Remote Work in Times of COVID-19

The WAITRO:// 50 Virtual Innovation Summit was an incredible platform to show the potential that WAITRO has to involve its members into our work. Under the framework of the Summit, WAITRO published a call for capacity development programs to participate in this event. “Remote Work in Times of COVID-19” was one of the four selected programs.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we used to work. Colleagues started meeting in video conferences instead of seeing each other every day. This change over night has been a great challenge, especially to networking. That is why Fraunhofer-Gessellschaft created a workshop to find out more about the key success factors towards efficient remote work.

The workshop, held by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, on efficient remote work was facilitated by Annika Gehrmann and Sylvia Raabe. It took place on October 28, 2020 during the WAITRO:// 50 Virtual Innovation.

The facilitators gave important insights into Fraunhofer’s experience and current practice with regard to remote work. This workshop was a perfect occasion to engage in an active conversation about the pros and cons of remote work. Many questions were asked from the audience, who were almost all exclusively working remotely at that time because of the pandemic. Together with the facilitators, the participants reflected on the lessons learned in the context of COVID-19 and discussed how work would evolve in new ways and affect their organizations.