Working remotely has its perks. With groceries at home and no daily commute, you can save some serious cash. Plus, you can attend meetings in your sweatpants. What’s not to like? Well, a few things. For starters, your at-home setup may not be equipped with some of the many in-office supplies, accessories, and attributes that create a productive working environment. While your home can’t be turned into an exact replica of the office, you can make it a positive working environment with a few simple tips and tricks. For instance, investing in a pair of quality wireless headphones can block out external noise and help you focus. Speaking of wireless tech, a wireless keyboard and mouse (and propping your computer on a stand), can make for a much more ergonomic workspace than using a laptop alone.
Check out the graphic below to learn about the best office accessories for productive and comfortable remote working.
Top 3 Benefits of Remote Work
Some decades ago, no one thought about the concept of remote work. By the end of 2018, there were already 57 million Americans working remotely, and that is about 35% of the US workforce.
75% of companies worldwide have already adopted flexible work policies, and over 61% of business owners have reported an increase in their company’s profit after following this trend.
In case you are still struggling to understand why remote work has become so crucial to the workplace, the following points should help clear up your doubts.
Increases Employee Productivity
Remote work allows employees to have flexible working hours and choose the place where they will work. That means that employees can work when they feel they are most productive.
That is not the case with 9-to-5 jobs where employees are expected to arrive at work at a specific time and work for eight hours, even if they are not at their peak productivity.
US employers lose $1.8 trillion annually due to the lack of productivity caused by employee health problems, distractions, etc. In the case of remote work, over 83% of employers and employees have confirmed that flexible working hours boosted their productivity.
Saves Money
Remote work is an excellent way for companies to cut costs of office space, supplies, equipment, etc.
If employees telecommuted for just half of the time, an average business could save around $11,000 every year.
A typical example is American Express that saved up to $15 million annually by introducing telecommuting. Aetna, a health insurance company, also achieved similar results by reducing its total office space by 2.7 million square feet and saving up to $78 million.
Gives Employers Access to a Wide Range of Talent in the Industry
Remote work helps break down talent barriers and attract people from different locations. The continuous advancement of technology has made communication from any part of the world cheap and effective.
For this reason, employers can conveniently reach out to more talented individuals or agencies in the industry, regardless of their location.
Check out the infographics that follow to discover more benefits of remote work.
Why Millennials Love Remote Working (And Why It Loves Them)
There has been, in recent years, a huge surge in the amount of businesses of all shapes and sizes embracing remote working for their employees. From a business perspective, it’s easy to see why. Remote working affords businesses an opportunity to significantly reduce their overhead costs. When employees aren’t in the building they’re not using energy or water or paper. They’re not making coffee or flushing toilet. What’s more, they’re not driving into work every day and so they’re helping their employers to reduce their carbon footprint and increase their green credentials.
Yet, the reasons for the widespread growth of remote working aren’t all down to benefits for employers.
The factors behind the growth
There’s obviously a technological component at play when it comes to the rise of remote working. In recent years, managed IT services have enabled even modestly sized business affordable access to robust and reliable cloud based solutions- read more about this here. This has made it easier for remote workers to do anything they could to from their desktop at work from their home PC or in some cases even through mobile devices.
Yet, perhaps one of the lesser known factors is the way in which remote working is so closely aligned with the millennial generation’s ideals for workplace success. For clarification, by millennials we mean those born between 1977 and 1997. As you can see from this infographic we posted recently, there’s some pretty neat correlation between the two…
Advocates for work life balance
Many millennials were raised by baby boomer parents who worked long hours for their money and it likely did little to convince their young minds that good money trumps time spent with friends and family. Thus, millennial workers are every bit as diligent as their baby boomer parents but focus on working smart over working hard and strive for work / life balance.
Remote work allows employees to be more productive while enjoying greater autonomy over how they use their time. Moreover, they save a great deal of time every day by not commuting to work.
Digital pioneers
‘80s and ‘90s kids grew up in an era of colossal digital and technological expansion. While Generation Z are digital natives who have never known adult life without digital technology, millennials are still excited by it and don’t take it for granted. Thus, they’re more likely to be enthused by the cloud based technologies that allow them to be at work… At home.
Team oriented and collaborative
Millennials are inveterate team workers and embrace opportunities to combine this with their enthusiasm for digital technologies. New digital applications can facilitate innovative collaborations through digital communications technologies. Millennials enjoy using the tools that enable them to collaborate with others even while working remotely such as Slack, Asana, Zoom etc.
As you can see, there are many reasons why millennials love remote working and why it loves them. While it will likely never take the place of the traditional office it nonetheless makes for happier and more productive employees as well as reduced overheads for their employers… So everybody wins!
