According to a study, 87% of the UK’s full-time workforce either already works from home or wishes their employer could give them the freedom to. The US workforce shares similar sentiments as 81% of American employees select remote work as their most sought-after perk.
Provided you’re an employer, there’s a very good chance that the thought of letting your employees work from their home office has crossed your mind. It is equally plausible that, like many employers, you aren’t sure how allowing them to work remotely would benefit your business.
As it happens to be the case, working from home is as beneficial for the employer as it’s for the worker. Here are a few reasons why:
#1: It Lowers Employee Turnover
According to a report, employers who allow their workers to work from home have to deal with a 25% less employee turnover. That’s because working remotely decreases the commute costs which workers have to bear and improve their work-life balance.
#2: It Increases Trust
In the old days of running a business, managers, guided by the belief that only their strict supervision would boost the productivity of their employees, tried to micro-manage their subordinates. What was the time when the employee entered the office building? How long did they take for lunch?
That isn’t the case when you’re managing remote employees. You’re showing them that you trust them to do the right thing even when you aren’t looking over their shoulder. And as research tells us, this trust would increase the productivity and work-engagement of the remote employee.
#3: You would save money
Remember the amount you spent when you ordered phone charging stations for the employees in your office? Or when you ordered air conditioners to regulate the temperature of the whole building? As it turns out, you could have saved all that money that you spent on, say, phone charger stations had you allowed your workers to prepare and file reports from home.
How much money would you end up saving this way? Glad you asked. IBM has revealed that ever since it took the decision to allow remote work, it has saved over $100M.
That shouldn’t come as a surprise given that businesses with over 200 employees spend $27 to $32 per employee per month of office supplies.
#4: Less time wasted in commute
In 2019, an average US worker spent almost 9 days commuting. That means that, on average, American workers lost one hour per week due to traveling. That’s the time the employee should have spent working were they not stuck in the traffic. Don’t you think your business would have been better off had the employee spent this time on work?
#5: Higher Employee Morale
According to a Stanford study that took into account the performance of 500 remote workers for over 2 years, they were more productive and displayed higher morale that their colleagues who were asked to come to the office to perform the exact same work.