In March 2020, the fate of humankind changed. Working life, which consists of nearly half our time, has changed dramatically. Most of the businesses turned fully remote working due to COVID-19.
Time has passed, and we experienced a new style of working. Work from home, hybrid working became concepts that we hear all the time. Recently, as vaccines spread, some companies started to return to office.
Still, the number of people working remotely is significantly higher than before the pandemic. Will it always be like that? Is remote working here to stay? Our answer is yes.
In today’s business world, an innovation must be economically sustainable to last long. Both employees and employers should come to an agreement that it is good for both parties.
Research conducted by the Pew Research Center shows that 91% of participants want to continue working as remote workers. Even executives choose to work remotely, even if their preference is not as high as employees. What is the main reason behind their preference? Let’s look at why.
1. No Commute
The necessity to travel to the office every day to work was a big burden for most of the employees. Lockdown forced remote working and showed them it was not a must. Businesses can continue their way even if employees are not physically present at the office.
Commuting was stealing precious time from people’s lives. It may be very stressful for employees working far from their home. Now, employees know that they don’t have to burn their time and money on the roads. They can work from home as effectively as they work from the office.
It would be very hard to convince skilled workers to attend the office full time, instead of working in remote jobs, without the obligation to commute.
2. Environment Friendly
Carbon emission rates are rising daily. The future of our beautiful planet is not looking so good. Every person on the planet must dedicate their resources to overcome this problem.
Remote work showed that it is very environmentally friendly. This OECD report shows that during the start of the remote working era, carbon emissions have dropped drastically. This may not be fully correlated with remote work, but we couldn’t deny that they are related.
Less commutes means less use of transportation. Less use of transportation means less fossil fuel consumption. Airplanes were the biggest source of carbon emissions. With remote working, they dropped as well.
Also, keeping offices alive was an environmental disaster. The energy that is used for office maintenance is significant. Electricity and heating are the main components of this waste.
In remote working, we use much less paper. With this style of working, we are saving trees. If we want to live on this planet for a long time, remote work will help us in that journey.
3. Less Cost
Costs are dropped for both employees and companies. All you need to do to join the remote workforce is to have a computer and an internet connection. It means no commuting cost, no car maintenance, no car insurance, and even less clothing cost. Also, the time you save by working from home can be turned into money in other ways.
Remote working is also profitable for companies. We mentioned that office maintenance is bad for the environment, I should also say that it is bad for your pocket. Electricity, heating, cleaning, drying, security, the list goes on and on.
If a company chose to shut down its office and choose remote working long term, all the costs of the office would stay in the bank account. This money can be used as a bonus for employees, market research, marketing budget, or all the helpful things to improve your business.
4. Increased ROI
Return on investment, known as ROI, is an important factor for companies to choose what to spend their money on. If an action wouldn’t gain more than an investment, it is not good.
With remote working, costs will decrease meanwhile returns will increase. Productivity of employees in remote locations is higher than office working, thanks to flexible working chances. An employee can optimize their performance, rather than working strictly 9-5.
Salary stays the same, and performance increases. Every company is okay with it. The high ROI of remote working makes it feasible.
5. More Activity in the Labor Market
The location of the office was an important factor for skilled labor to choose where they would work. If you want to grow as a company, you need to hire the best employees. In office working days, workers’ expectations were high. To become an attraction point for the best, the location of your office should be really good.
Workers will choose a company located in New York, rather than Mississippi. With remote working, companies located in small cities have a larger playing field than ever before.
Because the place of the office does not matter at all in this remote working era, small companies located in small cities have a higher chance of hiring the brightest than before. There’s no question why human resources are busier than ever!
6. Increased Productivity
Actually, all aspects of remote working can help to increase productivity. No commute means more time and less stress. Less cost means less economic stress.
Better the health of the environment is better for our health. Apart from these obvious points, remote working is a way to increase personal productivity.
With the flexible working that it offers, an individual has a chance to find the best way of working and apply it. If a chief executive trusts its employees and gives them flexibility, and with the help of self-discipline, the sky is the limit in case of productivity.
Conclusion
Don’t forget! If Wall Street thinks a working model is viable and implies it, you should too! We have been experiencing remote working for 2 years, and the business world seems content with how it went.
Both employees and employers agreed that it is feasible and should stay in our lives. In this article, we examined the reasons why, here is a summary:
- Remote working doesn’t require commuting.
- Remote working is good for our planet.
- Remote working costs much less.
- Remote working has a higher ROI than the traditional office working style.
- Smaller companies have more chances to attract more skilled labor.
- Remote working increases the productivity of employees.
For the last time: Is remote working here to stay? YES, IT IS.
It is a widespread fact, then, that remote working has become our new normal and we are sure that it is here to stay for a long time to come.
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