Remote work, often known as flexplace, refers to a change in work location away from the traditional office workspace.
Remote work is frequently done from an employee’s home, personal office, or any other preferred location. Working from home may even mean eliminating the need to commute to the office entirely.
Some organizations, known as “fully-remote workplaces,” offer this choice to all of their employees. Outside of being able to hire top talent from all over the world, remote work saves time and money on commuting, as well as helping employees reduce their carbon impact.
There are a few more major benefits and drawbacks of remote work, which we’ll go over in detail in this post.
You must be informed of the benefits and drawbacks of remote work.
Flexplace, or remote work, is becoming a prominent part of the modern workplace, similar to flexi-time (flexible work time), which allows employees to select when to start and end their workday and/or how long to take a break within agreed-upon management restrictions.
It simply means that employees can choose where they will work, according to management’s limitations. Remote work has been becoming more and more common in the last few years, and with the COVID-19 epidemic and demand for social distance, flexplace rules are on a steep increase, wherever the nature of the job allows it.
You might be considering remote work for your company’s employees or even yourself because you’re reading this post. The whole list of benefits and drawbacks of remote work can be found below, so you can make an informed decision about whether remote work is right for you.
We’ll go over the primary benefits and drawbacks in detail in the following sections, as well as a few key points of guidance and some recommendations on how to avoid any traps.
Remote work has a number of benefits
- Greater pool of prospective talent (virtually no geographical limits) for businesses
- Employees keep full salaries and benefits
- Employees (and employers) save commuting time and costs
- Employee productivity can be increased with more autonomy and fewer office interruptions.
- Employees have complete control over their working environment.
- Employees with disabilities may be aided.
- The company’s business hours may be extended.
- There is less need for parking and office space.
- Reduce carbon footprint
Remote work’s drawbacks
- Positions that necessitate the use of specialist equipment are less suited.
- Employees will have less opportunities to network.
- Employees’ home heating and power expenditures may rise.
- In this setup, certain employees may be less productive.
- It’s possible that some employees feel disregarded and alienated.
- It’s more difficult to foster teamwork, peer-to-peer relationships, and manage people.
- Meetings and project coordination may be challenging to schedule.
- Managing and evaluating work is more complicated (and also more difficult remote work monitoring)
Main Benefits of Remote Work
Saving time and money while also becoming more environmentally friendly
Commuting usually takes lots of time, energy and money; especially if we take rush hour into consideration. Without a doubt, these hours and monies could be better spent.
Commuting is also bad for the environment, especially when employees drive alone in their personal vehicles. The basic line is that remote work can save hundreds of hours and dollars per year, as well as lessen our carbon footprint.
Employees do, however, incur additional costs when working remotely, such as power, heating, and equipment use, among other things.
Many organizations that allow remote work and so save on office space, parking, travel costs, and so on, cover a portion of these additional expenditures when their employees work from home.
Employers and employees should find a way to split the expense, according to the helpful advice.
Higher productivity because of less distractions
Employees can avoid several distractions with remote work, such as unimportant meetings, office gossip, informal phone calls, and coworker interruptions. Work productivity can be substantially boosted with remote work if there are no extra distractions at home, such as personal calls, pets, or household tasks (more on that later).
Employees that work remotely frequently have a more flexible schedule. During the day, they can tailor their work to their biological rhythm and level of energy.
Employees can also set up their workstation at home in the way that best suits them. These are just a few of the many benefits of working from home.
However, when away from the office, some employees may struggle with personal time management. For companies, it’s recommended to organize time management classes or coaching for such personnel to make sure they realize their full productivity potential.
The New Normal
Employees anticipate their employers to allow remote work during COVID-19, especially if their physical attendance is not required. Employers are increasingly looking for modern and employee-friendly workplaces that offer flexible time and space regulations.
A flexible time and space policy allows you to attract or seek better talent with nearly no geographical restrictions. And if you can provide fantastic working conditions and a terrific environment, there is talent all over the place, just waiting to assist you in achieving your company’s objectives.
Main Drawbacks of Remote Work
Teamwork and leadership can be a little more difficult at times
Some adaptations and the development of new abilities are required when starting to perform remote work. Employees must learn to interact online and conduct productive online meetings, as well as cooperate with colleagues remotely and use a variety of IT technologies.
Although the shift might be difficult, new skills are always welcome and are a catalyst for personal and organizational growth.
Leading a remote team can be a little more difficult as well. There can be a perception of lack of control and it can be slightly difficult to establish team spirit. The following are the two most important remote work tips for leaders:
- Go from being a time-based leader to becoming a results-based leader
- Promote a sense of belonging in a creative way.
- More information can be found here. All of the top leadership techniques make the difference between being a mediocre or outstanding leader when it comes to remote leadership.
As a result, remote leaders must spend even more time honing their leadership skills, which benefits everyone.
Isolation feelings
We are all social beings, whether we’re talking about employees or bosses, and we can’t survive without human interaction. Isolation is one of the major factors for sadness and lack of productivity.
Make sure you as a remote worker, or your remote work employees if you are an employer, don’t feel lonely in a remote work arrangement. Here are a few key points to keep in mind when working remotely to avoid feelings of isolation:
- Work from home and at the office at the same time.
- When conversing online, use your camera.
- Make use of traditional methods of communication (phone, etc.).
- Collect information, organize (virtual) gatherings and team-building activities, and so on
- When you first start working, check-in.
- Remember anniversaries, arrange casual work gatherings
Bottomline
If you are considering integrating remote work in your firm for the first time, you should ask yourself some key questions regarding the prospects of remote work in your field of business.
They can assist you define the ground rules and general policy for remote work, and make sure you neutralize all the potential traps and drawbacks of remote work.
Below is a list of those who have been selected:
- How, where, and when will work activities be carried out?
- How much time will you spend at the workplace and when will you be there?
- Is there a way to keep track of work hours?
- What will happen to meetings and joint projects?
- How will we keep workplace communication at a high level?
- What technical support and equipment is needed and who will offer it?
- What firm networks and data should be accessible from afar?
- What methods will be used to monitor and assess the arrangement?
As you can see, establishing how to keep track of time and attendance no matter where you are and how work hours will be logged is a crucial component of remote work.
