2020 will certainly go down as a very difficult year in business history as many are still awaiting their own path to recovery, and others may not be able to open their doors again moving forward. Whilst this does provide an opportunity for new businesses to take their place, the big winners from the difficult year have certainly been the workers as a future in remote working is certainly looking inevitable for many – the remote working approach is something that has been theorised for a number of years but never really approached in a more meaningful way until now, and the benefits are certainly starting to be discovered by many too – but what are some of the biggest benefits for the remote worker?
Reduced carbon footprint – With a renewed and growing focus on protecting the environment, many businesses have become much more aware of what their carbon footprint is and the impact they’re having in their own scale on the environment. Similarly, individual employees may be a little more conscious with their own impact too whilst changing habits to rely on public transport or greener transport in their efforts to get to work – but remote working removes much of the strain here. With lockdowns across the world early in 2020, the climate impacts were noticed almost immediately as air pollution dropped and other forms of pollution from carbon impacts were also changing, with vehicles off the road in a larger scale and offices closed, the environmentally conscious were excited to be offered a way in which they could continue reducing their impact and remote working certainly ticks this box.
Lowered business expenses – Along with the reduced carbon impact of a majority staff changing to a remote working lifestyle, lowered business expenses have also come alongside this too and many businesses that have been able to operate primarily remotely have been able to discover just how much may have been wasted in operating costs for spaces that may not have been entirely necessary – lower energy usage, lower hardware costs for computer systems and furniture, and all of the other operating expenses that come with keeping a place of work open. It has been expected that many businesses will be able to scale back to a smaller and much cheaper space with less requirement for a larger office that can accommodate staff now primarily working from home instead.
Greater applicant access – For new businesses popping up that may be taking the space of those which have unfortunately not been able to make it through the pandemic, or those looking to replace lost staff throughout, there are always many challenges within the hiring process – fortunately remote working can remove much of the stress for not only the businesses looking to hire, but also the applicants who may have otherwise felt restricted by their location or residence being too far away. Remote working closes many of these gaps, applicants can cast a much wider net without location being as much of a concern as the commute is no longer necessary – this can open the door for much more qualified or better suited applicants to apply for jobs that may not otherwise have been able to, and provides the applicants with many more job opportunities at a time where it may be a little more difficult to be willing to travel or attend in person.
Productivity and motivation – One of the big concerns for the shift to remote working often has been whether or not productivity will take a hit for those working remotely and had often been cited as the reason for resistance, but the past year has shown quite the opposite as many businesses are reporting either no change in productivity or in many cases and increase to productivity, alongside a renewed motivation from employees who are reaping the benefits of working remotely. Similarly, it has identified areas in which productivity was being wasted with poor systems or setups that were only needed in a physical office setting and not required for remote working, and as such has allowed businesses to streamline some of their operation which has also helped improve productivity for many too. This will however be a much longer monitoring process, it’s hard to determine too much from a single year of isolated information and as such many will be looking over the next few years to see how productivity has changed with the shift, but as other changes such as a four-day work week have been proposed to go hand in hand with the shift to remote working, there could be bigger benefits yet to be found here too.
Employee satisfaction and benefits – The more widely reported benefit of the change to remote working has certainly been the increased satisfaction offered to employees and the many benefits that come from the shift too – for many working remotely entirely cuts out the daily commute which can be a large portion of the day for some, whilst also allowing a much more flexible approach to working hours with many being able to fit their work around their daily schedule rather than the other way around. This has also cut costs too, less reliance on transport whether private or public, alongside a shift to home comforts has allowed for satisfaction to be found in savings too. Flexibility for many remains a key feature here, however, and different approaches to working are starting to be explored as they become more available – guides found in places such as the Digital Nomad World for example show how work can be achieved remotely whilst travelling and enjoying the sights and surroundings for example, and even some locations have suggested they’ll allow remote workers to stay for a longer period of time and accommodate their needs as the travel and tourism industry struggles and finds ways to accommodate the change that many are experiencing.
(Image from loopcayman.com)
This also comes with a number of benefits for employees too – savings found through reduced requirement in business expenses can be passed on, streamlining processes that reduced productivity can be phased out as they’re discovered, and general quality of life through additional time at home and family time are certainly welcomed by many too. Whilst remote working certainly isn’t for everyone, for many the past year has opened a door to what the future of working could be – whilst there is a lot of pressure by many for a “return to normal”, those holding out on making the change may not be able to hold out for too much longer, as although recovery is being seen from the pandemic there’s still a long way to go yet.
That’s not to say there aren’t also challenges to the change too as many have discovered, oftentimes one of the big barriers has been within infrastructure that hasn’t previously been put in place and the logistics of changing to remote working, and with a small and isolated example of the change only being formed in the past year under certain circumstances it can be difficult to draw too many conclusions from what has been seen until it remains in place for a longer period of time – there will certainly be more challenges to overcome the longer remote working remains in place and as it spreads to different industries.
With that in mind, however, there are many already considered this to be the future of working – with other proposed changes such as a four day working week being explored by some to go hand in hand with the change to remote working, the typical 9-5 or particularly office based job could continue to see a lot of change in the coming year or two, and both the benefits and the shortcomings of the change and how to adapt and work around them will also start to become more clear.
