Due in no small part to the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work has become more commonplace than ever. As a massive number of businesses and individual workers have discovered over the last 15 months, telecommuting holds a number of advantages over reporting to a formal workplace every day.
However, as vaccines become readily available and normalcy is gradually restored, many business owners are thinking of putting the kibosh on remote work.
While wanting your team back in the office is certainly understandable, there are numerous ways your enterprise stands to benefit from allowing employees to work from home indefinitely.
3 Important Ways Remote Work Can Benefit Your Business
1. A Happier Workforce
It’s no secret that the working world is a relentlessly stressful place. In fact, to say that the U.S. is trapped in a culture of overwork would be an understatement.
The way many of us figure it, if someone doesn’t exist in a perpetual state of physical and mental exhaustion, they simply aren’t working hard enough.
Unsurprisingly, when workers are constantly beset by stress, both their general output and the quality of their work suffer.
While there’s no magic wand solution for dispelling job-related stress, there are a number of steps you can take to relieve your team members of their burden – such as allowing remote work.
A sizable percentage of job-related stress stems from formal working environments and adhering to employers’ schedules. Getting up earlier than you’d prefer, grinding your way through a cumbersome commute and navigating interoffice drama can make even the most laid-back job ceaselessly stressful.
On the flipside, being able to sleep in, kick commuting to the curb and avoid workplace politics altogether can lift a tremendous weight off the shoulders of virtually any member of the workforce.
As long as deadlines are being met and work is being completed at a desirable pace, most members of your team do not need to be physically present – and the sooner you come to accept this, the happier they’re likely to be.
Being a remote worker has also been linked to heightened efficiency and productivity, which are big wins for any enterprise. Furthermore, small businesses that value efficiency should look into strategic sourcing solutions.
2. Increased Worker Retention Rates
When people are satisfied with their working conditions, they’re unlikely to want to change them. As such, if your team members are happy working from home, they’re more likely to stay with your business if better offers come along.
Even if said offers entail more money, your employees are liable to turn them down if the ability to work remotely isn’t part of the deal.
So, if your business has a relatively low rate of worker retention, it’s in your best interest to get a handle on this problem.
Happy, dedicated workers are any enterprise’s most valuable resource, and if you’ve thus far failed to provide employees with satisfactory working conditions, it’s only natural that they’d jump ship the instant something better came along.
Any boss that expects team members to stick by them through thick and thin would do well to realize that the employer/employee relationship should not be one-sided.
If you want workers to feel a sense of loyalty to your enterprise, you’ll need to provide sufficient incentive – and embracing remote work can be a fantastic place to start.
3. Reduced Operating Costs
In addition to being a boon to employee happiness, remote work can help save your enterprise money. The fewer people present in your office each day, the less you’ll need to spend on utilities, refreshments, office supplies and various other worker amenities.
Furthermore, if the majority of your team finds that they prefer working from home, you may be able to dramatically reduce your rent by ditching your current digs for a compact base of operations.
After all, if most of your workforce is carrying out their respective job duties from home, there’s no sense in wasting money on a larger workspace than you require.
A sizable number of bosses disparage remote work as a concept. The way these individuals figure it, it’s impossible for workers to effectively and efficiently carry out their job duties from the comfort of home.
While it’s easy to understand why business owners would be on the fence regarding remote work, the benefits of telecommuting speak for themselves.
So, instead of returning to pre-pandemic working conditions simply for the purpose of doing so, you’d be wise to reexamine the way your enterprise is set up and question whether or not the physical presence of various team members is truly required.
You May Like To Read:
- COVID-19 & Remote Work: 7 Tools To Monitor Employee Productivity in 2021
- 50 Best Work From Home Jobs in 2021
- How To Beat Distractions While Working From Home
Author: Anees Saddique
