsening. It has also been evaluated and
described by Watkins, (2020) that novel corona virus has given the opportunity to business to
work remotely and this has created environment of flexibility. It has also led to increase in
productivity in some companies as better work is been done by employees when they work
remotely. So novel corona virus has also acted as an opportunity for so many organisations. It
has also been analysed that because of novel corona virus so many companies are also being
benefited and it has supported them to save cost which they usually spent on rent as half of the
working capabilities is been working from home. It has also been analysed that the use of
advanced tools and techniques has also been increased. In this the meeting has been done on the
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skype calls and zoom. So many businesses have started working online. This has led to increase
in usage of internet and also it has been analysed that because of this people have started
exploring more online sites.
According to Spinelli and Pellino, (2020) because of novel corona virus business has also
engaged in making strategies for safety of their employees. They have made sure that proper
social distancing is been followed inside organisation. This step is being taken for safety of
workers. Companies and businesses are taking major hits at the beginning of 2020 due to the
rapid spread of coronavirus. It has been analysed that revenue of companies will fall by 86% in
this period. It has also been evaluated that a period of economic turndown will be faced by
company. But business needs to be optimistic and they need to think of better ways by which
they can manage their regular tasks. It will assist in increasing productivity and operational
efficiency. Various companies have also implemented incident management plan so that they can
firmly handle the situation of crisis. This is basically being implemented in order to mobilise and
stabilised the company during the time of the severe global pandemic. It has also been evaluated
that this plan has assisted in making the business achieve their objective. It has also been
analysed that because of novel corona virus pandemic people have got the chance to maintain
their work life balance. They now have been able to spend time with their families. By getting
opportunities of work from home, people spared time with their family and also maintained their
work life balance.
Aragona and et.al., (2020) argued this view and said that due to novel corona virus many
people have lost their job there are only few companies that have provided work from home but
for some companies it was not possible to implement this. Hospitality sector of organizations
like hotels, travel and tourism organizations cannot implement this plan because guests and
customers cannot take services from work from home; they cannot travel from one place to
another due to lockdown and increasing rate of affected people. So, it can be said that it is one of
the main negative impact of covid-19. For more supporting this view, Olimov and Khotamov,
(2020) said that due to increasing rate of unemployment it not only affected economy of the
country but also increases crimes rate. Due to job losses and financial crisis, people become bind
to commit crimes like kidnapping, theft, murders and others for fostering their families. It is
increasing fear among society members or people and it can affect their mental and physical
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health. Several criminal cases have also been recorded after this pandemic or lockdown due to
covid-19.
On the other hand, Son and et.al., (2020) said that covid-19 affected people in all mental,
economic, physical and financial manner. All people whether they are from middle class, lower
class, upper class, from developing countries or from developed countries. Many people have
lost their family members, friends and closed ones that have several negative impacts on their
mental and physical health. Academic is one of the main other sector that also has been affected
the most. Due to this pandemic it was not possible for students to go to schools and colleges due
to social distancing and it affected their education and studies. But on the other hand, for arguing
this view Espejo and et.al., (2020) said that technology has made it able to continue study and
with the help of technology and online study, students are completing their course, giving tests.
Parents are also supporting teachers in increasing knowledge and skills of students and they also
have known better about their children. It can be said that parents are the best teacher for their
children so, it can be said that this covid-19 has both positive and negative impacts on people’s
lives.
It has been evaluated that the effect of COVID-19 has been adverse, the social life of people
has been destroyed. Previously they enjoy going to the workplace and perform adequately over
there. It has been stated by Son and et.al., (2020) Now because of working remotely the social
circle and life has been severely affected. People cannot meet one another and discuss the
company strategies. They are only calling and contacting each other through Skype and zoom
meeting calls, so this way it has been evaluated that COVID-19 has affected the lives of
everyone severely. It has also been evaluated because of working from home and that too alone
employee’s mental and physical well being has also affected. It has also been analysed that
because of the lost job opportunities, the rate of crime has been increased. It has also been
analysed that people have become miserable and they have been depressed. This virus has
affected lives of people severely. On the other hand Pretti, Etmanski and Durston,( 2020) has
argued that because of working from home people who were living far away from their families
has came close and have spent time with their families which they were not been able to because
of novel corona virus. It has also been analysed that novel corona virus has brought the families
together. It has also been evaluated that people who are working from home are able to save lots
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of amount as now because of social distancing measures there expenses has been reduced down,
so in some cases this pandemic period was also better for some people.
