Working remotely has long been considered a privilege for those working in certain niche sectors only but this has slowly been changing over the years and the trend has only accelerated as a result of not only the pandemic but also as a result of the evolution of the internet and the ease and accessibility that working online provides.
As the effects of the pandemic start to decline, many employers may be wondering if the concept of remote working is here to stay indefinitely. And if so, it has left many business owners questioning how they will accommodate this new way of working into their current business model permanently and if it will be viable for the foreseeable future.
Remote work has been proven to have many advantages that include:
- Less capital investment – companies can rather choose to reallocate the cost of setting up a workspace into improving business processes for example.
- Employers are now seeing the advantages of hiring virtually as it gives them access to qualified candidates on a much broader scale.
- Productivity levels are increased – remote workers have actually proven to be more productive in managing their workloads, due to the increased levels of autonomy and flexibility that remote work offers.
- Greater levels of employee satisfaction and increased employee performance.
- According to recent stats, studies have shown that around 40% of the workforce in the US would take a cut in their salary to be able to work in more flexible conditions. The benefits of remote working extend even further as over a tenth of remote workers would be more willing to stay in their position longer if offered the opportunity to work remotely.
The future of remote work for companies
Recent surveys point to the likelihood of people working remotely from home for an average of five days per month will increase to roughly 70% in 2021 as the trend and benefits of remote work continue to rise. And the number of remote workers as a whole is expected to double this year alone.
Many large corporate companies such as Twitter, Square, and Facebook have implemented a permanent work from home policy in preparation for when the pandemic eventually subsides with the likelihood of many more companies to follow suit.
There are of course a few challenges that will accompany this new way of working that include cybersecurity issues, measuring performance management, and finding meaningful ways to engage with employees virtually as opposed to face to face. But these issues are part and parcel of what it means to adopt this new way of working and with all the tools that we have at our fingertips, this shouldn’t be so difficult to do.
