What are the benefits of working remotely? Is working remotely mostly about cost savings? No, not at all. Employee retention, enhanced productivity, and staff motivation are just a few advantages of working remotely. Furthermore, remote working extends beyond employees who telecommute (work from home). It includes frontline employees, contract workers, independent contractors, foreign workers, etc.
Furthermore, a remote business may maintain an office presence. One advantage of working remotely is that staff members spend a few days in the office and the remainder of the time at home, allowing for face-to-face communication.
For many of us, working remotely has been the norm for the last few years. For many workers, it has also become the “new normal” after the COVID-19 incident. People would work at their workplaces one day, then connect their laptops from home, use Slack to instant message coworkers, and use Trello to organize their calendars.
The independence of managing their schedules, conducting time-saving remote meetings via the intranet platform, and not having anybody breathing down their neck to verify their work has been seen by freelancers’ office colleagues.
Advantages of Remote Work
1. Freedom and Flexibility
Freedom and flexibility are undoubtedly one of the most highlighted benefits of working remotely. Employees who work remotely value their independence. As long as they work the assigned hours at the appropriate times, individuals may arrange their schedules to accommodate both their professional and personal lives.
It may help to reduce the burden of being able to attend doctor’s visits, watch the kids play basketball, or accompany elderly parents shopping. Additionally, it relieves pressure to blend in with other team members and does not need special authorization. This sort of independence fosters confidence between employers and workers and increases job satisfaction.
2. Better Productivity
Employees are better able to do their tasks when they are not restricted to a certain area. People may be more productive as a result of being able to better accommodate their schedules. Working from home may also encourage a more concentrated and effective workforce by lowering distractions.
Giving workers the resources and tools they need to operate productively from home is crucial. You need to increase employee trust and communication if you want productivity to rise. Standardized feedback, instant messaging, video conferencing, and phone check-ins are some of the tools that businesses may use to assist their staff become more productive and effective.
3. Better Work-Life Balance
The future of remote work is bright as it ensures a better work-life balance. As long as your work is done, a lot of remote jobs allow you to work from home on a flexible schedule that suits you.
If your best work is done at odd hours, having a flexible schedule is ideal. While some individuals function best at night, others get up early to work. Whether you’re an early riser or a night owl, you understand the value of having a flexible schedule for increased productivity.
Having control over your schedule is also quite beneficial when unexpected events arise. When you work from home, it makes it simpler to manage your personal life—whether that be taking care of the laundry, going to the gym, or just taking a break.
However, if you’re not cautious, it might be difficult to distinguish between work and home life. For this reason, remote employers strongly advise their staff to strike a good work-life balance. Retaining equilibrium is a teachable ability and a prerequisite for working remotely.
Even with set work hours, working remotely still gives you access to things that regular office workers cannot, such as power naps, a short hoover at lunch, or even the ability to adjust the temperature in your workspace.
4. Cost Saving
Getting to work might be costly. There are travel expenses, parking fees, lunch, coffee, and snack expenses, birthday cakes, gifts for coworkers, business attire, and so on. Some businesses even provide benefits like wardrobes or refreshment allowances.
Working remotely reduces these costs, which may tally up to a sizable sum. This increases the amount of disposable cash that may be used for other purposes, which is always beneficial. As parents may spend more time at home, remote working can significantly save childcare expenses (but we don’t recommend working with little children nearby).
5. Lower Cost of Living
One of the benefits of working remotely is offers the opportunity of a lower living cost. It’s simpler to avoid paying high rent or a large mortgage when you work remotely. It used to be necessary to relocate to a city with a high cost of living to get a high-paying job. You may now save a significant amount of money without having to live in a city and yet get great pay.
You might use the money you save for vacations, taking care of your family, investing in financial freedom and an early retirement, or just having fun. You may save money in ways other than rent. When you take into account the cost of petrol, maintenance, public transportation, and other expenses, the typical American commuter spends up to $5,000 annually on their daily commute.
Professional clothes are often less necessary, so you don’t need separate wardrobes for work and play. Not to mention the savings on purchased lunches, coffee, and post-work beverages. These costs mount up and significantly increase your take-home pay.
6. Comfortable Work Environment
The flexibility to arrange your office or workplace whatever you choose is one benefit of working remotely. If you’re messy, you don’t have to worry about your coworkers pointing it out. If you’re the person who keeps your workspace immaculate, you can concentrate on your own space.
A lot of individuals work better in their environments. You may arrange your workstation as you want, lock the door if you like, and play music if it inspires you to be creative if you work from home as a freelancer or telecommuter.
7. Lower Environmental Impact
Water quality has improved, air pollution has decreased, and deforestation rates have slowed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and the behavioral changes it caused, such as working from home, lockdowns, and less travel.
The effects of greenhouse gas emissions related to commuting should continue to be repressed. Between 13 and 27 million individuals continue to work from home, which would result in a 70–140 billion-mile annual decrease in commuting and related emissions.
This will be advantageous for our health as well as the environment. In addition to the significant cognitive costs, air pollution has other well-documented negative consequences on morality and health outcomes. By working from home, you’re contributing to a better and healthier planet.
8. Happier And Healthier Life
The future of remote work depends on the quality of life it promises. Employees who work remotely have more freedom and time to make good decisions. The remote workforce often has happy workers since they don’t have to hurry through lunch, travel, or spend a lengthy hour away from family.
Flexible remote workers often get better sleep, feel healthier, and deal with less stress, according to research published in the American Sociological Review. These beneficial impacts were shown to trickle down to the workers’ children, according to a New York Times story on the research.
When parents have a flexible schedule, their kids sleep better and report feeling less stressed. Apart from individual health and happiness, relationships between coworkers and managers are often better when there are no workplace politics and diversions.
9. Less Office Politics
Even if you work remotely, workplace politics are unavoidable. Nonetheless, a lot of remote workers avoid the posturing and gossip that characterize conventional workplaces.
Since good communication is essential to remote teams, remote workers often have excellent communication skills, which lowers the possibility of miscommunication and political posturing. It is one of the best benefits of working remotely.
Challenges Of Remote Works
While there are many benefits of working remotely, there are drawbacks as well. You may get ready for working remotely by researching possible obstacles and creating a strategy to overcome them. The following are some obstacles faced by those who work remotely:
Longer hours: Because their schedules are more flexible, some remote workers may unintentionally put in longer hours. By designating a certain time to log off of your computer, you can make sure you follow your work hours.
Increased workload: Since you’re more productive working remotely than in an office, you could sometimes have an increased workload. You may deal with this by discussing your duties and how to reorganize your priorities to keep your workload reasonable with your management.
Mistakes in communication: There may be misunderstandings when remote workers interact online with colleagues. If this occurs, think about setting up a meeting so you can address the communication problem with the parties directly.
FAQ
Q: What are the things I need to work remotely?
A: All you need is a desktop or laptop, a stable internet connection, a phone, and software recommended by your company.
Q: When working remotely, what should you not do?
A: When working from home, try to minimize distractions. You do not need to always have your emails open, even though you must check them often during the day. Set aside some time to go through your emails. Similarly, social media is more enjoyable and entertaining, which makes it more distracting.
Q: Can I do remote work in a different nation?
A: It is feasible to work remotely for a short while from another nation. Most foreign nations allow you to live within their borders for a certain amount of time if you have the necessary visas and a work permit.