Benefits of Remote Work for Employees and Employers

A lot has changed since the pandemic started, but perhaps nothing was more impacted than work locations. There’s also the implication of “hush trips”, where employees work in a different state without telling their employer. There’s also the possibility working remotely could impact the onboarding of new hires. Like with anything, remote work comes with challenges alongside its many benefits.

If your teams have asked for full- or part-time remote work opportunities, you may wonder whether it’s the right move for your business. In this scenario, it’s best to research the benefits of remote work to see if it’s suitable for your organization. Flexible work enhances job satisfaction, supports work-life balance, and reduces turnover, saving businesses time and money on recruitment and training.

Increased Productivity

While previous research has recognized that working online may be more effective, the role of managers has received less attention, both theoretically and empirically. Generally, managers view remote working as resulting in decreased performance and lower managerial control 8. Our study suggests that the more benefits managers perceive, the more effective their work is assessed in different dimensions (i.e., manager, team, external co-operation). Moreover, the results indicated the difference in remote work perception depending on the management level (i.e., lower-level and middle-level management). Managers who have more contact with employees are more aware of the benefits of working remotely. Accordingly, the perceived benefits are related to a higher level of reported work effectiveness.

It also makes it easier to share responsibilities at home, which leads to less stress for the entire family. In a world where pajamas have replaced office attire and the daily commute involves a stroll from the bedroom to the home office, remote work best practices have transformed how we… Set limits, turn tracked time into automated timesheets, and send invoices with Hubstaff. If you manage projects, you probably hear “objectives and deliverables” a hundred times daily.

1. Agencies that insist staff need to be in the office even part of the time automatically limit the pool of talent they have to draw from.
2. It allows them to adapt their work schedule based on the requirements of their health condition, even if those conditions are unpredictable, as some chronic illnesses are.
3. Furthermore, working from home increases productivity (Gajendran & Harrison, 2007; Gajendran et al., 2015; Martin & MacDonnell, 2012).
4. The developer regularly communicates with their manager and team members through Slack and Zoom and can access the company server, files, and other necessary documents to perform their job.
5. The adaptability of our communication styles is just another way our remote work benefits you.
6. Employees who value flexibility don’t lack commitment or skills—they simply want to balance their lives.
7. According to the latest remote work stats, the number of remote workers has grown by 159% since 2009; now 16% of companies globally are fully remote.

Benefits of working remotely: UK workers get back an hour a day – and they like it

We have been far more productive and have attended more online professional development than we could have in person. Technological advancements allow for remote meetings, and we have found that the recording of these meetings also increases control, flexibility, and productivity. In some instances, online webinars, workshops, and meetings allow for multitasking such as cooking dinner and tuning in at the same time. Further analysis demonstrated the differences in the perception of work effectiveness among managers at different levels of management (i.e., lower-level and middle-level management).

There’s also the benefit of reduced absenteeism, since workers are in charge of their schedules and can take rests as needed when they don’t feel well. If you give workers autonomy over their work schedules, employees will make time to get things done. Believe it or not, remote workers tend to be more productive than their in-office counterparts. It’s good because they get things done on time, but not-so-good because it can lead to burnout if it goes on for too long. After two-and-a-half years of remote work, employees are increasingly being asked to come back into the office.

See what ideas and desires they have to make remote work beneficial for everyone. Then adopt the tools and build policies to ensure work-life balance and employee wellness remain a top priority. In Owl Labs’s report, 70% of remote employees say virtual meetings are less stressful than in-person meetings. And roughly 75% say working from home makes them happier and improves their mental health. Working at home tends to have fewer distractions for some workers who don’t have small children or pets at home. Office spaces can sometimes have a lot of noise, disruptions from co-workers and managers, and office meetings, making it difficult to focus.

