COVID-19 forced many companies right across the globe to send their employees back home to work remotely.
Remote working had a huge moment when this happened.
The rush to provide employees with the tools they needed to access work from home was a little bit sudden. But once everyone began to settle in, it quickly started to become apparent to many offices that employees could still be productive and focused when at home instead of the office. In many cases, they were even more productive. Employers everywhere are starting to understand that remote working can actually work well.
For a while now we, as employees, have started to realize that remote working involves a look of benefits, yes, it does have a few downsides such as trouble switching off from work or family distractions, however, many feel that the positive outweigh the negatives.
Let’s have a look below at some of the benefits you could gain:
You will find that a lot of remote jobs also enables you to have flexibility with your schedule. This often means that you can choose your start and finish time, as long as you complete your work and it has good outcomes. This control can be invaluable when it comes to things in your personal life. Even when your glasses prescription is ready to order and they email you saying ‘contact us now’ you can take a break to replay and get it sorted quickly.
Whether it’s organizing medical appointments, running errands, completing the school run, taking a fitness class, or being home for a contractor, it can all be done easily if you work from home.
The average commuting time for just one way is 27minutes, that’s nearly an hour a day just spent getting to and from work, and that time really adds up. Once added together you actually spend around 100 hours on your daily commute every year, 41 hours of that are spent stuck in traffic. Some commuters face the figures been much worst than this too.
The time you spend commuting is just the start of the downsides to going to a place of work. Commuting is associated with high-stress levels and anxiety. Research suggests that each day’s commute can contribute to health issues such as the increased risk of depression, elevated blood sugar, and higher cholesterol.
If you work from home you are able to ditch the daily commute and thus support your physical and mental health. The time you save could allow focusing that time on other areas of your life too, whether it’s getting extra sleep in the morning, allowing yourself more time to prepare a decent breakfast, or going for a morning run, it’s all positive and better than commuting.
One of the top benefits of working from home is the fact that you have access to a wider range of job opportunities, they aren’t limited to location. This can be extremely helpful if you are living in rural locations, small towns, or locations with limited local opportunities.
Having no set location means that you also have the option to travel while you are working. Of course, Covid has put a dampener on that for now, but hopefully, it’ll get better in time. This type of job role is also great for those who need to move frequently, for example, military spouses. They benefit from being able to do their job from anywhere, meaning they don’t need to start over every time they move.
Remote working is also a great way to avoid paying high rent or mortgage, especially for positions such as those in technology as these used to require you to live in a city, but now you can complete it remotely. The only thing you may have to do every now and again is a commute to the office for check-in.
If you work from home you can save a surprising amount of money. You will save with your car, gas, transportation, fuel, parking fees, a professional wardrobe, lunches, and more. They can all be minimized or cut out completely. All these saving only head back into your pocket too.
The savings aren’t just for you as an employee too, as more companies start to enable their employees to work from home, they will start to see long-term savings. Even if employees worked at home part of the time, they would see a difference in overall costs including things such as real estate costs, continuity operations, overheads, and transit subsidies. As more employers start to see the benefits of having their staff work from home, it may be around longer than just the pandemic restrictions.
If you think about the 3.9 million employees that now work from home, they are now only adding to greenhouse gas half the amount of time as before. This is the same as taking 600,000 cars off the road for a whole year. Choosing to use less paper, monitoring the air-con, using energy-efficient lighting, and now using remote work employers are able to dramatically improve the impact working has on the environment.
Remote working also supports a variety of sustainability initiatives, from reduced inequalities and economic growth to climate change, responsible consumption, and sustainable cities. One of the quickest and cheapest ways for employees and employers to reduce their carbon footprint is to reduce the commute to work. The world is actually already seeing the benefit from the move to remote working in this short space of time.
Often when you are working in an office, you are asked to keep your deks clear of personal items and aren’t able to decorate how you like. However, being able to customize your working space could lead to you being more productive. You can choose your own chair, and set up your office exactly how you like to keep you happy at work.
Many employers have been surprised to find that some of their employees have actually been more productive working from home than in a traditional office. In fact, 49% of workers are saying they are able to knuckle down and work far more easily than they are after a long commute to work.
Flexible, remote workers tend to be more loyal and happier workers. Because they are able to work from home, they have lower stress levels, have more time for interests and hobbies, improve their personal relationships, and other things.
In addition to better well-being and health, manager and coworker relationships can also be more positive without the politics or distractions that come with an in-office job. Employers are finding that remote work has a positive impact on employee retention because their employees enjoy the flexibility that comes with being able to work from home.
Remote working can also lead to better health in many ways. There is more time for physical activity, you can eat healthier, recover from illnesses or surgery while still being able to work means less time off, less exposure to illness in the first place, and there is the ease of caring for children.
These are some of the many benefits there are from remote working. There are others too. Have you found any positives of working from home? Please share some of them in the comments below.