Happy Remote Work Guide: All you need to know about remote work and it’s benefits
Remote work is not a new term. Even before COVID-19 hit planet Earth, remote work was the norm. however, the pandemic has caused it to become a standard component of many people’s normal lives.
Back in 2016, Gallup conducted research that indicated that 43% of employed Americans logged into their offices while being out of the office. Similarly, at the end of 2020, Gallup found that around 58% of American employees have been working from their homes.
To simply state this, the pandemic has started a new trend. A lot of it can be blamed to the increase in freelance workers. Around 50% of millennials are working as freelancers and it depends on the employers when they require employees to be present in the office. This practice has been going on for some time however the pandemic has caused majority of the companies to start working from home.
Many employers today are making remote work mandatory and they are encouraging their employees to work from home. Why? Well, there are a number of benefits while working remotely.
Types of Remote Teams
There are many different structures for remote teams. Here are the top three:
Fully Remote Teams
When an organization does not have any offices and every employee is working from home or from other office spaces, this kind of setting is called a fully remote team. This setup can have a number of challenges, but it also has its upsides. By being remote, you can easily create processes and technologies that will assist with the needs of the employees.
Distributed Office Hubs
When an organization decides to set up small different offices in several cities, the workforce becomes distributed. The workplace becomes divided geographically and therefore the leaders need to decide who works in which team and what role would they play.
Flexible Remote Teams
In this approach, employees are not completely working remotely or from distributed hubs, but also, they are not working in the same location all the time. There are certain companies that allow their employees to work from home during the week. There are also companies that hire people who will be working from a single office. Regardless, these teams work the same way that fully remote employees do.
Benefits of Remote Work
From the employer’s perspective, the benefits come in the form of a larger labor pool. When an employee is not restricted geographically, the employer has a higher chance of finding the right employee. Employees that are out of the area are cheaper in a lot of cases, this way they are able to save money.
There has been evidence seen that remote workers are much more productive as compared to those who work in the office premises. As per a recent Global Workplace Analytics Survey, 53% of remote workers have reported that they would want to work overtime.
That is in comparison to only 28% in-house employees. As per a recent survey conducted by Prodoscore Research Council (PRC), employees working from home have been working longer hours as compared to when they worked within the office.
Employees working remotely have reported feeling less stress due to the spared commute to the office every day.
According to a Swedish study, researchers found that couples that have at least one partner who commutes more than 45 minutes a day to work have a 40% higher risk of divorce as compared to those with shorter commutes.
If we consider the ongoing pandemic, then employees working remotely work in a healthy environment where going to the office puts them at high risk. With the increase in the uncertainty in the climate, a distributed workforce can keep companies intact and working even in a state of crisis.
Flexible Lifestyle
One of the most obvious reason for why people choose to work remotely is because it gives them a flexible lifestyle. When employees are not required to stay in the office during a specific time, they can focus on things outside the office.
Moms can work as well as be available for her child and fulfill his needs.
A student can work remotely and pay attention to his education as well. Because there is no strict schedule, a remote employee can easily gain further education all while working during the evening or vice versa.
Better Health
Like mentioned earlier, remote employees are less stressed as compared to those working in the office.
According to a study published by the Royal Society for Public Health in the UK, 55% employees were more stressed all due to the commute to the office. By eliminating the commute and letting employees work from home, employers have to deal less with stressed-out employees.
As per a result by PGi in 2014, 69% of remote workers reported lower absenteeism as compared employees working from the office.
Workers didn’t feel like skipping work because they were working at ease and with less pressure. Happy and healthy employees produce better work results and are more committed to their companies.
New Passion for their Job
Remote employees tend to work best when they are outside the office.
They are inspired by the environment and they can easily delete any distractions that come their way.
As a matter of fact, the chance to work remotely brings a new perspective to the position of the remote worker.
Read: Be ready to transform the way you work, Tips and tricks to make you a qualified Remote Employee.
They see it as a motivation and a reward for their work and they continue to achieve their goals so that they can continue the life that they have adjusted to.
How Do People Work Remotely?
There are many different ways people can work remotely.
That is why remote work is easy and versatile. People can easily choose the way they want to work in.
For example, people have the chance to work remotely for most of the week and they only have to travel to the office for in-person meetings once a week.
On the other hand, there are some people who prefer co-working spaces so they can get the job done. Co-working spaces act like hubs of productivity, community, and technology.
They are a space that offers a great network and the chance to meet other people who work in different industries.
These spaces can be used by people who have full-time jobs, those who are freelancers, and even entrepreneurs. The world after Covid-19 has, however, increased the importance of Remote Working.
A co-working space is a mixture of a traditional office and a non-traditional workspace. It gives you the comfort of working from home while offering the professional requirements and networking opportunities needed in an office environment.
There is no doubt that remote work is the future, especially with jobs today that can be operated digitally.
Work from home is now a popular form of working. Regardless of what your job is, remote working allows us to become location-independent.
It allows us to work for the company without having to change location and sit in the same working space as everyone else.
With all the benefits, the cost-saving, and the high level of productivity, there is no doubt that remote working is definitely here to stay.
Here are some more examples to prove why:
- Zapier, a San Francisco-based software company offers $10,000 for employees who are willing to leave the Bay Area to work at a different location.
- When Gov. Phil Scott signed a bill that stated to pay remote workers to move state, he caused a stir in the headlines. He stated that anyone willing to move to Vermont and work remotely will receive $10,000 from the state.
- Estonia is working on creating a digital nomad visa that will support employees working from independent locations. This visa will give the opportunity to workers to stay in Estonia for a year.
- There are many successful companies that have remote teams. Companies like Doist, Buffer, Zapier, InVision, and Automattic have transitioned successfully to a remote business model.
As technology keeps evolving, remote work will become the usual. In the year 2020, 50% of the workforce turned to working remotely.
Although the pandemic may have become a reason for the increase in remote work for employees, it is not the only reason to do so.
The latest survey by CNBC has shown that the Workforce Happiness Index score for Remote Workers is more than (75/100) those who continued to go to workplaces (71/100).
The benefits of working from home have caused an impact on so many aspects that it is definitely the best path forward.
We look forward to an increasing number in the years to come.
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