Telecommuting means you spend the majority of the time working out of the office.
Employees and teams may work from a home office, from a library, coffee shop, or professional workspace.
8 Benefits Of Telecommuting
More companies are telecommuting these days for a variety of reasons.
In this article, you’ll learn about the benefits of telecommuting and how it improves companies in many ways.
The Basics of Telecommuting
Telecommuting gives employers and their teams the opportunity to work from home both independently and together as a team.
Working remotely is often structured.
Teams communicate through regular emails, phone calls, chat systems like Trello, and video conferencing software.
Companies hold weekly meetings and staff occasionally meet in the office when the need calls for it.
Managers decide how often it’s necessary to conduct in-office meetings.
When telecommuting processes are structured and organized properly teams can benefit in a big way and achieve maximum benefits for the organization.
Here’s how:
1. Increase Productivity
One of the greatest advantages of telecommuting: it increases productivity.
Here’s how telecommuting works with your team’s productivity.
Working away from the office allows staff to focus their concentration on the task at hand without interruptions and distractions that can take place at the water cooler and staff room.
Employees can also be more productive working a schedule that mirrors their preferred lifestyle.
They can begin work before the office opens or work late nights to get more done.
This means they can increase their performance by working away from the office.
Some managers worry that employees will become lackadaisical working from home and fear that they can’t monitor them.
They also hold concerns that staff will ignore policies the company has set in place.
In contrast to this notion, workers tend to be more productive working remotely.
And businesses put out software that can track employees’ workflow. So a manager or director can follow their employees’ work habits away from the office.
2. Flexibility Improves Output
When employees are given flexibility, they can become highly productive by working when they do better.
For instance, some people are more productive in the evening.
Others produce better quality work in the early morning hours.
In this way, telecommuting becomes a tool for staff to give their best performance that they might not be able to achieve during a typical workday at the office.
Telecommuting also helps create a balance between an employee’s work and home life responsibilities.
This can decrease stress which improves workflow.
It’s fairly difficult to produce the kind of work during a stressful time than it is when your mind is clear and relaxed.
3. Enables One to Work More Hours
Some employees spend a considerable amount of time commuting to their jobs.
Especially if their job is located in the city and they reside in a busy suburb.
Imagine cutting down this time and using the extra hours to put it into work.
When you’re working remotely, your commute is removed.
This decreases stress, helps you get to work on time, and put more effort into your workday.
4. Influences Morale
When you or your staff have positive morale, they gain a good attitude and enjoy taking responsibility for their contributions.
Offering this option to staff provides better quality results on projects.
5. Reduces Overhead Costs
Telecommuting enables business owners to cut down on overhead costs.
They won’t need to purchase additional office space for new hires when their team works remotely.
Corporations will also decrease spending money on computers, printers and other machines.
Some people can work from their computers.
Though this isn’t always the case.
It depends on the technological needs of the company.
Another cost that can be reduced is furnishings.
Telecommuting cuts down the need for business owners to have to spend resources on more conference tables, more furniture for lounging, furniture for meeting rooms, and the like.
Money can be saved in making purchases for restroom items such as toilet paper and paper towels as well as coffee, coffee filters, and other items. These items add up at the end of the year.
6. Expands Capacity and Candidate Selection
In an office environment, talent is limited geographically.
The business owner can only hire employees who live in the immediate area.
But with telecommuting, the talent pool is more open.
Someone can be hired that lives in another city who may have more to offer in terms of experience than a local candidate.
7. Increases Employee Retention Rates
When you offer telecommuting at your organization, you can keep your brightest staff members during major life changes.
For instance, if someone purchases a home far from the company, they may choose to look for an employment position close to home.
As employees have children they may need the flexibility to pick their children up from activities when their spouses can’t. Especially when both parents work.
Telecommuting allows parents to make a quick run to pick them up from school. It also saves them money.
They won’t have to hire someone to pick them up.
This option is a viable one for a parent with a growing family.
8. Maximizes Your Time More Efficiently
If you are starting a small business, you probably wear many hats.
Avoiding a commute into the office saves you time when working from home.
You can maximize your time more effectively and get more done.
From drumming up a new business to having online meetings for new hires to putting together advertising campaigns.
Working remotely will help you maximize your time better than it can in person.
You can use technology for video conferencing and training which you can do from the comfort of your home instead of needing to train multiple teams.
Final Thoughts On The Benefits of Telecommuting
As you can see, telecommuting offers major benefits to both business owners and employees.
While it may not be right for every company, it helps many achieve their business goals.