In the opinion of Russo and et.al., (2020) COVID- 19 is a global pandemic and dangerous
virus that had serve many economic consequences across 2 the world and brings drastic change
in consumers behaviour that is having a serve negative effect on the business in form of
lockdown and reduction in productivity. The cost of doing business has also been increased as
they also have to now invest on social distancing measures. This is to keep the employees and
consumers who are visiting the place safe. It has also been analysed that operational efficiency
and productivity has also been increased because of the novel corona virus crisis. Supply chain
management and distribution process of companies has also been affected because of lockdown
situation. So many companies has faced loss and so many of the small business has also been
shut down because of this pandemic situation. It has also been evaluated that various measures
have also been taken by government in order to have control over this infection. They have put
temporary lockdown and shut down all activities for a while. This has led to global economic
crisis and the world economy is about to fall down. It will take a lot of time to rebuild this
economy. As prescribed by WHO the only solution to get safe from this virus is using sanitizer
and wearing a mask. So many companies have made it compulsory to wear mask. Governments
have also imposed fine on people who are not wearing mask. So all these are necessary measures
which need to be taken by every firm whose work is running. This is been done to keep
employees safe and also when these measures are been taken the work will also be not affected.
Theme 2: Possible advantages associated with working remotely in context of Microsoft
Corporation.
Working remotely has several advantages to Microsoft Corporation and according to the Bowser,
(2020) due to pandemic; work from home and remote working provided several benefits. One of
the main benefit that remote working has given to workers of Microsoft corporation is it allows
them better work life balance. They got opportunities of sparing time with their family. It also
promotes employees well being and also saves company’s money and time as well. When
employees feel satisfied then it has positive impacts on company performance and productivity.
So, it can be said that satisfaction affects productivity and is associated with company’s
improved performance. Charvet and et.al., (2018) Argued and said that some employees take
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undue advantages of this opportunity as they do not spend time that they have been set and they
have to spend as they sometimes miss deadlines of submission of projects.
On the other hand, Dogbeson, (2020) said that Microsoft Corporation have several
positive outcomes and effects rather than negative effects. In the regard to positive outcomes and
advantages they also said that employers of Microsoft Corporation provide several benefits and
try to keep engage them by making them able to participate in challenges for keeping them
concentrated and refreshed. It is found that for increasing productivity, employers of this
company share all information ad images with remote workers in team chat. It makes them
updated towards all information of company and employers can also know that which employees
is active and taking interest. There are several factors that play an important role in having
positive outcomes and advantages from remote working and employers of Microsoft Corporation
focused on all these factors and made it beneficial. In addition Larson, Vroman and Makarius,
(2020) said that they believe and found that it saves travelling or transportation cost and remote
workers can communicate with customers of area from where they work as it helps company in
expanding their business and making more people aware about effectiveness as well as features
of products and services provided by Microsoft Corporation. It also saves infrastructure cost of
company by which company can increase profit and can reinvest it in among employees Kwon,
Zhang and VandenBussche, (2020) said that remote working not only affect and make company
beneficial but also it is beneficial for environment and local people because it reduces green
house gases. Due to lack of travelling and transportation it has reduced around 40-50 million ton
gas emission. They also said that remote workers bring new and innovative ideas of working that
is beneficial for company and all employees as it helps company in taking competitive
advantages by providing unique features of products to customers. It makes both employees and
employers happy and satisfied or happy employees Support Company in accomplishing their
goals. Company also provides them promotional opportunities that motivate employees and push
them towards improving their performance.
In the opinion of Gorlick, (2020) there are various benefits of working remotely. It has
been observed that working remotely leads to many advantages for an orgnisation through
keeping its employees safe from spread of COVID-19. Further, better work-life balance and
Location Independence is also lead by working remotely for Microsoft Corporation which
ensures higher commitment and better performance and efficiency in employees. It has been
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analysed that working from home because of novel corona virus has also increased the
productivity of workers. They are been able to work better and also without any error, so
working remotely has increased the productivity and operational efficiency of Microsoft. It has
also been evaluated that working remotely has also lower down the cost for on the job training as
everyone is working from home so Microsoft need not to invest in on the job training, so these
expenses are been saved by company. They also have an advantage of saving rent of premises
which the company gave when employees was working from the office. It has also been
evaluated that working remotely has also increased productivity of employees and there
flexibility has been increased because of this. It has assisted Microsoft in increase their
profitability and revenue, also during the time of novel corona virus. It has also been evaluated
that because of working remotely the errors which was been made by workers has also been
reduced and thus assisted firm in growing and achieving the expected goals and objectives. It has
also been analysed that working remotely has also increase the loyalty of employees and
company has been able to retain them. On the other hand Sutherland and Janene-Nelson, (2020)
argued that working remotely has also certain disadvantages. It has been analysed that social
circle life of people which was built because of going to workplace is been affected. It has also
been analysed that there are chances that some people do not work that adequately because they
are working alone and no one is there to guide them, so these are the ill effects of working
remotely.
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