Since the pandemic hit in early 2020, and ‘social distance’ became a buzzword and health necessity, many people have lost their jobs or were given work from home mandates. In both cases, this has led to a lot more people working remotely, which means from your home, or a nearby coffee-shop, but one thing for sure, it wasn’t in an office space. While this was at first looked at with skepticism, after a year of a large number of persons having no other choice but to make working remotely their new normal, there are said to be a few benefits. Here are some reasons that remote work, or working from home, is beneficial and something to be considered for the long term.

Cutting Costs

The first thing to consider a benefit about remote work is that you cut down on money you would’ve spent on transportation or food. When you don’t have to worry about commuting to work 5 days out of the week, or sometimes more, you will save a few dollars here and there. Also imagine an average work day, you have to eat to remain productive, so you buy your lunch. Sometimes even when you don’t plan to, you go along with coworkers and end up buying something you hadn’t planned on. Staying home helps to mitigate that spending because you can always cook a quick meal during your lunch break. Who knows? That extra money saved can be put towards a rainy day, buy you a new tv or something nice for your home.

Increased Productivity

Focusing more on tasks given is a possible benefit of remote work as well. When you are at work, the office is constantly in motion. Whether it’s the person at the desk next to you or someone passing through your office and stopping to chat for a bit, you can constantly be dragged away from your work because of your peers and matters that may pop up randomly around the office. This results in interruptions to productivity which means tasks take longer to get done. When working at home, there are fewer distractions, which might make getting through a set of tasks for the day easier.

Work Hours Flexibility

In addition to focusing more on the tasks at hand, there’s also more flexibility in terms of time. When you have to get to work at a certain time every morning and work for a select amount of hours for the day and then head home, because of commute and distractions at work, you may have to get up earlier, reach home later and take longer to get through tasks. Working from home, or somewhere equally as comfortable, you don’t have to use extra time for commuting, meaning you can sleep in later and then get up and jump right into work. If it’s a case where the work just has to be done for a certain deadline, without being confined to an office, you can do the work in the early hours of the morning, late at night, or whenever you feel most comfortable, which also aids in productivity.

Greater Selection of Options to Choose From

For employers, having a remote working staff can also be a benefit because you have a larger and more diverse pool of potential employees to select from. The reality is, there are only so many people to choose from for a particular post within a town or city. Being able to look for candidates to work remotely means you can expand the radius of your search and come across someone you may not have come across otherwise. With the choices being greater, the possibility of choosing someone perfect for the job is greater, than when having to select from a low in person applicant turn-out.

Disadvantages

It would be unfair to only list the pros without considering the cons and for all its benefits, it’s not to say that remote work is not without its drawbacks. For some, working with other people keeps them motivated. You may be extrinsically motivated, which means that you get your energy and drive from others. When that aspect of the job is removed, you find yourself in a rut, the quality of your work might fall, along with your morale. Zoom meetings can’t fix it all, unfortunately. Human beings are social creatures and it affects some more than others. There may also be the case that some person’s home environments are not the best conditions to work under. Whether you have to take care of their kids who are also at home, or you have loud neighbours or shoddy internet service, a myriad of issues could impact them working comfortably away from the office. You could find themselves just as easily distracted if not more so, which could impact your productivity.

The Bottom Line

In all situations, it is advised to take the good with the bad and weigh the options. If you’re wondering whether working remotely is a good option for you, either as an employer or potential employee, evaluating whether you have good working standards for remote working could be the first step. It is believed that even after the pandemic has died down, remote working could be the new normal.

As more people realize that is an approach to the term working smarter rather than harder, they may gravitate to that version of being employed. With that being the case, it’s wise to consider setting yourself up in preparation for that, if you haven’t already. Ensuring you have suitable internet with a decent space where you can work undisturbed could work to your benefit in the future as an employee. Additionally ensuring that you have up to date systems that are user-friendly may be pertinent as an employer looking to take advantage of the remote working benefits. Once you have things sorted on the home ground, it is then possible to take a deeper look at whether or not remote working is right for you.