There’s no denying the many benefits of working from home for employees. From less accident risk, to fuel savings, to less, stress, the list goes on and on. But what are the benefits of a remote workplace for employers?
The benefits for companies may not be immediately apparent; however, they are many. Here are some:
- Utilities: Imagine, if you will, a company in Phoenix, Arizona in early July cranking the AC for a large office. An average 1,900 square foot house can cost $600 to cool, but an office can be massive, as can their electric bills.
- Lawsuits: Workman’s Compensation claims. Their will always be accidents and injuries at the workplace, no matter where that workplace is. Repetitive stress injuries are real, and they can happen at the home office. But there are many more injuries that can be avoided if employees aren’t sitting in a crowded office all day.
- Time Off: A sick worker often feels obligated to come in to work so he or she can make everyone else sick. This results in a huge loss of productivity. Instead of taking out a huge chunk of the workforce, these employees can work from home instead, thus saving others from exposure, and keeping productivity high.
- Employee Retention: Who wouldn’t be happy to work from home? While there are some people that are really terrible at managing their time, others thrive in a more autonomous setting. In fact, for the most part, at-home employees are often very grateful and they tend to work a little longer. Their appreciation makes them want to work for a given employer, so the turnover rate is much lower.
There are many more benefits to remote companies, but we won’t get into that right now. What I want to emphasize is the fact that people, in general, are resistant to change. Big groups of people (i.e., workplaces) are even more resistant. If there is one good thing that has come from the current pandemic, it is a shift to remote employment. It has been the jump start that many employers needed to get on the remote work train.
Many CEOs of small to medium companies follow the examples set by larger companies. Behemoths like Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter are already leading the charge and setting the example by allowing workers to work from home, either temporarily or permanently.
Of course, not all jobs can be done from a home office; that is obvious. Nobody is going to bring sides of beef home to do meat packing in their garage (at least we hope not). But for the millions of workers that dread hours of traffic, only to arrive at work so they can stare at the clock all day, their is a very bright light at the end of the tunnel.