The Impact of Remote Work on Business
Remote work has become the new normal for most companies, but what is the impact of remote work on business? Back in 2019, according to European statistics, only 5.4% of full-time employees worked from home. As expected, that number increased exponentially during the pandemic, leading to approximately 70% of full-time employees working remotely.
It is currently estimated that 16% of global companies work 100% remotely. In comparison, 40% of companies use a hybrid model, while 44% of the companies surveyed work full-time from the office.
Upwork conducted a survey indicating that 61.9% of the companies surveyed were considering adopting remote work or a hybrid model going forward. So, based on the above statistics, we can safely say that remote work/hybrid models are here to stay.
Advantages of Remote Work
There are many advantages to remote working, and with the advances in technology, we were inevitably going to head in this direction anyway. The pandemic just sped things up. SMEs are often far more agile and have adopted the WFH model far more easily than their larger counterparts.
Every business is interested in its bottom line, and remote working or the hybrid model has introduced some interesting questions. For example, do you need the same amount of office space? Do employees require dedicated workstations? The office concept is radically changing. And businesses are reducing the size of their office space or taking advantage of shared office spaces.
Pure remote working has provided many employees with a far better work/life balance, leading to happier and far more productive staff. This is not a new concept, as a 2017 Gallup study showed that employees who worked from home worked on average four more hours per week than if they were office based, were far more engaged, and absenteeism rates were also lower.
Another advantage for businesses is that the employment pool has dramatically increased as companies can employ staff regardless of their location. There has also been an increase in the usage of freelancers, specifically in the tech space.
A significant impact of remote work has forced businesses to relook at how they work. The rapid rise in digital transformation has seen the introduction of automation across the board, and manual processes have been substantially reduced. As a result, workflow processes have become far more streamlined, leading to increased efficiency.
One area that has seen an increased investment is cybersecurity. Historically this was always taken seriously but “neglected” at the same time. Remote working has forced companies to identify gaps, and cybersecurity has become a priority in technology strategies.
Company Culture and the Human Connection
A significant impact of the WFH concept is on company culture and the connections we form with our colleagues. You may be surprised to know that when a group of business leaders were asked about their main concerns, employee productivity wasn’t number one.
Their biggest concern was around maintaining the corporate culture. Culture is often underestimated. But it is crucial to how companies produce results and interact with each other and their customers.
Businesses often underestimate the value of the human connection and its importance, especially with regards to how their employees are doing. Research has shown that as a result, approximately 61% of business leaders have implemented frequent employee check-ins in an attempt to maintain those all-important relationships.
One of the drawbacks to remote working is around the appointment of new staff. Employees who had worked together prior to the pandemic had developed connections and identified with the corporate culture. According to TINYpulse, peer recognition has dropped by 34%, and new appointments are less likely to be aware of company values.
Conclusion
As we said, remote work is here to stay, and if nothing else, it has brought innovation and out-of-the-box thinking along with it. Companies have had to become flexible, and agile and are far more open to new ideas.
The way of work has been changed forever; working environments are continually evolving, providing endless new opportunities. But some things don’t change; for businesses to be successful, they will always need happy, dedicated, and productive staff.