Working from home sounds like absolute bliss for employees. No daily commute, traffic jams or inclement weather. You get to do what you do while wearing sweatpants, and get paid for it.
However, persuading your boss to let you work from home is another matter. IBM, which previously embraced remote work, reversed its policy in 2017, with its CEO citing the need for its people to work “shoulder to shoulder” to be successful.
Google allows a limited number of telecommuting jobs (like this one), but the search giant – particularly its senior leaders – aren’t fans of the concept.
Yahoo abolished its work-at-home policy a few years back as well.
Significant performance boost
But while many employers think telecommuting hinders productivity, a Stanford University study says otherwise. Researchers studied Shanghai-based Ctrip, China’s largest travel agency, and found that over a span of nine months, employees who worked from home (and came to the office only once per week) recorded a 13% improvement in performance.
Stanford business professor Nicholas Bloom, who was one of the researchers in the study, noted two reasons for this increase:
- In the office, people have to deal with traffic, take long lunches with co-workers, or leave work early. Telecommuting enables employees to actually work their entire shift.
- The office is an amazingly noisy environment. “There’s a cake in the break room; Bob’s leaving, come join. The World Cup sweepstakes is going. Whatever it is, the office is super-distracting.”
Remote work benefits employers
There’s more: resignations were reduced by 50% when employees were allowed to work from home. “Not only do the employees benefit (by working from home), but the managers benefit because they can spend less of their time painfully advertising, recruiting, training and promoting,” Bloom explained.
Telecommuting also helps with the rent, apparently, because Ctrip saved about $1,900 per work-at-home employee. The remote workers also saved money by not having to spend for fares.
Remote work’s advantages go beyond business. As the workforce stays home to earn a living, expect a reduction in housing costs after offices are converted into condos, which would then help lower rent prices in high-density cities.
Beyond commerce
Did you know that remote work is also really good for the environment? Back in 2007, the U.S. Patent office had about 3,000 employees telecommute for a year. This effort led to:
- $1.8 million of savings in fuel.
- Stopping the release of 9,600 tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
Not bad for a year’s work in pajamas.
If there’s a major disadvantage to working from home, it’s the isolation. Yes, telecommuting lets you participate occasionally in online meetings, but it’s quite different from regularly interacting with people face-to-face. Cabin fever is real.
As a result, some organisations allow their employees to work remotely a couple of days per week. This lets employees enjoy the benefits of working from home, while still seeing their teammates regularly and avoiding isolation at the same time.
But whether you’re a fan of telecommuting or not, what’s certain is that everyone is looking forward to the end of their own workday, after which they can finally unwind – and maybe even wear sweatpants.
Do you have employees working from home yet? We can help fill the roles you need. Schedule a call with us today to find out how.
