20 Reasons to Let Your Employees Work From Home

Ergotron’s study found that 40% of employees work longer hours at home than when in the office. And data from the National Bureau of Economic Research shows these extended workdays are, on average, about 48.5 minutes longer. For full-time employees, this time could add up to more than 193 additional working hours in a year. With all the modern comforts of home beckoning our attention, it would be understandable if employers saw a productivity dip in remote workers. In fact, remote workers appear to be working longer hours while enjoying a healthier work-life balance and reduced stress.

Barrero and colleagues estimated that the pandemic significantly reduced U.S. commuting times and that at least one-third of this saved time has been allocated to work-related tasks. Now that many American companies have been forced to adapt to remote-work life, there are good reasons to demand continued flexibility from your employer—and good reasons to believe you could get it. “There’s this new realization and awareness of how you work best, what’s important in life, and how you want to spend your time,” says Janet Pogue McLaurin, the global-research principal at Gensler, the architecture firm. “People are going to shift to align with that.” Employers, she told me, know that the genie is not going all the way back in the bottle, and some will see this switch as a win-win. They get to reduce their office footprint and brag about providing a highly sought-after benefit that saves them money.

You spend less money outside of the house.

Being able to roll out of bed and start working is a huge time saver. Whether you’re growing from 10 to 100 or 100 to 1000 people, a period of rapid growth can easily take a toll on your hiring team and recruiters if your organization isn’t prepared for a surge in company growth. Regarding autonomy, maybe it’s the autonomy that comes from starting the day at 11 and working till 8 pm, if that’s what works for you. Maybe it’s the independence of being able to wear a button-up on top and pajama pants on the bottom (you know you’ve done it!). If you are looking for a financial freedom tip, try fee-free automated investing with M1. It’s a way to start investing and it’s flexible and customizable, and you can invest your money intelligently the way you want, commission-free.

Keep all communication, files, and approvals in one easily accessible place to eliminate time lost sifting through email chains or needlessly taxing progress reports. Improvecollaborationwith customer profiles and project updates in real-time. To be clear, there are remote working advantages and disadvantages. However, with software solutions that streamline communication and improve daily workflows, managing a distributed workforce has never been easier.

  • Once a company’s employees are spread far and wide, leadership will want to keep tabs on them to some extent.
  • While initially, the idea of a 20 step commute sounded idyllic, for many, the challenges of working remotely full-time have become all too real.
  • When COVID-19 forced companies all over the world to send their employees home to work virtually, remote work had a big moment.
  • Electricity and internet outages aside, connections can vary in speed and reliability over the course of a day.
  • In contemporary North American culture, those who spend more time at the office are seen as more committed to their jobs and employers (Williams & Boushey, 2010).
  • Telecommuting was already a growing trend that left out many low-wage workers and was viewed warily by employers who worried people were slacking off at home.

Not driving into work everyday is a huge source of cost savings. Fewer cars on the road translates into less spent on gasoline and maintenance. packaging jobs from home For employers and employees alike, a delineation of the pluses and minuses of each of these arrangements merits attention.

Remote work can save businesses money and reduce absenteeism. But it also comes with its disadvantages.

She also recommends creating tiny rituals or events to carry you through the days and weeks so your structure doesn’t exclusively come from meetings and deadlines, which can be demotivating. Enjoyable, at-home rituals could be as simple as walking the dog, doing 10 minutes of yoga, or scheduling a lunch every Thursday with a local friend who also works from home. In a hybrid work environment, there can be bias against those who go fully remote. For instance, your bosses may not notice and appreciate your accomplishments as much or you may not be pulled into meetings that impact your work. You also miss out on spontaneous chats that can deepen workplace relationships, build trust, and lead to promotions. Making time for in person or remote one-on-one or small group meetings with coworkers, which tend to be more relaxed than ‘all hands on deck’ meetings.

the benefits of working from home

Increased productivity, improved work-life balance, and reduced costs are just some of the ways remote work flexibility can be mutually beneficial. Hopefully, you now have some ideas for how to hire remote employees the right way. Loneliness and collaboration challenges were the biggest struggles for remote employees, according to a 2020 report by social media company Buffer. But while https://kellerlogistics.com/ isolation from your coworkers may persist if you work from home after the COVID-19 pandemic, you’re not nearly as restricted as you were in the early days of lockdown. Starting a new job is stressful for most people, even under the best of circumstances. But new hires to an organization might feel overwhelmed if they are going from a traditional office to one primary based at home.

Benefits of Working From Home

For employers, of course, this also means a more shallow talent pool to choose from. Another big productivity benefit of working from home is linked to illness. Typically, if an employee comes into the office with an illness, there is a risk that the illness spreads, resulting in absence from multiple people at the same time. Working from home prevents this spread and also allows workers who are not badly ill to continue working. Another of the key benefits of working from home is the greater flexibility, not only in terms of precisely where you carry out your daily work tasks but also in terms of the time you start and the time you finish. In some cases, you may also find you have the flexibility to work longer on one day, in order to work reduced hours the next day. A remote workstation like this, Bloom and his coauthors argue, makes home a peaceful workspace compared to the office, and bumps workers’ productivity up as part of the benefits of remote work.

We’re listing out the best of the best benefits of working from home—some you may already be aware of, and some that may open your eyes even more to remote work’s impact on employers, employees, the economy, and the planet. Yes, the rush to give employees access to all the tools they’d need to work from home was a bit, well, sudden for many employers. But after everyone settled in, what quickly became apparent to many office-based teams is that employees could be productive and focused when not in the office—in many cases, even more so.

Top 10 Advantages and Disadvantages of Working from Home

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How Employers Save on Telecommuting Employees

Another opportunity to save money with remote work is that you’re less inclined to spend money on coffee, lunch, and other food-related expenses with coworkers. Commuting can also impact how willing https://www.charlottestories.com/remote-work-as-a-quality-manager-at-uss-express-review/ you are to cook since more of your energy will be expended via transportation. One of the downsides of working from home is that it can be challenging for employees to connect with their co-workers.

Managers can set their teams up for success by enacting strong hybrid work policies for their employees that promote a work-life balance and put an end to burnout. That’s the ultimate benefit of a hybrid work environment—giving employees the opportunity to be their best selves. In-person jobs require you to clock in and out at specific times, whereas remote workers can clock in and out with more flexibility. The lack of a set routine when working from home can result in an unpredictable schedule. To-do lists can help increase productivity among remote employees. Encourage employees to use small business organization apps to note what they wish to accomplish daily so they’re not jumping from assignment to assignment.

Unless you’re extraordinarily wealthy , your experience of working through the pandemic has probably been miserable. If you’ve had to work in person, your days have been dangerous and precarious. If you’ve been able to work from home, you’ve had an enormous privilege. But devoid of choice and novelty, remote work has lost some of its romance for office workers https://www.charlottestories.com/remote-work-as-a-quality-manager-at-uss-express-review/ who previously dreamed of ending their commute. In home offices around the country, the wallpaper has begun to yellow. I have known so many people within my industry who have built careers on “playing nice” rather than on producing something. While the benefits of remote and hybrid work are clear, there are common pitfalls that need to be anticipated.

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Éric Rousseau - Designer stratégique. Tous les droits sont réservés.