Remote work has become the norm ever since the pandemic began. Many companies have seen its advantages, so it’s not surprising to see corporations planning to integrate remote work permanently. But what are the pros and cons? Read on to find out.
As companies have seen the positive effects of remote work on employee productivity and efficiency, many organizations worldwide plan to embrace remote permanently. They have seen that this setup gave their employees a better chance to balance their career and personal life. Plus, it saves them a lot of money.
But before you let go of the traditional work setup, it’s essential to know the advantages and disadvantages of remote work and how it will affect your company.
Remote Work Advantages
Better Work-life Balance
With remote work, employees no longer need to spend hours commuting to work, which gives them more time to spend with their loved ones or start a hobby. It also provides them free time and enough rest to focus more on work and perform excellently. Many employers have seen that remote work has increased employee productivity and efficiency as they balance life and work.
Freedom
Traditional employees are expected to stay in the office to work for about 8 to 9 hours a day, five days a week. They do not have the freedom to run for a quick errand or take a long nap because they can’t focus properly on work. In general, employees do these things only after getting out of the office.
However, remote employees have more freedom, especially those with flexible work. They can create their schedule and work on their preferred hours or time of the day. As long as they fulfill their tasks and do their jobs excellently, remote work simultaneously benefits them and the company.
Improved Work Experience
Remote work can give employees brand new work experience, especially if you provide virtual collaboration training to help them bring out the best in the team. Programs like this help employees stay productive despite the changes in their work routine and build up their skills to become more productive while working remotely.
Through this, they are given a chance to create a culture of efficiency and high performance where employees are genuinely interested in improving themselves.
Decreased Business Costs
Implementing remote work means employees don’t have to come to the office every day. In other words, you don’t have to buy desks, chairs, and equipment to support their needs. Furthermore, you also don’t need to rent an enormous office anymore to accommodate hundreds of employees, which reduces the cost of your rent. Research shows that employers can save as much as $2000 for every employee that works remotely.
Increases Employee Productivity
Commuting to work can leave an employee drained and exhausted. This then affects their mood for the day and how they do their job. On the contrary, remote employees start their days positively because they don’t experience morning traffic.
In addition, working from home eliminates excessive lunch and coffee breaks, which gives them more time to focus on their job, leading to increased productivity.
Remote Work Disadvantages
No Face to Face Interaction
It can be pretty challenging for remote teams to work together without face-to-face meetings. Most managers worry that their employees might not work as efficiently when working in the office. On top of that, some employees may struggle without support and guidance from managers.
Lack of Information
Due to the lack of a proper onboarding process, new employees may struggle to find the correct information related to their work responsibilities. Overall, most employees spend at least 30% of their day finding information. With remote work, it gets incredibly harder to have access to information, and as a result, their performance gets affected.
Decreased Collaboration
Since employees work remotely, they do not spend some time talking about personal matters with their colleagues. This then results in decreased collaboration because they couldn’t build the confidence they need to communicate with each other.
As you can see, while coffee breaks and lunch outs with colleagues may seem irrelevant to their work, these things help them improve communication and coordination on a deeper level.
Isolation and Loneliness
Let’s get one thing straight; Not all employees have families at home to spend time with. Some even prefer on-site work because that’s the only time they can interact with actual humans. Sadly, remote work tends to increase loneliness and isolation, causing some employees to develop depression.
In summary, remote work comes with several pros and cons. If you’re planning to encourage your employees to start working remotely, make sure they are well-equipped for the dramatic change. Ask if it’s an option that will make them work better or prefer to work in the office instead. Remember that employees have different preferences, try to work with them carefully so you both can agree on something that benefits you and your staff at the same time.
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