Covid-19 has disrupted the way we work. Work from Home, which was earlier a human resources experiment for cost cutting and flexibility in work, has now became a new normal. What came as a necessity to deal with unprecedented circumstances is now becoming a preference for modern day worker.
Work from Home is not only a means of enabling physical health and safety, but is also a boon for mental well being.
As per a study by Accenture, 83% of workers reported that they would want to work in a Hybrid work model, which is a combination of both remote and on site.
Recent circumstances have shown and proven that work from home model doesn’t hampers the efficiency and performance of the employees, rather it increases as seen in some cases. The level of flexibility that it provides maintains the work life balance of employees, which has been a core area that Human Resources professionals have been stressing on.
A Flex Job Survey revealed that 68% of the people working remotely had fewer interruption in their work. 63% of the people revealed that they had more focused time. 68% of the remote workers revealed that they had quieter work environment. 66% of the remote workers revealed that they had more comfortable workspace. 55% of the remote workers revealed that they didn’t had to deal with office politics.
1. Cost Cutting
Work from home model has been around since long. Amidst Fortune 500 Companies, one of the early adopter of this model have been AT&T. Since 1991, AT&T has been able to save 550 Million Dollars in cash flow by adapting Work from Home model. This is one of the most tangible benefit that Work from Home model has to offer, by cost cutting of the un necessary office space. This is the reason why many early stage start ups prefer Work from Home model.
2. Diversity and Geography
Work from Home model has given a great level of flexibility to modern day organizations by hiring talent in different geographical regions, without even opening officers in remote lands. This is where diversity comes on board. With Work from home model, organizations are able to hire people from different countries, different cultures, and different back grounds. This not only enables diversity hiring, but also help save bucks for organizations while expanding their operations. Imagine, a country needs to have 2 employees, in different countries, would it be wise to acquire an office space for just 2 people, rather than allowing them to work from home.
3. Leave of absence
Organizations that have adapted Work from Home model, have reported drop in their employees taking leaves for personal reasons. It is evident that by being at home while doing work, employees get all the time to attend their personal chores. It implies that productivity is on rise, and employees are able to dedicate more work hours to their jobs.
‘The role of the office has changed. People aren’t going to go back to five days a week. Offices are going to be hubs of innovation and social interaction.’
– Bhushan Sethi
4. Gender Equality
Work from home model also has an underlying advantage of bringing in the gender equality. Yes it might sound a little weird, but yes this model is doing wonders for gender equality. Usually women employees leave the workforce when they get married or when they have children, in order to give proper attention to family needs. It is expected of them to stay in home and attend to homely chores. But with onset of Work from Home, women workers are returning back to business. With the flexibility of being working from home, women employees are finding the perfect work life balance. They do not need to leave the house, and can work all together without cutting down on family needs. The extent to which gender equality in workplaces has to be stretched, solely depends on the organizations.
5. Long Commute Hours
Long commute hours have now become the thing of past. Employees no longer need to spend hours in transit rail, or shuttle services, to be able to reach their workplaces. This is not only saving the time for employees, but is also giving their a sigh of relief from getting tired while commuting. It has also resulted in people signing in right at the start of their day. Work from home has almost eradicated the concept of coming late.
6. Social Responsibility by Carbon Neutrality
Another social responsibility that Work from Home model is fulfilling the carbon neutrality. Earlier, people used to race through their cars, bikes, and cabs to the office. But with onset of Work from Home, the element of polluting the environment and adding carbon emissions has almost been eradicated. It would be right to say, that Work from Home not only ensures the safety of employees but also of the environment.
7. Becoming Technology First
With adoption of Work from Home model, organizations are also becoming technology first. More adoption of technology, and automated systems is bound to add productivity. It also enables the ease of doing work. Digital transformation of organizations which normally gets ignored, is now taking pace and all the data of organizations are moving from paper files to cloud. It enables employees doing their work from any part of this world with the same access as peers to all the data and information.
9. Mental Health
Depression and anxiety are one of the most encountered problems in the workplaces. It starts with stress and then becomes a nightmare for employees. With Work from Home model, by being between your family, and in your comfort zone, the chances of getting relieved of stress increases exponentially. Happiness index of employees working from home is another indication on how much it keeps them fit mentally. Sometimes office politics could also be lethal to the mental well being of the employees, which again is absent from work from home model.
“Over the past year, no area has undergone more rapid transformation than the way we work. Employee expectations are changing, and we will need to define productivity much more broadly — inclusive of collaboration, learning, and wellbeing. All this needs to be done with flexibility in when, where, and how people work.”
– Satya Nadella
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