For many white-collar professionals, the face of work has forever changed. As community safety measures came into force during the COVID pandemic, organizations shifted their operations to the virtual sphere to survive. Many businesses have since implemented permanent remote or hybrid working frameworks, and it’s now clear that remote work is here to stay.
Workers have mostly welcomed this change, with a McKinsey & Company survey finding that, when people are offered the chance to work flexibly, 87% of them take it, and 65% of residents said that they would be willing to work remotely all the time. Let’s explore 5 of the biggest benefits remote work has created, and how to optimize your business’s remote work setup for success.
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Finding work-life balance
Shifting to remote work and hybrid models has allowed for more flexibility and freedom in employees’ schedules. This shift enables remote workers to tailor their workdays to fit in with their personal commitments, such as picking their children up from school or going to doctor’s appointments. Creating space in the day for these types of tasks and attaining a balance between one’s profession and life makes workdays more manageable, boosting employees’ job satisfaction and their mental and physical health.
Additionally, switching to remote work means far less time commuting to and from the office. The 2019 Census revealed that the average one-way commute in the United States increased to a new high of 27.6 minutes, meaning that, on average, people are spending almost an hour commuting to and from work each day. For many people, the reality is even worse, with a record 9.8% of commuters recording daily one-way commutes of at least 1 hour! The remote and hybrid work revolution means that this time can be spent with family, pursuing hobbies, or even on training and upskilling. This leads to all kinds of personal and professional benefits, which will be explored further in the next pages.
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Increased productivity
When workers moved from the office environment to remote and hybrid arrangements, companies and commentators raised serious questions about the impact on productivity. This was uncharted territory for some employers. Naturally, there was apprehension and doubt about the effectiveness of this new system, and many feared that worker productivity would plummet.
To test the impact of this shift on productivity, a team of academics at the forefront of research on working from home surveyed 30,000 Americans aged 20-64. They found that working from home arrangements will increase overall worker productivity in the US by 5% in the post pandemic economy. Of the people surveyed, 40% said that they were more efficient when working from home. Additionally, as firms and workers learn to manage remote jobs more effectively, the productivity of those working from home will likely improve. If businesses want to make significant productivity gains going into the future, adopting a work from home framework will therefore yield positive results.
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Financial gains
We’re all aware of the conveniences of working from home, but many underestimate the amount that workers can save by not going into the office five days a week. A global study of 28,000 full-time workers revealed that remote workers save an average of $10,000 a year! Petrol, commuting, work lunches, coffees – these little pieces all add up to a hefty annual sum. Financial savings gained by working from home are now being factored into employees’ decision-making on whether to take a new role, leading to remote and hybrid models becoming more attractive.
Employers also benefit financially from this shift, as they can save money on rent and utilities, cleaning services, and food and refreshments. If you’re an employer considering remote and hybrid frameworks for your organization, don’t undervalue the significant monetary advantages of working from home for both worker and company alike.
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Staff retention
If you pay attention to economic and business-related news, you will have heard a lot of noise about the ‘Great Resignation’, a global trend that saw millions of workers leave their jobs during the COVID pandemic. The Great Resignation is a real phenomenon, and analysis by PWC predicts that this trend is set to stick, with one in five workers saying they are likely to switch employers in the next 12 months. Combining a predicted wave of resignations with an already tight labor market means that employers may struggle to staff their companies, placing increased pressure on firms to retain employees.
According to PWC’s analysis, financial considerations and job fulfillment are among the top 3 main factors motivating this desire for change. What have we learned from this discussion about the relationship between work-life balance and pay and remote work? There is a clear connection between work from home jobs and real boosts to personal finances and job satisfaction. Working from home arrangements can help companies retain their staff through a wave of resignations by improving employees’ job satisfaction and gifting them significant financial savings.
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A smaller carbon footprint?
We’ve talked extensively about how remote jobs will affect companies and office workers, but what about the broader impacts of this movement on the environment and life on earth as a whole? This is a contentious area for debate as, while working from home has been touted as a way to reduce carbon emissions and reverse climate change, there’s also evidence that working from home can increase our emissions. When it comes to our transportation footprint, for example, remote work means that far less emissions are produced commuting into the office, but, in California, there has been a 26% increase in trips induced by working from home. This double-edged sword also applies to our energy and technology footprint.
Yet despite these complications, it’s clear that if individuals and companies adopt more sustainable practices, working from home can lead to significant emissions reduction. This can be achieved through creating sustainable policies and embedding environmentally conscious company cultures that reduce needless energy consumption in the office and encourage and reward employees for minimizing their carbon footprint at home. While it can take some adjustment and proactivity, remote work holds incredible promise to reduce our carbon footprint and tackle climate change.
How to set up your remote employees for success
This list paints a compelling picture of the advantages of remote and hybrid models of work. These benefits, however, won’t come to fruition without employers actively helping their remote workforce to thrive in this new landscape. By taking our discussion into account, let’s briefly explore how to set up remote workers for success.
- Encourage healthy employee work-life balance by helping them navigate the more challenging parts of remote work, such as social isolation. To do this, you should utilize strategies to tackle feelings of loneliness, such as offering counseling, planning safe and fun social events, and building an environment where staff feel comfortable sharing their stories.
- While working from home can boost productivity, communication blockages from remote work can hinder it. Make sure that, from day one, your employees have a strong communication network within your organization and feel comfortable speaking to other staff about the issues they’re facing.
- Most office workers prefer to have the option of working from home, but permanent remote arrangements can lead some to feel stagnant in their careers. To counter this, prioritize upskilling and training practices and provide networking opportunities within your company. Offer your employees avenues to build their skills and advance their careers while working (either partly or completely) from the comfort of their homes.
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