Why Organizations Should Consider A Primarily Remote Workforce Going Forward

(Originally posted on LinkedIn)

Covid-19 has forced the majority of employers to adopt remote work capabilities for their employees. For some, this wasn't a drastic change, while others had a large learning curve because they hadn't engaged in remote work historically. Many organizations are seeing that their employees are just as productive, if not more productive, as they were when on-site and they are now reevaluating their remote work policies.

Productivity

One concern that is common when speaking to organizations about remote work is productivity. In reality, productivity increase is a byproduct of remote work because of the lack of interruptions and in-office communication. Studies show that remote workers spend 4% more time on their core work while seeing an 18% decrease in time spent on communication compared to in-office workers. Over a full year, remote workers will, on average, spend 58 more hours on their core work and spend 258 fewer hours on communication. This is all achieved while working the same amount of total time as the average office worker.

Collaboration

Having a highly collaborative team that is always informed is important at any organization. The common ways that in-office workers collaborate is by holding team meetings, one on ones, or just walking to your colleague’s desk. It's often thought that remote work will hinder this highly collaborative approach causing errors to be made and/or things to be missed. With the technology available today, this is just not the case. The same meetings can be held at a video conference while colleagues can just message each other for instant results. Beyond just the ways you can collaborate, organizations are finding that the communication that is taking place is more effective. There are fewer "water cooler" conversations and more focused conversations. This results in fewer distractions and less time wasted.

Work/Life Balance

The balance between work and life is difficult for anyone looking to excel in their role. With the current state of Covid and all too common hiring freezes, many employees are finding themselves doing extra work every day which impacts that balance. When working in an office, you have to accommodate for an additional hour round trip commute for the average person. That is one less hour that someone working from home has with their families or focusing on that project that is due. Because of in-office distractions, additional meetings, and additional communication, 60% of office workers say they work more than eight hours per day compared to just 39% of remote workers. Even though remote workers do not need to extend their workday as often as in-office workers do, they are 20% more likely to say they complete all of their daily tasks. This allows them to feel more accomplished and enjoy the life part of the work/life balance.

Financial Impact

As an employer, you are responsible for a long list of expenses associated with running the day to day operations at your organization. These can include wages, supplies, taxes, rent/mortgage, consulting fees, vendor fees, infrastructure, insurance, and many more. In-office workers compared to remote workers require a significantly larger investment. A few examples of costs that are often associated with in-office workers that aren't with remote workers are higher wages, parking, internet, electricity, office supplies, real estate/office space, security, cleaning, coffee, restrooms, etc. These all add up to be a drastically larger investment financially compared to a remote worker. In some cases, the in-office worker costs might be worth it. When you are considering these costs for a team of 10, 20, 50, or more, these additional costs could be reallocated to bring on multiple additional resources and get more work done for the same cost.

From productivity increases to more effective communication, greater work/life balance for your employees, and a smaller financial impact on the business, it is hard to dispute the benefits of a remote workforce. These results may not be the same in every industry or at every organization but, if you are seeing similar results during Covid, it is likely time for your organization to start strategizing on your future remote workforce.