You may have noticed by now that we are big fans of the remote work concept.
As we discussed in the first two articles in this series, giving your employees the option to work remotely is the gift that keeps on giving for both employer and employee.
The option to work remotely is a gift of flexibility for which they will be forever grateful. It reduces the stress and frustration of bad weather traffic, lost vacation or sick time, and much more by offering the option to work outside of the office.
The option to work remotely is also a gift of time, especially when you consider how location independence does much more than reduce their commute time, stress, gas and mileage. It actually adds valuable hours (and even days) to their lives.
And while we’ve shared several examples and hypothetical situations that illustrate how valuable the remote work option is for both the company and the staff, there is one more benefit that we’d like to discuss at this most wonderful time of the year: the gift of family.
Countless studies and research on what really matters at the end of life have proven that the majority of people wish they had worked less and focused more on their family and relationships.
This includes the father who wishes he had been to more of his daughter’s soccer games before she went off to college and then moved to Europe with her French husband.
And the mother who was such a workaholic that she never once picked up her son from school or got to help him with his homework. The mother who retired only to see her son follow in her footsteps and became an extremely busy attorney who only saw her for a few days every year at Christmas.
We’re not trying to depress you…but these studies offer the kind of perspective every working person should realize while they are able to make a difference in their relationships, regardless of who they call family or if they have children.
Our point is that we live in a world that offers many options for office location independence without sacrificing communication, collaboration, productivity in the process. We’ve seen it because we are able to help our clients bridge the communication gap that some fear when going remote.
And this independence has proven to be beneficial for millions who have embraced it.
“It” is the gift of flexibility and time when it matters most: time with your family.
“It” allows parents to work around being there for the holiday plays and the baseball games.
“It” allows parents to be home with their kids when they are home from school (sick, on holidays, and in the summer), and to work around whatever events are planned during those times.
“It” offers relief for those dreading going to the in-laws’ house for the holidays. Especially when they have a great internet connection – you can still plan to be in the office even though you’re down the hall from your in-laws.
Even when you’re traveling and visiting family out of town for the holidays, you can still be somewhat available and not use all of your vacation time simply because you can’t physically step into the office near your home.
We have one more bonus gift to mention: the gift of stress relief. When your employees can work flexible hours and get work done early in the morning (instead of showering, packing lunch, and commuting), they get to avoid stressful situations like shopping on busy nights and weekends. Or driving during rush hour.
Or rushing their work to get done in time to leave the office for the day and then rush to a game, or a play, or a recital at the risk of being late or being forced to miss it altogether.
And with the industry constantly improving these situations (like the brand-new mobile app we are so excited to now be offering CSII Voice customers), it’s only going to get better.
Happy holidays!