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Envisioning myself lying on the sofa, maybe tucked into bed with the laptop on my lap and hot cup of coffee at my bedside. This is the kind of job I would love to do. I mean, just be a remote worker and live the best of your life.
These were my thoughts back in 2014 when I first came to know about teleworking. At that time, I was working as a full time employee in a Dallas web design company. Tired of 9 to 5 hustles, all I could imagine was comfort, coziness and freedom of work, without being bounded by rules, regulations and policies.
Although, remote working has its perks—for both employer and employee—still, that doesn’t mean that you can be indolent towards your tasks.
Contrary to popular belief, studies show that working from home makes you a better employee and you do twice the work that you would do while working in a traditional office environment.
Certainly, from better productivity to increased gratification, remote work brings betterment to your lifestyle by redefining the way you work. In fact, remote working is no less than a boon for the employees who love to stay at home and are reluctant to go through the hassles of everyday commute.
They deliver their best and emerge as a great resource when they are not being bothered by 9 to 5 struggles.
Here are a few reasons why telecommuting makes you a better resource and how it brings the best out of you.
1. Increased Productivity
Long gone are the days when remote working was deemed as an employee perk. Owing to the cultural and technological development over the last 2 decades; workplace has experienced an immense paradigm shift. Hence, the idea of remote working has been shifted from a rare perk to productivity boost for employees.
In the present era, employees willingly turn towards remote work as they find it one of the best ways to haul out their maximum potential, which enables them to give their best without having any pressure of fitting in.
To prove the efficacy of working remotely, Stanford professor Nicholas Bloom conducted a study in collaboration with a Chinese Travel Company Ctrip. Considering the super expensive office space and strenuous commutes, James Liang, CEO of Ctrip, was willing to give their employees mobile work option. Bloom formulated a quantitative test whereby 500 employees were divided into two groups; half of them continued working at HQ while half of them worked from home. The two-year study showed an astounding boost in productivity of the teleworkers as compared to those who were working at the office. The study proved that telecommuters work a true full shift or even more.
“Ctrip’s Study proved that telecommuters work a true full shift or even more.”
2. Less Commute More Energy
An average person spends 60 to 80 minutes of their precious time commuting. According to a study, people feel stressed due to arduous everyday commutes and two-thirds of employees start hunting another job to ease the commute. By eliminating the amount of time spent every day getting to and from work could result in increased energy levels and productivity.
If the employee has to take an hour-long train ride or they spend half an hour coping with the rush hour traffic, odds are thin of them getting to the work all energetic and ready for the day.
On the contrary, when you work from home, you start fresh with higher morale. Other than that, the reduction of daily travel enables you to save the cost you spend on fares and fuel. So it’s more like hitting two birds with one stone.
3. Reduced Attrition Rate
According to a study, losing a valuable resource could cost the employer over $30,000. While recruiting and training a new employee could cost even more. Flexible working and telecommuting is known to help reduce workforce attrition; eventually, it helps companies save time, money and effort spent on hiring and training procedures.
Ctrip experiment proved that the employees who were working from home were observed with 50% less attrition and fewer sick leaves as compared to those who were working in a traditional workplace setting. Also, the company saved $2,000 by saving the cost on per employee’s office space. All in all, remote work opportunities result in reduced employee turnovers and attrition by 25 to 50%.
4. Improved Health and Happiness
If you compromise on your personal wellbeing, you would never be able to be fully productive and beneficial to your company. Sense of fulfillment is key when it comes to workplace satisfaction. Contrary to popular belief, fulfillment is not only about being paid a hefty amount every month, there is a lot more to it than this.
Believe it or not, people have had enough of the everyday rat-race, they just want to take control of their lives and are eager to find a balance between work and life. Flexible workplace gives them the liberty to prioritize things while maintaining the order of what should be done when as per their convenience.
Teleworking allows you to lead a lifestyle where you are in charge of putting things in order as you can mold schedules. In a nutshell, it allows you to live a life where you can earn well and live well, simultaneously.
“Teleworking enables you to live a life where you can earn well and live well, simultaneously.”
Conclusion
Putting it together, over the past few years, teleworking has gone beyond being just a trend or a privilege. Unsettling the rules of the traditional workplace, it’s been morphed into a norm and a way of life, which is here to stay. From employee retention to decreased attrition and improved personal wellbeing, there are several benefits that remote works allows you to take advantage of.
It’s time for you to start your journey as a remote worker and discover what you’ve been missing out on.