Remote Working: 5 Benefits and Challenges Blog

Many employees may be reluctant to say if they feel that the business is operating in a way that is negatively affecting their wellbeing. Working for long periods without breaks leads to increased stress levels, decreased productivity and it can quickly take a toll on physical health too. No matter where they’re based, it’s an employer’s responsibility to ensure the wellbeing of their employees. Remote working presents more possibilities, opportunities and promotes diversity.

• If you allow your staff to work remotely, you’ll naturally need less office space to accommodate them – saving you valuable pennies.
• There needs to be a degree of freedom to communicate comparable to walking over to a colleague’s desk to confer.
• As a result, there is an increased risk of a cyber attack, where personal and company information can be breached and potentially stolen.
• Without worrying about dirty looks from neighbouring desks, fearful of catching what you’ve brought with you.
• The number of employees working from home went from 3.2% to 10.8% in 2019, growing by almost three times.
• One of the commonly quoted stats about working from home is the tendency for employees to work longer hours.

But it’s important to differentiate between genuine challenges and misconceptions. There is rarely smoke without at least a little fire, but many of the negative assumptions that are commonly made about remote working are either inaccurate, or can be easily mitigated. What is remote working bringing to the world that changes things for the better? Evidence suggests that it is not only individuals that can benefit from remote working; for the businesses who offer it, there are also many rewards to be gained. As the phenomenon has grown in recent years, some locations have become hubs for the digital nomad community due to their suitable infrastructure and favourable living costs.

Advantages and disadvantages of employees working at home

As the pandemic rolled in early 2020, people faced dire challenges in making a living. In a coaching session, employees can learn to recognise their strengths, identify preferred working environments, and notice what time of day is best to tackle different tasks. Not only does hybrid or fully remote working cut down on transportation costs, but it also reduces your carbon footprint. Whilst doing your bit to help the environment, you’re also contributing towards a greener future. Using confidential surveys is a great way to check-in with your people and find out what they think your organisation is doing well, and what they think could be improved.

If you are a qualified medical practitioner, you can earn anywhere from $100k to $150k per year. Besides that, there are also many opportunities to become a technical document writer in subjects like software technology and finance. So, all in all, yes, remote work does seem to have a positive influence on employee productivity.

new Microsoft Team features designed to help remote workers

If you’d like to learn more about how technology can help make your workplace more flexible and increase the satisfaction of your employees, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team at Synextra. If you’re wondering how your employees can access important documents, quickly and securely when working from home or out of the office, virtual desktop infrastructure can help. As every business owner will know, whether you rent or own your office space, it’s far from cheap and the cost of such overhead costs can equate to a significant percentage of your outgoings. Nothing can stunt the growth of a company like an unhappy, tired and overworked team. By making sure employees are satisfied and energised, productivity can be boosted and staff may even be able to achieve their goals faster and harness better results.

In fact, employees like remote work so much, that some of them would be willing to take a pay cut for it. Between July and August 2021, FlexJobs surveyed 4,612 people on their platform about job plans, and here is what they found from the respondents. Here is a graph sharing the comparison between countries in terms of their remote job applications. According to Eurostat, 12.3% of the total European Union of employed workers adapted to remote work by 2020.

How to Maintain Work Life Balance while Working from Home? [14 Ways]

Without a fixed office setting and specified hours, it’s easy to develop overworking habits, and working alone can feel isolating. With remote work, employees can avoid many distractions like unproductive meetings, interruptions, and other disturbances that are inevitable in a bustling office. Remote employees can often benefit from a more flexible schedule as well.

In order to create a ‘workplace’ that’s good for both employers and employees of today and the future. The statistics speak for the growing popularity of working from home because of the benefits it offers. As we mentioned above, these benefits include things like https://remotemode.net/blog/how-remote-work-can-benefit-employees-and-companies/ improving your mental health, boosting your productivity, and reducing unnecessary costs. However, since the dynamics of the workplace have changed, remote work opportunities are on the rise. As of 2021, 65% of total employees had adapted to this new reality.

Enhanced productivity

For example, Chiang Mai in Thailand, Canggu in Bali and Buenos Aires in Argentina are popular digital nomad destinations. The phrase ‘telecommuting’ has been around since the 1970s, originally referring to a new phenomenon of people working from home and communicating with the office via telephone. Its meaning has evolved over the decades as technology has developed. These days you might still hear it used to refer to working from home and communicating via the internet, but its use is fading. I have worked for a company that has offered this kind of arrangement in the past. While its central office was in London, one of the senior managers worked in New Zealand most of the time, and travelled to the regional offices for board meetings.

Even just offering the option to work from home will give you an advantage in the job market over competitors that don’t offer home working as an option to their staff. One of the great benefits of working remotely is that you may find yourself with more mental energy for learning from home after your working day. Use the additional time in your day to read a book, or watch some TV. Many companies realise the importance of taking time off from work, with flexible working from home options becoming increasingly popular with businesses in the city. And for many years, non-remote employees have relied on such tools to talk and share information with their workplace neighbors. Plus, remote workers are 87% more likely to love their job when they work from home, according to Mark Murphy of Leadership IQ.

Fewer workers in your office suite, mean less need for expansive space, and while it’s helpful to your workers if you provide them with the equipment they need, it’s not an absolute must for new hires. And it’s not just about the practical benefits, having a reputation as a flexible employer can help you attract and keep talented staff. https://remotemode.net/ The International Workplace Group (IWG) found that an incredible 80% of people would consider turning down a job that didn’t offer flexible work. A shift towards home working doesn’t mean employees have to work only at home. Often splitting time between home, or other remote locations and the workplace is the most productive solution.

• The new world of work is essentially separated from time and physical space.
• So maintaining a healthy work-life balance is front of mind for so many employees.
• They should help you understand how it has impacted people’s lives, how it is changing businesses and its role in regards to both people and businesses going forward.
• Customer support agents must be confident, self-motivated and disciplined.
• Here you need good coordination but and a consistent spatial separation so you’re still able to work properly.

This may help you meet certain business needs eg if you are trading with customers residing in a different time zone. Avoiding the daily commute is one of the top benefits of remote working. The health-related, financial and environmental advantages alone make working from home an attractive option. According to FlexJobs, businesses have lost around $600 billion per year on workplace distractions.