5 Ways Remote Work Benefits Both Employers and Employees

There’s no doubt the COVID-19 pandemic played a major role in the shift of organizations adopting a hybrid approach to their work model. Times have changed in regards to where employees get their workload completed. Nowadays “WFH” is an abbreviation we have all become familiar with. Despite the pandemic and other personal challenges we have faced over the last years, the one thing that remains the same is bringing home the bacon. The question now faced is where will employees be, to get the job done. Both employers and employees that are still adjusting to working remotely may have valid concerns about this hybrid work model. Let’s take a look at the many benefits of hybrid and remote work models and why there are many reasons to celebrate! 

1. Employees Can Work from Home-or Any Location

Fully remote employees have the freedom to work from anywhere- a more affordable city, visiting their parents in their hometown, or relocating for a little while to a more enjoyable climate. Having the ability to work from any location, makes those scenarios more plausible. A study done in 2021 determined one of the major reasons why employees vouched to stay working remotely after the pandemic. It was the ability to move and relocate to a more desirable area. Some reasons participants in the study mentioned they would consider relocating geographically, included:

• Better quality of life
• Lower cost of living
• Different climate 
• Change of scenery 
• Closer to family or friends
• Access to better schools

2. Achieve a Healthier Work-Life Balance

The flexibility of hybrid and remote work models can be positively associated with helping create a healthy work-life balance. This can especially ring true for parents of younger children or mothers that would like to maintain their career after childbirth. According to a 2021 study, employees who claimed they would prefer working remotely, cited the following factors as the top benefits of remote work:

• Improved wellbeing
• Greater flexibility to manage work and home life
• Lack of commute

3. Everyone Saves Financially

Employers and employees both save money tremendously when switching to remote work. Saving on gas and commute costs are the obvious savings. But some other daily costs to consider are spending on buying lunches, purchasing new work attire and those random “feel-good” trips to the store on the way home from work. All of those costs really add up. Employers also highly benefit from the WFH model. They are now able to hire employees in cities with a lower cost of living, without sacrificing talent and skill set. Additionally other huge costs that can be saved are employee training, cleaning services, rent and utility costs.

4. Benefits Are Now More Accessible

Working remotely offers employees a new way to redefine employee benefits. Office lunches and ping-pong tables are cool, but now employers and employees can focus on the benefits that actually matter. A large percentage of corporate leaders have planned to offer an expansion of benefits, focusing more on what their employees think are more beneficial, such as: 

• Mental health support
• A flexible work schedule 
• Child and senior care benefits

Benefits such as those help organizations increase and strengthen employee engagement, attract top-tier talent, and boost employee loyalty. 

5. Make a Positive Impact on Planet Earth

One of the most pressing matters of our time is climate change. Organizations are striving to reduce their carbon footprint and find ways to increase sustainability. If you would like to contribute to a positive change, having employees work remotely is an effective way to achieve that. When employees work from home, their daily commute is now eliminated. This means there will be significantly less carbon emissions polluting the environment. Some other benefits of remote work that should be noted are: the reduction of the use of paper print-outs, water usage, and emissions from commercial buildings. Having employees shift to working remotely can help your business create an eco-friendly impact and eliminate practices that harm the planet.

Even though social distancing and other COVID-19 measures may be a thing of the past, hybrid and remote models are here to stay. The good news is that working remotely has a lot to be excited about. If you would like to learn more about how remote learning can benefit your organization, request a call and one of our product specialists will assist you shortly.