Remote Workforce Reshaping the Work Environment

“It isn’t effective or productive to force your employees to do anything.” Choice empowers people and makes for a more content workforce. ” -Richard Branson

Remote work refers to professionals who don’t work in a traditional office space. Instead, opt to work remotely from home, abroad, or in a co-working space for productivity, flexibility, and technological progress.

Earlier, remote working was not appreciated much because of the thought that it decreased productivity. But, with the outbreak of a pandemic, the traditional way of working underwent major changes. Social Distancing is the new norm introduced by COVID-19. Thus, companies are resorting to remote workforce solutions. The world’s economy is at stake.

Remote work is now one of the fastest-growing trends in the modern workspace. According to the survey by Airtasker, “remote workers are more productive than office-based counterparts.” “Office workers are unproductive for an average of 37 minutes a day, not including lunch or breaks, whereas remote employees are unproductive for only 27 minutes.”

Today, remote working jobs are not customer service jobs. But, they are in sectors such as IT, medical, health, sales, education, and offshore as well. According to the American Psychological Association, there’s also an increase in job satisfaction while working remotely.

What do Employers Think About a Remote Workforce?

The remote workforce has been a lifeline for many organizations amid pandemic crises. According to the FlexJobs study, ” 15 percent of companies that switched to remote work because of the pandemic found their employees more productive .”

How Does Remote Work Benefit Employers?

Employers are satisfied with remote work for several reasons, such as :

Higher productivity

The remote workforce is more productive than in-house employees. From the comfort of home, employees are more creative, leading to high productivity.

Cost savings

Flexjobs reported that ” employers can save $22,000 per remote worker per year, even if their entire team is not remote.” It reduces the cost of electricity, furniture, infrastructure, the internet, and other employee benefits.

High Retention Rate

According to a Softchoice study, 75% of employees surveyed said: “they would quit their job for one that offered remote work.” Thus, employees begin to enjoy working at home. Moreover, amid the coronavirus, finding new talent is costly, so retaining existing employees is a must. Thus, remote working is the only solution.

What do Employees Think About Remote Working?

According to Citrix, the poll found that “over a third of workers expect their employers to embrace and encourage more remote work.” And approximately 28% plan on looking for a new job that allows remote work. “

Thus, more workers will be seeking remote opportunities in the future.

How Does Remote Work Benefit Employers?

Working from home puts employees in a comfortable position where it is easier to balance work and personal life. Other reasons are :

Flexible Working Hours

People opt for remote work as it offers a flexible lifestyle. One can work according to their availability of time. It doesn’t have to be fixed at 9-5 at job timing. If you are a mother, or student, or have an important task, you can shift your working hours to later or earlier in the day. On August 1, 2010, this entry was published.

Health and Wellness

According to the Royal Society for Public Health in the UK, “remote employees are notably less stressed and have higher morale than their office counterparts”. Also, employees can take care of their eating, sleeping, and physical activities. Moreover, people working from home intend to take fewer leaves.

Thus, healthy and happy employees have a positive attitude toward companies that offer corporate wellness programs as above and feel more committed to their employers.

A New Passion for Work

With the change in the surrounding environment, employees get a new perspective on how to do their jobs. Comfort and a flexible work environment bring more positivity.

This leads to more commitment and dedication towards work.

What is the future of remote working?

Companies around the world are letting their employees work remotely. Other than the coronavirus being the reason, here’s why.

Are Remote Employees Productive?

“To win in the marketplace, you must first win in the workspace.” Dough Conant

As we have already discussed, employers are in favor of a remote workforce as they are more productive than their office counterparts. So why not? As such, with a flexible working environment, employees can manage their work-life balance. Thus, the happier the employee, the more productive he/she is.

Emerging IoT

Workers can connect to their workspace while still at home using emerging smart devices. Thus, the future of work is technology-based, where employers prefer to work with remote developers, workers, or freelancers. Also, AI, ML, and RPA will play a major role in managing remote staff.

Workplace Convenience

The remote workforce is always available. According to the studies, we will see a wide variety of industries embrace the remote workforce concept. Particularly when it comes to automating technologies and hiring decentralized teams of offshore developers. Hence, making it easier for employees to do great things from afar.

The Introduction of Virtual Platforms

Companies are investing in virtual conferencing platforms so that they can remain in contact with their teams. Fast Company predicts that ” remote work software, like virtual reality conferencing, will become the preferred form of communication .”

Companies will continue offering remote work to employees till the full impact of the pandemic is over. And even after that too, According to a Gartner survey, “74% of Chief Financial Officers plan to permanently shift at least 5% of their workforce to remote work.”

A Mercer survey found that in the short term, 76% of companies will continue to allow flexible work, and 43% of companies will continue with remote work.

Thus, instead of resisting the change in the work environment, Organizations should improve their remote work policies.

Implementing a Remote Work Policy

It will help both employees and employers to adopt the changing work culture. Organizations must first make sure their remote workforce is equipped with:

Required Technology

Companies should make sure that their employees have a laptop or tablet to work on at home. Also, companies must invest in a software sponsorship program that lets employees install important software on their devices to use them for business.

Work Status Update System

Next, employees must put in place a stress disciplinary excellence program. Workers at home don’t have a manager to supervise them. There must be regular status updates and a system in place to check their productivity. Rather than monitoring every aspect of their work, As remote work lets employees work flexibly,

Proper Guidelines and Instructions

Finally, you must provide your employees with a clear set of instructions along with the target. Never let your workers wander alone.

However, due to COVID-19, remote working has been adopted by organizations so vigorously. But now it has become a new trend. Not only employees, but employers also begin to like the process. The future of work is remote from the comforts of home.