More and more employees are working remotely than ever and according to recent research by 2020, 30% of the workforce will be freelancers or remote workers.

Working from home creates many tangible benefits for employees including avoidance of the daily commute, working hours that suit them and a better work life balance. However, many employers still take the view that employees who are behind their desk in the office are far more productive.

We’ve taken a look at why organisations should consider a remote working policy and have provided 7 great reasons why this could benefit your business.

Less time spent commuting

A reduction in the time spent on a stressful and unpleasant commute is undoubtedly a great benefit for employees, but it could also boost your business too. It is proven that the health and wellbeing of your workforce has a direct link to productivity and a reduction in absenteeism. Whether, it’s an hour bus journey or a half an hour drive through rush hour traffic, this time is forever lost for both employees and businesses. However, when working from home, your employees arrive fresh at their desk and raring to go!

Furthermore, working from home reduces travelling costs, which means your employees are financially better off. The result… a happier, healthier and more motivated workforce!

Employee retention

One of the biggest problems for small business is continuously losing valued employees. Small businesses cannot always compete with large companies when it comes to salary or benefits; therefore, it’s essential that they make the most of the advantages they offer. Whilst endless meetings and outdated workplace practices might keep employees in larger organisations tied firmly to their desks, the agility and entrepreneurial spirit that’s alive in many SME's can offer workers the freedom they crave. Flexible workplace policies can give the flexibility that parents with childcare responsibilities require, whilst other employees could benefit from a significantly enhanced work-life balance. Both of these factors play a critical part in employee retention.

Access to a wider pool of talent

One of the main drivers behind the rise in remote working is the “millennial effect”. Younger generations have grown up knowing that they can communicate cheaply and effectively from any part of the world. Therefore, they expect flexibility in the workplace environment. For young employees, workplace flexibility is one of the major factors that they consider when looking for a new job role. Many surveys have highlighted that this is something that they not only want but actually expect to be there in the first place.

Offering such workplace practices is helping employers to attract young, highly skilled employees that might not have been interested in the role previously. Therefore, by adopting a work remotely approach, employers can hire outside of the normal commuting distance which is highly beneficial in locations or job roles with skill shortages. As an SME you can widen your net and work with the most talented individuals, regardless of where they are located.

Autonomous employees

Giving your employees the opportunity to work from home allows them to operate in a way that best suits them. Everyone has a different perspective on how and when they like to work. Whilst some people might prefer a tidy office environment, others, perhaps those with a more creative slant, might do their best work curled up on the sofa, in an inspiring architectural environment, first thing in the morning or even late at night.

Of course, such a change requires key performance indicators and objectives to be put in place, but within those guidelines your employees will have the freedom and control to provide their best work and reach their full potential.

Cost-effective

It is a well known fact that office space is expensive. If you rent office space then you know that you can claim some of the costs back as part of your capital allowance, however, this will still be one of your biggest fixed costs for the business.

Adopting an approach of doing away with an office altogether might not necessarily be the best for your business; however, by operating a hot-desking policy you can reduce the amount of office space required. Obviously hot-desking is not favourable to all employees, but it does give your employees the freedom to work from home for certain times of the week.

Technology

In the past working from home was a relatively impossible idea. However, with major advancements today in technology, mobile, fast Wi-Fi connections, smartphones, cloud computing, IoT, instant messaging, managing software and VoIP, employees can now communicate and collaborate instantaneously.

There are still employers who think that a remote working practice is a disparate workforce, but given these invaluable tools, that is not the case anymore. Along with implementing the necessary technology, there are also a number of other steps to give your remote employees the very best chance of success.

Productivity

You need to have trust in your employees to allow working from home practices and if you do you can benefit from a significant increase in productivity levels.

According to recent surveys, employees working from home rank their productivity as 7.7/10 in comparison to 6.5/10 for office workers. That’s because they claim that they are not in a loud environment or distracted by colleagues. Furthermore, employees working from home claim that their productivity levels have increased by 13% compared to office based workers.

 

Embracing remote working practices does not mean completely shutting up the office so employees can work remotely five days a week. Research has shown that in the most productive cases for you and your employees, time is split between home and office. Furthermore, it highlighted that employees reaped the rewards that we’ve highlighted from remote working practices.