Moving Away From the Office: The Rise of Remote Working
Tags: Remote Working, Outsourcing, Work From Anywhere, Work From Home

Credits: Pexel.com

Remote Working and work-from-home (WFH) are the ‘new normal’. While WFH has been a common practice for many businesses across industries, some are just starting out. Given the current scenario, international health advisory bodies advising on ensuring minimal gathering. Thus remote working would be the sole way of running a business for the time being.

Work-from-home has been a commonplace practice for a long time. What’s new with this way of working is the shift to the Work-from-Anywhere model. Making working practices more flexible, a work-from-anywhere model is similar to remote working. The only condition for such a model to work is the availability of a stable Internet connection, and required hardware. Employees can live and work from where they choose; be it their native hometowns to be close to their families or a town with cheaper living costs.

In fact, as per a Harvard Business Review article, a study found that when call-center employees were shifted to a remote-working model, their productivity increased by an average of 13%.

“Punching in” is now figurative with remote working

According to Global Workforce Analytics, over 4 million employees already worked remotely for at least half of their working days, till 2019. To cope with the current state of lockdown, across industries and countries, remote working becomes the key strategy to ensure business continuity.

Enabled by the rise in sophisticated technologies for collaborations, the need for remote working is pushed ahead due to the need of the hour. Businesses all over the world have latched on to remote working solutions. The main purpose of the adoption of this solution is to keep their businesses alive in some form or the other. To make lives easier for employees, more flexible arrangements have been created.

And just like that, the notion of “punching in” to work for the usual 9-to-5 workdays became a thing of the past.

Technology as a catalyst

“Necessity is the mother of invention.”

Nothing has boosted the concept of remote working as fast as the development in tech has. With high-speed Internet connections available across major locations in the world, remote working is widely accepted and even fully functional. The development of video conferencing, the growth of SaaS, collaboration software, and stronger network security are all central elements in this change.

The Gen Z influence

With Generation Z fully entering the workforce, the need to adopt more flexible ways of working is higher on employee lists. Flexible working has become the hallmark of new age, smaller companies that prove to be more considerate and empathetic towards their workforce. The younger generations of working professionals are tech-savvy and are armed with digital skills. To attract and retain such knowledge workers, flexible or remote working initiatives have already been undertaken by most companies.

How can remote working be a win-win for all?

A business gets to decide whether this is another workplace trend or an economical strategy. The key here is to identify value — value for a business, value for employees and resources required. Only if this value is realized, will a business move to develop remote working as a resource.

Adding to the viability of remote working in times of public health emergencies and natural disasters, the ‘new normal’ has other upsides too. In fact, remote working appears to be equally beneficial for both employees and employers.

Benefits for Employees

With a reliable Internet connection and the right technology, employees value the choice of working remotely. Working from outside the office does not necessarily mean working from home. It could include working from a location of the worker’s choice, given certain hours and project guidelines adhered to.

Makes employees happier

Working from a location that is more convenient than an office space ensures greater comfort for an employee. Stress and anxiety levels remain on an all-time low when a person is in a more familiar place. This not only increases productivity, but also allows an employee to remain dedicated to their responsibilities, and targets.

A work-life balance

Blurring lines between a personal and professional life is one of the downsides of technology. Maintaining a healthier work-life balance is key for a majority of employees. This will be so for the future generations of workforces also. Whether it is to look after aging parents, a new baby or even to spend more time with family — with remote working, employees have the option of maintaining a certain balance between the two.

Time saved is money earned

Remote working cuts out the daily communicating time for employees. This is one of the best perks of remote working. This not only helps staff in both physical and mental efforts, but it also saves daily travel expenses. Staff can easily devote this saved time into their working hours, which in turn accelerates productivity.

Benefits for Employers

From enhancing productivity to reduced turnover and even business continuity, there are several benefits of work from home and remote working even for organizations. All these benefits ultimately help a company to broaden the path of business success in the long term.

Economically driven strategy

A key benefit for the employer is the overall operational expenditure that can be reduced. Fewer people in an office space requires a lesser amount of money spent — reducing a business’ real estate footprint, by allowing for more efficient use of space. With the lesser need for infrastructure and resources, companies can invest more towards the well being of its employees and business development.

Enhanced productivity & reduced attrition

A study from Stanford reveals that working from home increases productivity by 13%, i.e. almost an extra day of output per week. This study also shows another positive side — remote working reduces employee-attrition rates by almost 50%. By allowing staff to work in a homely environment with a flexible schedule increases job satisfaction. As a result, it has the power to boost employee loyalty and reduced attrition.

Change is the only constant

With countries under lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, change was expected. But the change in the style of working may have been transformed forever. While the world waits for the healthcare community to get us all out of the dangers of this disease, the only way to keep businesses going would be to adapt to the change — this ‘new normal’.

Leap, a remote working solution by Maxicus, has been designed to help businesses take a step towards uninterrupted customer service. This software is designed to re-create a BPO-like environment in any Internet-enabled space. With measures taken for data security and quality interactions, Leap is one step ahead in ensuring business security and continuity for your brand.

Remote working may move ‘work’ away from the traditional office space. And this solution is designed to ensure that wherever ‘work’ may move, your brand presence and your customer well being stay put. To find out more about Leap, reach out to us here.

Editor’s Note: Originally published for Maxicus Blog.