With half of the globe now working from home while braving the coronavirus lockdown, many businesses and their employees will be experiencing the reality of remote working for the first time. While there may be some challenges, the good news is that they can be easily overcome and many workers and business leaders may come to realize that this really isn’t a bad way to work. 

It is widely expected that the enforced shift to home working will be an awakening for organizations that had previously dismissed remote working as being impossible, impractical, or not productive. It has quickly become apparent that many roles can be done from home and that for businesses and employees alike, there are some serious benefits on offer.

1. Taking the Commute Out of the Equation

One of the biggest stresses in any working adult’s life is the daily commute to work. Unless you’ve rented the apartment above your office, the chances are you’re used to traveling to your place of work every day. The average commute time in the US is 27 minutes*. This means virtually an hour of each American’s working day isn’t actually spent working. 
If you throw in all the issues you are likely to encounter during a commute such as train delays or traffic jams, even more time is lost to travel. Removing the commute to work reduces the cost of commuting, reduces environmental pollution, and gives the average American worker an extra hour of their day back. 

2. Better Recruitment and Retention

Removing the boundaries of a typical office-based working structure means that as a business, you are able to consider candidates from a much wider pool of talent when hiring. Geography and proximity are no longer a limitation, meaning you can feasibly consider the most skilled applicant, regardless of whether they live in the same city or even country. On top of this, remote working is a much sought-after work option that an increasing percentage of the workforce craves. Providing this option can increase employee job satisfaction and of course, employee retention. 

3. Technology Keeps Us Connected

Technology makes it easy to stay connected, no matter how diffused the team. Thanks to services like ShowMyPC, entire organizations can collaborate and be connected without needing to be physically present in the same room. Presentations can be given digitally with screen shares, meetings can be held remotely with video calls and teams can collaborate on shared files for projects of all sizes with cloud-based systems. 

4. The Reduction in Costs for All

We’ve already mentioned the cost and time savings on offer when the daily commute is taken off the table. No longer needing to buy a train ticket or purchase gas for the journey to work could amount to several hundred dollars left in the worker’s pocket each month.
Smart businesses that embrace remote working will also be able to pile up cash savings. There would be no need to have an office large enough to simultaneously house all of your workforce for example. The bills associated with renting or owning and then maintaining a large office space can be eye-watering. If your team works remotely, a much smaller corporate office, which is cheaper to run, could deliver serious savings each year.

*https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/07/nine-days-road-average-commute-time-reached-new-record-last-year/