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Canceling the commute, wearing pajamas, and setting your own schedule is the ultimate trifecta of benefits in the remote work world. With your newfound flexibility, you may feel refreshed or ready to take on the next project with a zest and fervor you haven’t found in years.
But ask anyone who works remotely what the best perks are, and you’ll undoubtedly receive these similar answers. It’s almost become a cliche that’s passed through social media and been represented in memes ad nauseam.
Contrary to the pop culture side of remote work, the digital workplace actually has far more benefits than the ubiquitous comfy pants. For both managers and employees alike, remote work can offer advantages that you may never have thought of before.
No commuting means more safety
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, workers spend roughly nine days a year commuting to and from their jobs. But beyond the benefits of time saved and less money spent on car ownership, a lack of a commute results in greater safety.
Over 36,000 deaths occurred in vehicular accidents in 2019, a shocking number that underscores the dangers of driving. With fewer cars on the road and perhaps fewer workers eating, fiddling with the radio, or putting on makeup, worker safety is indirectly on the rise.
Fewer sick days
If you’re a manager or employer, sick employees can set you back exponentially. Now that we’re all experts on infectious diseases, we know the impact that one sick person coming to the office can have on everyone else.
The transfer of sickness or COVID between employees decreases greatly with a work-from-home arrangement. Even if employees are sick, they have the ability to recuperate more quickly. By resting and going to doctor’s appointments on their schedule, employees can return to the workplace well-rested and faster than ever.
Drastic improvements in diversity and inclusion
Creating an inclusive workplace is integral to the success and reputation of modern businesses, and remote work makes this more possible. With remote work, your staff isn’t defined by geographic location; they can work from anywhere in the world. This interconnectedness provides different outlooks and ideas that are essential for overcoming issues or problems. Furthermore, a geographically diverse staff means that you have the potential to have a 24-hour workforce — something that may not have been attainable in traditional office settings.
Inclusion is much more complicated. While remote work doesn’t automatically foster inclusion, it provides all the tools to do so:
- Encouraging participation in online water cooler activities and happy hours
- The ability to have structured and beneficial team-building activities
- Developing employees through online training
- Collaboration and messaging software that provides on-the-fly communication in real time
Through these activities and programs, you can build a system of inclusion that goes hand-in-hand with diversity.
Improvements in morale and confidence
Some old-school companies and managers like to have a certain degree of supervision and micromanagement. It’s what they’ve done in the past, and it seems to have worked. However, many workers may equate over-supervision to a lack of trust. This can have a profound effect on company culture and morale.
In the digital workplace, constant supervision isn’t as possible as it once was and employee productivity can be redefined. Moreover, remote work negates this exponential degree of supervision by putting trust in employees. This is one of the best benefits of remote work. With this injection of trust into the virtual office, employers feel more confident in their abilities through the confidence of management. Improved productivity and boosts in morale are the result.
Cross-departmental collaboration success
Departmentalization is common among mid-sized companies and even some smaller companies. The separation of duties enables workers to focus on their tasks at hand without any outside hindrances. Despite this separation, it can also create problems. It’s a sense of “one hand doesn’t know what the other hand is doing.”
In the remote workforce, your entire team can be on a single platform instead of drowning in online collaboration tools. When information or clarity is required, a quick message allows departments to share guidance and direction, as well as collaborate and get the resources they need.
Necessitating new solutions
Adapt or get left behind. That’s always been the mantra of business. But in traditional office settings, some results may have bred complacency. It’s a somewhat natural phenomenon to continue the same business practices, even in the face of competition and adaptation.
But one benefit of remote work is that lagging behind or indifference toward new industry trends can’t continue. You need new solutions to operational or communication issues.
In this sense, remote work necessitates new solutions to persistent problems. With organizational, collaborative, and project management programs and apps, you have a fix that can be more readily implemented than in an onsite office.
Production through incentivization
Several studies have shown that remote work actually improves productivity. However, the reasons behind this improvement in productivity is theoretical at best. One idea posited is that productivity is directly correlated to the flexibility and use of personal time afforded by working from home. More simply, workers will work faster and harder if they know that the result is more time for family, hobbies, or other interests.
Remote work provides a system of incentivization without management directly starting a program or rewards system for employees. To this degree, working from home is a reward in its own right.
Bringing teams closer together
Perhaps improbably, working from home can bring teams closer and form team chemistry together despite lack of face-to-face interaction or proximity. Instead of passing people in the hall with a nod, communication and collaborative apps allow workers to connect on a formal and informal basis.
Creating interest groups on apps like Slack can further the connection between employees, which leads to camaraderie and cohesion. Bringing teams closer together can also improve inclusion, engagement, morale, and culture. And it’s all by typing a few words or emojis on a keyboard.
Don’t take the small stuff for granted
Working from home is a blessing for most workers, offering flexibility, work-life harmony, and innumerable other benefits of remote work. Even as many workers head back to the office, you can find solace in your pajamas, if you so choose. That’s something you shouldn’t take lightly.
