It’s no secret that work-from-home days and telecommuting job opportunities are increasing across the country. Many predict that as new technology continues to infiltrate business, more companies will hop on the telecommuting job train. It is widely believed that there are advantages from financials aspects to collaboration for organizations that encourage telecommuting. From a historical stand point, it may be difficult to understand why exactly telecommuting seems to be the way to go. While there are arguments against the telecommuting trend, below are some organizational benefits that may be surprising.
Photo Credit: Wellness Corp
Telecommuting Advantages:
- A recent CNN article “Benefit of office face time a myth” by Catherin Albison and Shelley Correll points out that office collaboration is actually often ineffective, because people that relate tend to stick together. This gets in the way of diverse collaboration which fosters the greatest levels of innovation. Hence, telecommuter’s interactions can be more innovative when the element of “grouping” is removed from the scenario.
- Employees are typically more loyal when they feel appreciated. Employees typically feel the most appreciated when their needs are being considered. Allowing flexibility for working from home takes employee needs into consideration and makes them feel valued.
- It may sound like a small perk that has nothing to do with money, but for most employees, telecommuting is a huge financial perk. It saves gas money as well as wear and tear on their vehicle. This provides more incentive for the employee to do well at their job so they can keep telecommuting.
- Telecommuting can save business expenses due to less need for big offices or other perks that would otherwise be considered for offices like kitchen space, appliances or even gym access for bigger companies.
- Employees often thrive well when shown trust. Many business leaders point to the trust shown when allowing telecommuting as a reason for high percentages of happy telecommuters.
- Telecommuting eliminates putting “all the eggs in one basket” in regards to operation and technology. Often offices experience server crashes that disable the entire office from working for long periods of time. If employees telecommute, businesses don’t have to worry about the flow of operations being so severely interrupted.
- Companies experimenting with increased flex-time and telecommute options are seeing increased employee retention and attracting more candidates for positions.
- Employees are likely to have less missed days of work when telecommuting. Surveys have found that employees are more likely to continue working at home even when they get sick. These employees would have otherwise not worked. In order to avoid spreading illness they would have stayed home. Similarly, snow days or other weather related causes of missing work become inapplicable.
With technology we are seeing new kinds of thinking about everything, including jobs and business. Staying on top of these changing trends could make a world of difference to your success.