You will also have additional time for hobbies and to spend with your loved ones. Likewise, the freedom to choose where to live is far down the list, with just 13.2% citing that as a major benefit of remote work. Again, we thought this would rank higher given the ability given by remote work to avoid the high costs of living in dense urban centres such as London where most jobs exist. Meanwhile, “I have fewer distractions” (17.6%) and “I’m more productive” benefits of working remotely (20.6%) do not rank as highly in the list of most popular benefits for those in the UK. Since distraction is regularly cited as a major factor and inhibitor to productivity, we’re surprised that these don’t rank as highly as we thought they would.

Today’s remote workers are building a professional reputation as the employees of the future. With remote work, transgender individuals can obtain greater autonomy in whether they disclose their gender identity to coworkers, including supervisors. Higher levels of autonomy, in turn, predict higher levels of job satisfaction (Liu et al., 2005). Hiring remote teams offers scalability, enabling companies to adjust workforce size as needed without the constraints of physical office space. This is particularly valuable for fast-growing startups or seasonal businesses that need to scale up quickly or manage fluctuations in demand.

Communicate that the quality of work done remotely must remain the same as in-office work. Establish realistic performance expectations and ensure employees understand their responsibilities, priorities, and goals. Ensure that remote work employees understand when and how communication occurs daily, and establish clear guidelines for how colleagues contact each other when questions arise and through which channels. Companies with remote-first policies treat remote work as the default working option.

The Costs and Benefits of Hybrid Work

And today’s millennials almost expect to have the choice of working remotely as they’ve grown up with technology that allows this. As well as saving time on commuting, having a remote job means employees manage their own schedules. As long as the time you’re working doesn’t affect your colleagues and you meet deadlines then you can work when you wish.

(Bloom and colleagues replicated this finding in 2015.) More recently, Choudhury and colleagues (2021) showed a 4% increase in productivity among U.S. Barrero and colleagues (2020b) estimated that the pandemic significantly reduced U.S. commuting times and that at least one-third of this saved time has been allocated to work-related tasks. More sleep, less stress, more time to exercise, and fewer opportunities to eat out can all lead to more positive mental health outcomes. Moreover, better emotional well-being and physical health can result from spending more time with family and having more disposable income (Johnson & Krueger, 2006; Pantell et al., 2013). Additionally, it appears that we can experience physical and psychological benefits even when we obtain social support virtually (Gilmour et al., 2020).

1. People scrambled to set up home offices and adjust to back-to-back virtual meetings and online collaboration.
2. That’s not to say that there are no distractions that come with remote work, of course, but for many people, the in-office ones are more disruptive to their productivity.
3. Many people with disabilities, such as chronic back pain or mental illness, can also benefit from WFH gear and settings personalized to meet their needs.
4. If you’re currently looking for flexible work in the tech space, you’re in luck.
5. There’s also the possibility working remotely could impact the onboarding of new hires.
6. Organizations also must contend with the possibility of confidentiality breaches.

Human resource professionals see it as a way to recruit and retain the best people, fill talent and skills gaps, increase diversity, and improve employee well-being and engagement. Workforce planners see it as a way to reduce under-employment, fill talent shortages, slow the brain drain, increase diversity, and improve employee well-being. A disgruntled employee opened fire at a linen company near Philadelphia on Wednesday, killing two co-workers and injuring three more, accord… While leaders like Elon Musk and Tim Cook are pushing employees to return to office either full- or part-time, employees are happy with the … But if you have a solid onboarding process, that’s adapted to remote working, employees should still feel satisfied and want to stay. Remote work environments have become one of the most important job criteria for more than half of potential candidates.

From financial savings to increased productivity and employee satisfaction, the advantages of remote work vastly outweigh the negatives. Let’s explore these benefits and uncover how they can propel your business to new heights. With fewer overheads, businesses can re-invest the money they’ve saved and use it on new perks or employee benefits, raises or other ways to support their remote teams. A primary benefit of remote work for employees is that the increased flexibility gives them a far better work-life balance than office-based work.