Since the pandemic, the perks and pitfalls of remote work have been the subject of constant debate.
Employers, managers, and business leaders are divided when it comes to allowing on-site employees to switch to telecommuting.
If you’re a business owner who’s unsure of remote work, you might want to consider its proven positive impact on employees’ workplace productivity, technical proficiency, and overall performance.
What’s more, a flexible schedule attracts top talent and maintains seasoned employees, resulting in better recruitment and retention.
Remote work is ideal for disaster preparedness and environmental sustainability, too.
In addition to lowering carbon dioxide emissions, telecommuting reduces employee absences, office politics, equipment requirements, and overhead costs.
In this guide, we’ll share 15 powerful benefits of remote work for businesses. Learn more about telecommuting and how it can help your company thrive!
#1. Boosts Company Productivity
According to a recent Microsoft report, a staggering 85% of business leaders believe that shifting to hybrid work has made it difficult to have confidence that employees are being productive. As an employer, you might be having the same thoughts.
Unlike traditional bosses, hybrid managers struggle to watch over staff and ensure that they produce high-quality work. This has led to the development of numerous employee monitoring software, such as Hubstaff, Teramind, and ActivTrak.
On the contrary, research shows that remote work actually has a positive impact on the way employees work. Data shows that staff with location flexibility have 4% greater productivity scores than in-office employees.
What’s more, workers with full flexibility over their schedules possess 29% higher productivity levels than fixed-schedule employees. On top of that, workers with flexible schedules claim to have 53% higher focus abilities!
#2. Improves Employee Performance
In addition to productivity, remote work is surprisingly beneficial to employee performance. Did you know that workers with remote or hybrid arrangements produce outputs with 40% fewer quality defects?
They’re also more likely to deliver excellent customer service and valuable insight into your operations. It’s no secret that being in a comfortable environment and working at a preferred time and pace brings out the best in employees.
One remote work experiment involving a NASDAQ-listed travel agency called Ctrip strongly demonstrated the desirable effects of working from home.
The company saw a 13% performance increase in call center employees who were allowed to have a remote setup.
As a result of the experiment’s success, Ctrip now offers the Work From Home (WFH) option to the entire firm, which has around 16,000 employees.
#3. Fosters Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion
You might be wondering if going remote bears any weight on your company’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Well, it does!
A new work arrangement comes with the opportunity to introduce inclusive habits, strengthen cultural connections, and welcome diversity.
When your staff members feel validated, accepted, and secure, you’ll start to see more motivated employees come up with meaningful contributions.
Providing equal opportunities allows everyone to leverage their unique expertise, perspective, and background for your firm.
Additionally, inclusive teams tend to make more accurate and high-quality decisions. They’re capable of building stronger trust and better relationships with customers, too.
One thing to note, though, is that a warm and welcoming online workplace doesn’t just sprout overnight.
It takes continuous effort, commitment, and supervision to ensure that all employees are seen and heard at work.
You’ll also need to take prompt action to correct and eliminate racial injustice, discrimination, and unconscious bias, which can easily occur online.
#4. Expands Talent Pool
Gone are the days when your company was limited to hiring only local applicants or those who were willing to relocate for the position.
With remote work, you can gain access to top talent from all over the world! Plus, you won’t have to shoulder expensive travel or relocation costs.
A broader talent pool gives you better chances of finding the perfect fit for the job, regardless of location. It also facilitates your recruitment process.
All you have to do is post a job listing, wait for suitable candidates to apply, and schedule online interviews.
Additionally, attracting and recruiting international talent can have several unexpected perks.
Foreign workers can help you enter new global markets with the expertise, network, and experience of a local.
#5. Heightens Retention Levels
Flexible work doesn’t just attract new employees. It helps you retain existing ones, too! In fact, 54% of employees claim that they’d leave their current job for one that provides a flexible work schedule.
Additionally, organizations that offer remote work have 25% lower turnover rates.
Frequent turnover can be highly detrimental to the achievement of your company’s goals and objectives.
For most organizations, it takes around 52 days just to fill a vacant position.
It also costs an average of $4,000 to hire a new worker. Yikes!
Meanwhile, your seasoned employees already have a thorough knowledge of your business, clients, and competitors.
Retaining these valuable workers will make it easier for you to produce satisfactory results and achieve steady growth.
#6. Promotes Technological Adaptability And Proficiency
Remote work requires continuous learning, up-to-date technical abilities, and a versatile skill set. This demand for adaptability and versatility gives your organization a competitive edge.
It empowers you to keep up with volatile markets and changing consumers.
Rather than forcing employees to sit through hours of training programs, remote work allows your team to learn at their own pace and style.
Understanding the company’s workplace apps becomes more of a hands-on experience instead of a tedious and time-consuming lecture.
To finish tasks quickly and conveniently, your workers will learn to rely on efficient computer tools and programs.
As a result, they’re constantly exposed to file-sharing platforms, video conferencing apps, and task schedules.
They’ll gain adaptability and proficiency in no time.
#7. Ensures Continuity Of Operations
Not having to rely on a physical location and face-to-face communication increases your company’s resistance to sudden disasters.
There’s no assurance that we won’t be facing more pandemics and health crises in the near future, so it’s best to stay prepared and resilient.
An established system of remote work minimizes the amount of time and training that employees will need to adjust to a new environment.
