‘Work from home is over. Back to the cubicles.” Once the pandemic became controllable, this new narrative was in the air. The COVID-19 pandemic came with several challenges but gave us the most unimaginable way of working for businesses. Once remote work was our way of protecting ourselves from this fatal disease and now it has become one of the most beneficial aspects of modern businesses. However, there are many speculations revolving around the remote work processes. Many say that remote work is bad for business and it brings several lesser-known facts for us to talk about in this article.
Here, we have compiled five reasons to consider working from home a great deal for employees and a good business sense:
- Employee’s overall health
Better mental health is only possible when employees feel more in control and less in stressful situations. When employees are healthy, work stress is reduced which leads to more flexibility and less conflict in balancing work and personal life. Work flexibility is quite helpful in allowing a person to deal with family responsibilities. Not only mental well-being, but an employee’s physical well-being is also improved due to reduced fatigue from traveling, better and healthier food options, and improved self-care habits. What is the better option than absenteeism and increased productivity? - Employee engagement
A fully remote job puts the employee in their comfort zone. Remote work is totally effective in increasing employee engagement and morale. And why wouldn’t an employee prove his/her loyalty to a place that offers comfort and job satisfaction? This eventually leads to reduced employee turnover as well as expenses to hire, train, and retain new employees. - Boosted productivity in less time
In-office employees have been seen to be inefficient in proving their productivity during work hours. Remote work has been said to boost performance and productivity to empower employees. They are said to be having fewer defects in work product output and overall quality. It is said to be the best for their schedule and preferences. Companies can easily set up their demands as per their needs across different time zones according to the clock. - Frictionless business operations
What causes the biggest friction between employees and employers is the leave approval procedures. Absenteeism is the biggest turn friction-causing scenario. In this, working from home proves quite effective. Employees are ready to shift their work schedules to suit the employer’s needs. They can get the tasks done irrespective of the day and night. Employees are able to save lots of time that is wasted in their daily commute. This can allow better management of duties in a less stressful scenario.Employers are happier to avoid leave approval for employees’ health checkups, children’s school PTMs, and other challenges that have become easier to deal with. When employees experience the least friction, the business will thrive inevitably.
- Decreased costs on infrastructure:
Well, here is the biggest perk of having work from home: no infrastructure cost. Office spaces have become quite expensive nowadays. Overall, business operations and equipment costs are quite high costs to pay for entrepreneurial ventures especially. Businesses can invest office space funds in profitable areas like employee training and higher salaries. As per a recent report, a company can save up to $11,000 to $15,000 every year on each part-time or remote working employee. Even many employees are willing to take a pay cut for a remote position or trade a greater position for remote jobs.
However many industries won’t survive at all if they introduce work-from-home policies such as healthcare industry. Employees can consider working from home a good business opportunity by taking on more and more freelance projects and double one’s income as well.