5 Benefits of Telecommuting Both Employees and Employers Can Enjoy
Over recent years, telecommuting has taken the professional world by storm, and due to the many benefits of telecommuting, it looks like it’s here to stay.
What are the benefits of telecommuting?
Telecommuting has numerous benefits. Let’s explore five of them.
1. Flexibility
Telecommuting offers more flexibility than working on-site. Thanks to technology that enables staff to store all shared documents and projects in the cloud, make a phone call from browser windows, conduct virtual meetings, and find customer contacts, among other things, staff can work from anywhere and enjoy a flexible schedule.
This means they can choose to work at times when they’re most productive while having the ability to fit in work-based virtual events, or personal tasks, such as appointments, into their day.
When employees can work flexibly, they benefit from different environments, more social hours, and less day-to-day stress.
When employees are less stressed, team cohesion increases and confer many benefits to employers in terms of work quality and rate.
Speaking of flexibility, many business efficiency resources are available online and faster than ever. With the new Business Features available from Whitepages, you can keep your client lists up to date and export contact details with ease.
2. Reduced costs
Telecommuting is a great cost-saver. For employers, having your entire team telecommute saves money on building rents and utilities, as well as in-office hardware and supplies. You’ll also be able to increase the size of your team without needing to pay for more office space for them to work from.
All of these cost savings mean that you’ll have more money to invest back into your business, for example by buying project management tools, improved computer hardware, or a new business phone system.
For staff, telecommuting saves on rising transport costs as they don’t have to use private or public transport to get to work. Although they’ll still have to pay for utilities, such as Wi-Fi, that they need to use to work from home, staff benefit financially in the long run from home working, particularly if they previously had a long commute.
3. Productivity
A surprising benefit of telecommuting is the rise in employee productivity. When staff are less stressed, in a comfortable environment with fewer distractions, and spend less time commuting, they have more time and energy for productive working.
This benefits employers as their employees complete more work, which is of a higher standard. It also helps employees complete their work more efficiently.
To ensure telecommuting employees are as productive as possible, companies may supply them with the necessary equipment and software, such as video conferencing software or custom dashboard software.
4. Punctuality
When commuting, various things can cause employees to be late for work, including canceled trains, missed buses, broken-down cars, traffic jams, and even adverse weather conditions.
Not only do these things result in employees being late for work, but they also potentially mean missed deadlines. Often, arriving late at work can’t be avoided, but it’s still stressful for staff and awkward for employers with deadlines looming.
If your workday begins by logging into your video call software, your risk of being late for work is much lower.
5. Improved employee retention
In the long term, the benefits of telecommuting build up to create a culture of understanding, flexibility, and team cohesion, resulting in increased employee satisfaction. As a result, employees are more likely to remain with the company that they’re working for.
Also, if an employee needs to relocate for personal reasons, they’ll still be able to remain working for the same employer thanks to telecommuting.
A final word on telecommuting
Telecommuting has many benefits for employers and staff. However, you should know how to properly set up remote workstations before moving to this model. Some considerations should be:
- Remote software access
- Account and password security
- Points of contact
- Productivity expectations
When all of this is in place, you’ll be all set to reap the benefits of telecommuting!