In times of emergency, you’ll be able to operate separately yet successfully without compromising your services to customers.
You can even take it a step further and utilize remote work to expand your availability. Instead of having all employees work the usual 9 to 5, why not allow shifting schedules to offer round-the-clock service?
You can also hire foreign staff who can work during local holidays.
#8. Sharpens Communication Skills
Opportunities to spot facial cues and interpret body language are limited online. Emotions and tone of voice can’t be expressed via emails and instant messages, either.
Employees won’t be able to pop into their supervisor’s office or point at their screen for quick questions.
At a glance, the absence of face-to-face interaction might seem like a barrier to effective discussions.
However, it’s actually the perfect opportunity for workers to hone their writing and communication skills.
Most remote workers learn to use grammar checkers to keep their reports and presentations polished and professional. They pay attention to word choice to prevent misunderstandings with teammates.
Having employees with superb communication skills is great for your company’s marketing efforts and customer service initiatives as well.
#9. Minimizes Absenteeism And Tardiness
Employees will have fewer reasons to be tardy when their next shift or meeting is just a click away. Skipping the daily commute also frees up their time for important errands, which makes them less likely to be late for work.
On average, remote work saves 72 minutes of time per day.
On top of that, telecommuting saves money by reducing unscheduled staff absences by 63%. These absences can cost around $1,800 per employee annually.
When employees work from home, they’re more engaged, satisfied, and comfortable, which leads to decreased absences.
#10. Enables Sustainability And Lowers Carbon Footprint
Another significant benefit of remote work that goes unnoticed is the reduced strain on our environmental resources.
During the early stages of the pandemic, when telecommuting was the only option, air, noise, and plastic pollution levels massively dropped.
Due to travel and transportation restrictions, carbon dioxide emissions in 2020 decreased by 15%.
What’s more, the amount of disposed single-use plastics and food waste was at an all-time low. This is due to employees’ preferences for cooking at home with reusable utensils.
File-sharing apps and digital database systems allowed companies to go paperless, too.
Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive became the substitute for hard copies and documents. The conservation of huge amounts of paper resulted in trillions of trees being saved.
#11. Minimizes Office Equipment Requirements
Transitioning to remote work can lead to fewer equipment requirements since the majority of employees already have essential furnishings at home.
There will be little to no need for your company to acquire new desks, cubicles, chairs, air conditioners, and other costly furniture.
Digital files and records will eliminate the need for filing cabinets, photocopiers, fax machines, printers, and paper supplies as well.
To save more, some companies even allow employees to work using their own phones, tablets, and laptops.
Remote work allows you to reallocate your business’s resources to other high-priority expenses.
#12. Maintains A Healthy Workforce
Having a flexible schedule allows employees to become healthier. After all, no commute means more time to sleep.
Working at home also gives workers a chance to cook nutritious meals, exercise during breaks, enjoy hobbies, and be with their families.
As for mental health, employees report less stress when they have more control over their time. Cases of burnout and overwork decrease as workers have more time for rest and recreation.
This might sound like a benefit to the employees rather than the employer, but it’s actually a win-win situation. Healthy and happy workers meet targets, delight customers, and produce top-notch work.
#13. Develops Autonomous And Self-Sufficient Teams
A remote working environment can be the ideal breeding ground for independent and self-motivated employees.
Telecommuting encourages workers to seek answers through research or experience instead of being dependent on the presence of their superiors.
This results in autonomous and self-sufficient employees with effective decision-making skills.
These individuals produce great results under minimal supervision using their own initiative. They’re able to solve company issues promptly by exercising critical thinking.
To develop these kinds of workers, clarify your expected results during onboarding and share the best practices for the job.
Additionally, give them access to efficient communication channels where they can voice out their concerns and clarifications.
#14. Eliminates Office Politics
Telecommuting simplifies and streamlines your company’s communication channels.
Calls, emails, and messages are reserved for business purposes, leaving little room for gossiping or office politics.
Instead of engaging in unnecessary chatter, remote work allows employees to pursue their own personal development.
Idle chatting by the water cooler is replaced with attending online conferences or networking events during their spare time.
#15. Reduces Overhead Costs
Employees aren’t the only ones who save more money by telecommuting. Data from Global Workplace Analytics reveals that a U.S. employer can save a whopping $11,000 per half-time remote worker per year.
Imagine the financial impact of this setup on companies with thousands of employees. Some organizations have even decided to let go of physical offices, leading to massive savings on real estate.
For instance, IBM saved around $50 million in real estate expenses by allowing telecommuting. In addition to reduced rent expenses, remote work enables companies to spend less on utilities, such as electricity, heat, and water.
With few to no employees on site, cleaning bills and food expenses are also bound to go down. The same applies to expenses for events, gatherings, and other in-office perks.
Wrapping Up
Employees prefer remote work arrangements because they provide autonomy, flexibility, and work-life balance.
Having a flexible schedule allows workers to engage in hobbies, travel across the globe, and pursue their own professional development.
Company owners, leaders, and management personnel can enjoy the benefits of remote work for businesses as well.
One key advantage of telecommuting is its power to boost productivity, which leads to enhanced profitability for the organization.
With the right amount of planning, supervision, and operations management, any organization can make the switch to remote work.
It’s never too late to embrace telecommuting and experience the unparalleled advantages that it provides.
