POST COVID – IS WORK FROM HOME THE FUTURE?

(‘Remember to enjoy the freedom of being able to work from anywhere and the flexibility to adapt your work to your life rather than the other way around’ – Alex Muench)

Remote work became the new normal for global businesses and employers during Covid but going forward how will the work world react.

Over the past few years, remote working has become a way of life for many of us. And since the Covid-19 crisis, it has become the ‘new normal’ for many employees. One day people were working in their offices, the next they were connecting their laptops from home.

The 2020 pandemic forced lots of employees to work from home and collaborate through Zoom. (Zoom was founded in 2011 but came into limelight during Covid times) After months of living without commutes, business clothes or makeup, many workers want to keep it that way.

This article looks at the benefits for the employees and for the organizations in adopting remote work as the norm going forward.

Remote working advantages for employers

The biggest remote working advantages for employers revolve around employee well-being, daily operations, and revenue. Here’s what working home can do for you and your team:

1.   Employee Wellbeing

Employees are the biggest asset of any organization, and a happy, healthy employee helps the organization on its path to success. Working from home has helped the employee become more productive and this has led to an overall improvement in the lifestyle of the employee. Other factors contributing to the wellbeing are:

a)   Less commute time: All of us spend hours getting to and back from work. Wasting time commuting is just one of the downsides of getting to and from work. Other issues are increased levels of stress and anxiety.

b)  Better Work-Life Balance: Working from home also comes with flexible schedules, which means that workers can start and end their day as they choose, as long as their work is complete and leads to strong outcomes. This control over the work schedule is invaluable when it comes to attending to the needs of the family helping to a better work life balance.

2.    Improved hiring

Remote work enables companies to embrace diversity and inclusion by hiring people from different geographic backgrounds and with different perspectives. This is a win-win for both the employees and the organizations. Employees can work from home in the communities where they feel the most comfortable and supported, and companies choose to support diversity, community, and family.

3.   Cost Savings

This can materialize in different ways such as:

a)   Less rentals for office space

b)  Savings on social events

c)   Cutting down on business travel

d)  Movement towards part time workers

Remote working advantages for employees

1.   Better Health

Working from home can lead to better health in a variety of ways:

a)   More time for physical activity

b)  The ability to eat healthier

c)   Can recover from illness or surgery at home

d)  Less exposure to illnesses

2.   Money Savings

Gas, car maintenance, transportation, parking fees, a professional wardrobe, lunches and more can all be reduced or eliminated from the spending entirely. These savings add up and put more money back into the employee’s pocket. It also, in most cases, benefits employers by lowering real estate costs as they choose to live further away, where the land costs are lower.

3.   Flexible Schedules

Another reason people love remote work so much is the flexible schedule. For example, if a child has a doctor's appointment or an exam at school or university, the remote worker can reschedule their work hours around those events.

Which is better, working from home or from the office, its still early to take a call on that, but one of the most dramatic positives of working from home is the impact on the ecological front.

A study in US indicates that the 3.9 million employees who worked from home at least half time before the pandemic, reduced greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of taking more than 600,000 cars off the road for an entire year.

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting limitations on travel and other economic sectors by countries around the globe drastically decreased air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions within just a few weeks.