Photo by Daniel Thomas on Unsplash
Canceling the commute, wearing pajamas, and setting your own schedule is the ultimate trifecta of benefits in the remote work world. With your newfound flexibility, you may feel refreshed or ready to take on the next project with a zest and fervor you haven’t found in years.
But ask anyone who works remotely what the best perks are, and you’ll undoubtedly receive these similar answers. It’s almost become a cliche that’s passed through social media and been represented in memes ad nauseam.
Contrary to the pop culture side of remote work, the digital workplace actually has far more benefits than the ubiquitous comfy pants. For both managers and employees alike, remote work can offer advantages that you may never have thought of before.
No commuting means more safety
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, workers spend roughly nine days a year commuting to and from their jobs. But beyond the benefits of time saved and less money spent on car ownership, a lack of a commute results in greater safety.
Over 36,000 deaths occurred in vehicular accidents in 2019, a shocking number that underscores the dangers of driving. With fewer cars on the road and perhaps fewer workers eating, fiddling with the radio, or putting on makeup, worker safety is indirectly on the rise.
Fewer sick days
If you’re a manager or employer, sick employees can set you back exponentially. Now that we’re all experts on infectious diseases, we know the impact that one sick person coming to the office can have on everyone else.
The transfer of sickness or COVID between employees decreases greatly with a work-from-home arrangement. Even if employees are sick, they have the ability to recuperate more quickly. By resting and going to doctor’s appointments on their schedule, employees can return to the workplace well-rested and faster than ever.
Drastic improvements in diversity and inclusion
Creating an inclusive workplace is integral to the success and reputation of modern businesses, and remote work makes this more possible. With remote work, your staff isn’t defined by geographic location; they can work from anywhere in the world. This interconnectedness provides different outlooks and ideas that are essential for overcoming issues or problems. Furthermore, a geographically diverse staff means that you have the potential to have a 24-hour workforce — something that may not have been attainable in traditional office settings.
Inclusion is much more complicated. While remote work doesn’t automatically foster inclusion, it provides all the tools to do so:
- Encouraging participation in online water cooler activities and happy hours
- The ability to have structured and beneficial team-building activities
- Developing employees through online training
- Collaboration and messaging software that provides on-the-fly communication in real time
Through these activities and programs, you can build a system of inclusion that goes hand-in-hand with diversity.
Improvements in morale and confidence
Some old-school companies and managers like to have a certain degree of supervision and micromanagement. It’s what they’ve done in the past, and it seems to have worked. However, many workers may equate over-supervision to a lack of trust. This can have a profound effect on company culture and morale.
In the digital workplace, constant supervision isn’t as possible as it once was and employee productivity can be redefined. Moreover, remote work negates this exponential degree of supervision by putting trust in employees. This is one of the best benefits of remote work. With this injection of trust into the virtual office, employers feel more confident in their abilities through the confidence of management. Improved productivity and boosts in morale are the result.
Cross-departmental collaboration success
Departmentalization is common among mid-sized companies and even some smaller companies. The separation of duties enables workers to focus on their tasks at hand without any outside hindrances. Despite this separation, it can also create problems. It’s a sense of “one hand doesn’t know what the other hand is doing.”
In the remote workforce, your entire team can be on a single platform instead of drowning in online collaboration tools. When information or clarity is required, a quick message allows departments to share guidance and direction, as well as collaborate and get the resources they need.
Necessitating new solutions
Adapt or get left behind. That’s always been the mantra of business. But in traditional office settings, some results may have bred complacency. It’s a somewhat natural phenomenon to continue the same business practices, even in the face of competition and adaptation.
But one benefit of remote work is that lagging behind or indifference toward new industry trends can’t continue. You need new solutions to operational or communication issues.
In this sense, remote work necessitates new solutions to persistent problems. With organizational, collaborative, and project management programs and apps, you have a fix that can be more readily implemented than in an onsite office.
Production through incentivization
Several studies have shown that remote work actually improves productivity. However, the reasons behind this improvement in productivity is theoretical at best. One idea posited is that productivity is directly correlated to the flexibility and use of personal time afforded by working from home. More simply, workers will work faster and harder if they know that the result is more time for family, hobbies, or other interests.
Remote work provides a system of incentivization without management directly starting a program or rewards system for employees. To this degree, working from home is a reward in its own right.
Bringing teams closer together
Perhaps improbably, working from home can bring teams closer and form team chemistry together despite lack of face-to-face interaction or proximity. Instead of passing people in the hall with a nod, communication and collaborative apps allow workers to connect on a formal and informal basis.
Creating interest groups on apps like Slack can further the connection between employees, which leads to camaraderie and cohesion. Bringing teams closer together can also improve inclusion, engagement, morale, and culture. And it’s all by typing a few words or emojis on a keyboard.
Don’t take the small stuff for granted
Working from home is a blessing for most workers, offering flexibility, work-life harmony, and innumerable other benefits of remote work. Even as many workers head back to the office, you can find solace in your pajamas, if you so choose. That’s something you shouldn’t take lightly.
Photo by Daniel Thomas on Unsplash
