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  • October 30, 2019

The Benefits of Letting Your Staff Work from Home

You’ve probably read plenty of statistics about how many more people are working from home at least some of the time. You might have heard of employees turning down work because they need to be able to work remotely. You might have even lost talented staff yourself because you haven’t been able to offer them the flexibility that they need.

Working from home has clear benefits to employees, but what about the benefits to business owners? There are plenty! Here are some of the ways that letting your staff work from home could benefit you and your business.

Less Time Spent Commuting

Commuting can be an awful thing. Few people enjoy it. Most see it as a waste of their time, adding unnecessary hours to their working day. After a particular tough commute, your employees might turn up to work grumpy and annoyed, bringing the mood in the office down and reducing productivity.

Let your team work from home, and they’ll spend less time commuting, which means that they’ve got more time to work. Less time on the roads also has environmental advantages.

They’ll Be Free to Work Without Worrying About Other Responsibilities

More people than ever before are working around other commitments. You might employ mothers, who have chosen to return to work, but whose young children will always be the priority. They might be working while another family member, or professional childminder takes care of their children. This might mean that they are always worried about what is going home and wondering if they will make it back in time to collect the kids. They might struggle to give work their full attention.

When they work from home, they can work more freely around their other responsibilities and the needs of their family. They’ll still have distractions, but they’ll be able to work around them in their own way.

They’ll Take Less Time off Sick

If you have a terrible cold, the idea of an hour commute, followed by eight hours in a hot, stuffy office, surrounded by people, is enough to make you phone in sick. When you work from home, you can struggle through working on the sofa under a blanket with a constant supply of remedies and hot drinks. People are less likely to take a sick day if they can work from home in comfort.

Or to Look After Other People

They are also less likely to take time off to look after ill children or other relatives. They might have to work less, but most of the time, they’ll still be able to get things done. Most schools and childcare providers have strict rules about attending with illness. Any parents that you employ might be forced to take a day off if their children are even mildly ill, and they won’t be able to give you much notice. If they can work from home, they can tuck their children up in bed and keep one eye on them while they work.

People That Work from Home Are More Productive

Most people that work from home, work more productively. They are more creative. They can work at the times of the day when they are most alert, take breaks when they need to, and surround themselves with things that they find helpful and inspiring. You’ll still be able to check-in and set goals, but trusting them to work unsupervised can also give them a big confidence boost, increasing productivity further.

Allowing Remote Working Doesn’t Have to Be Difficult or Disruptive

Some businesses can’t offer their employees remote working conditions. Or at least not very much. If you run a restaurant, you couldn’t have your wait staff do a shift from their house. But, you might be able to let managers do admin tasks from home without too much disruption.

But, most businesses can easily offer remote working opportunities. Use vpnprograms.com to find the right virtual private network so that you can share your office network outside of the office. Use the internet, and video calls to make communication easy, and the cloud to make sure work is easy to access between employees and locations.

It Will Increase Loyalty

If you let people work from home, around their commitments, and in their own way, they’ll be happier. They’ll enjoy working for you, and they won’t want to leave. Even if a higher paying job came up, they’d be more likely to stay with you if the better-paid job didn’t offer the same arrangement.

These loyal staff will stick with you. They’ll tell people they know how great an employer you are, and you’ll start to build a reputation as a great business.

It Allows You to Offer Greater Flexibility

One of the main reasons that people leave jobs that they enjoy and are good at is a need for greater flexibility. When we let our staff work from home, we don’t just give them the chance to work where they want to. We also allow them to have more freedom over when they work and for how long for. This kind of flexibility is highly sought-after and something that will get you noticed.

You Won’t Spend as Much on Space or Supplies

If your team work from home, at least some of the time, there’ll never be as many people in your office. You won’t need as many desks or areas, and you might be able to spend much less by hiring a considerably smaller office.

The staff members that work from home will mainly use their own supplies too. You won’t need to buy as many basic office supplies or as much tea and coffee as they’ll be at home drinking their own.

You Can Work from Home Too

You can’t really work from home yourself unless you let your staff do the same. It would be massively unfair and could make you rather unpopular. Let your team work from home, and you’ll sometimes be able to do the same. Reaping even more advantages for yourself.

A pretty interesting post, huh?

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