Advantages of working from home for businesses, employees, and employers

Summary

• Remote working gained momentum recently, due to spread of COVID-19 putting several people at risk of getting infected through human touch.
• Employers can benefit a lot by adopting remote working practices by reducing costs at workplaces, office supplies, and boost businesses by increased productivity of employees.
• Employees can gain through work from home by reducing their commute time, save travel costs and working at flexible hours.
• While work from home trend has proven to be advantageous amid COVID-19, many people consider it to be a temporary change and a break in routine for both organisations and professionals.

It has been 3 months into a massive, unexpected social test that resulted in an abrupt shifting of people from working in office cubicles to remote working from their bedrooms, drawing rooms or lawns. More and more companies all over the world asked their employees to work from home to avoid human interaction and touch that might appear at workplaces due to COVID-19 outbreak.

Coronavirus has confined everyone within the four walls of their abode and into a flexible workplace as it threatened millions, shutting schools, transport, and work facilities, in short, wherever people could infect one another in a group. The new emerging face of 21st century has forced employees to forget about commuting issues, business wardrobe and office chitchats, rather directed them towards firing up laptops from their homes to work.

Hence, growing number of jobs associated with computer networks, worldwide ownership of cell phones, and universal accessibility of personal computers are all linked together by technologies providing connectivity services are in place, and have been building blocks to form a solid home-based workforce.

Advantages for employers

There are many reasons which explain that adopting flexible working hours can actually help organisations and employers in boosting their businesses. Some of them are as follows:

1. Diversity and wider pool available

Employers can tap into talent anywhere in the world as the location is not an issue in a remote working environment. The situation provides an organisation with a greater pool of talent to choose from and gives higher chances of finding someone with precise skills, experience, and personality that they have been looking for. This shows that diversity can also grow more effortlessly, which is regarded as an asset to their workforce.

2. Telecommunication

Telecommunication with employees makes them more productive compared to office routine due to fewer distractions at home, and more opportunities to take breaks when needed. It helps them to remain motivated, enhancing creativity. Further, useless meetings can be eliminated, and 1 to 1 conversation on the phone can save a lot of time.

3. Lower costs

Companies could save a lot of money, spent on team activities like birthdays, offsites and other parties rather the money can be spent on other projects. Team bonds can be built virtually and at a much lower cost as the firm can save on activity materials and office space. There is a lot of cost savings on office snacks, supplies and office spaces.

4. Employees’ retention

Endless meetings and outdated workplace practices could keep workers demotivated and stick to their desks in large organisations, but working from home can allow personnel to work in an environment as per their choice, while reducing unnecessary meetings enabled by to- the- point conversations on calls.

Advantages for employees

Remote work practices could give employees a lot of freedom to choose and save a lot of time spent on travelling to their workplaces. Some of the advantages that employees enjoy while working from home are as follows:

1. Flexible Hours

Remote working allows employees to stay productive and work within hours they feel most productive as every employee has different energy levels at different times between a 9 to 5 job. Also, during those hours they can attend to other personal scheduled needs thus, balancing both their job and personal life.

2. Reduced commute time

Long travel time while commuting to office has a great impact on an employee, their family members and on employer. A reduction in the amount of time spent on tiring travel hours could be a great relief for employees and can give ae boost to businesses as well. When employees work from home, they arrive with a fresh mind at their desks to start a day. The health and wellbeing of the workforce has proven ties to productivity and a drop in absenteeism.

Further, remote working helps in saving travel costs implying that employees can spend more money on other essential things aa per their needs, which results in a happier, healthier, and more motivated workforce.

3. More independent employees

Allowing employees to work from home permits them to operate in a way that suits them. While in office space, everyone is supposed to work the same way, and a similar approach is applied to all, but at home, everyone can choose to work as per their own productive hours and ways. Some might like to work on a sofa or bed late at night, while some would want to get up early in the morning amid a serene quiet and tidy environment for work.

This freedom to choose their own schedules and environment with certain rules in place by the organisation can allow employees to perform their best.

4. Mental health

Working from home for employees who suffer from physical disabilities and mental health concerns can significantly improve their lives, as they can provide themselves with adequate care as needed. Further, remote working allows employees to take care of not only themselves but their loved ones, as well as their children.

Remote working is a give and take relationship between employers and employee. Providing flexibility, understanding, and freedom can add to a productive and healthy work environment.