As someone working remotely since 2017, I think a lot about remote work.
The pandemic changed everything for those of us who worked remotely. All of a sudden, the tools we’d been using for years, like Zoom, became part of every day for others too. We became the go-to people for engaging remote employees—the all-knowing oracles for online collaboration.
What had suddenly been imposed on the world had been my living reality for half a decade.
Today, two years removed from the start of the pandemic, we as a society have crossed a threshold. Services, companies, and people who were slow to join the digital age had to become very digital-savvy very quickly—including the way we work.
And for some, remote working offered benefits and work-life balance than working a typical 9-5 in an office. No longer were they fighting a lengthy commute every morning to go to an arbitrary building and do the work they always could have done from the comfort of their own homes.
It’s now time for companies serious about attracting talent to invest in remote working.
Remote Working Benefits for Your Employee
And remote working isn’t going away. 84% of workers said that working remotely after the pandemic would make them happier, with some saying they’d even be willing to take a pay cut to continue remote working.
Why do employees value remote working?
- Better work-life balance: no more commute means you get more time around their workday to spend on themselves or their families.
- Save more money: Who honestly wants to spend money on gas, trains, buses, or any other method of commuting? That’s not counting parking if you drove to work, certain clothing if there’s an office dress-code, lunch if you didn’t pack it, etc.
- Freedom to live where you want: The hardest part about working in tech is having to live in areas where housing is cramped, expensive, and difficult to find. What’s the point in being forced to live in an area you don’t like if you can do your job anywhere with an internet connection?
- Better focus: For those of us in creative or development roles, working in an open space office plan can be our kryptonite. The calm and quiet of (some of) our homes can be the best environment to fuel a creative process.
Now, it’s important to note that remote working isn’t for everyone. Some people genuinely like the office environment, and love seeing their colleagues every day. Certainly, those with kids who had to work while putting their kids through online school felt relief going back into the office.
There are some people who don’t thrive in remote-working situations. These are people who need a strictly regimented environment to be productive, and can’t self-impose that structure.
Others just prefer to spend their day around other people. They find that a face-to-face environment makes collaboration easier—and for some roles, it very well may be the case.
Regardless, offering your employees the option to work remotely can have incredible benefits.
Remote Working Benefits for You
It might be a candidate’s market, but employees are far from the only people driving the WFH movement.
There are so many clear benefits to remote working for an employer as well.
- Save money on expensive office renting or leasing: Fewer in-office employees—or better, none at all, means you spend less renting that expensive office in a trendy town that’s always choked with traffic. Sure, the view may not be as impressive as the corner office of the 44th floor, but you can save that money towards hiring more top talent, investing more in the people who help you grow.
- Increased productivity and employee performance: In fact, according to a great interactive report by Owl Labs, 9 out of 10 employees say they were as productive, if not more, while working remotely compared to working in an office.
- Higher employee retention rates: With better work-life balance, employees are happier, healthier, and won’t get burned out as quickly. However, it’s important to note that you need to respect their off hours. Just because you’re working at 8 pm, don’t expect your employee to be doing the same. Prioritize asynchronous working to promote a healthy remote work culture.
- A much larger talent pool: Imagine you can recruit from a pool of talent that encompasses the globe. It’s one thing to recruit from a 40-mile radius of your office, it’s quite another to include your whole country—if not several countries. The best part? You get to bring on new team members with wildly different perspectives, which makes your company culture all the richer.
- Reducing your carbon footprint: Without employees commuting every day, you’re reducing the overall carbon emissions that your company would otherwise create. Not only that, you’re reducing energy expenses, waste creation, and the costs that come with recycling all those physical papers.
Remote work is the future—and for many of us, it’s our present. The employee of 2022 is looking for more than a ping pong table and snacks in the office, and if you want to stay competitive in the current market, remote work has to be on the table.
As many companies discovered through the pandemic, remote work is the way forward to reducing operation costs while keeping employees happy—which is a winning combination for everyone involved.