We might have mentioned once or twice how beneficial it is to embrace the remote work culture…
A few of our recent articles have explained why offering a virtual work option to employees, whether occasionally or full-time, increases morale and decreases overhead.
Our social media pages are filled with case studies, data and research that demonstrate the value and rewards of being open to a staff that is set up for telecommuting.
We could go on and on.
But the facts speak for themselves: the workforce is changing and mobile, and companies need to be ready to accept the fact that the workforce of today is seeking the remote work option with every job prospect.
What is an “option” today is quickly becoming more of an expectation, as a new generation of talent is emerging into the workforce with the best knowledge of what a mobile and cloud-based career looks like.
Business owners who want to be hiring the best, most capable and tech-savvy talent can no longer deny the truth of the matter: today’s best job candidates not only know and desire careers that provide flexibility and occasional location independence – they are starting to expect it.
You should too, but fear not. The benefits of this switch are becoming more and more clear.
Here’s some proof:
In this study, Nicholas Bloom and graduate student James Liang, who is also a cofounder of the Chinese travel website Ctrip, gave the staff at Ctrip’s call center the opportunity to volunteer to work from home for nine months. Half the volunteers were allowed to telecommute; the rest remained in the office as a control group.
The results?
“What we saw at Ctrip blew me away. Ctrip was thinking that it could save money on space and furniture if people worked from home and that the savings would outweigh the productivity hit it would take when employees left the discipline of the office environment. Instead, we found that people working from home completed 13.5% more calls than the staff in the office did—meaning that Ctrip got almost an extra workday a week out of them. They also quit at half the rate of people in the office—way beyond what we anticipated. And predictably, at-home workers reported much higher job satisfaction.”
Even better proof can be found in this post by Help Scout, which explains the following:
Richard Branson says that one day, offices “will be a thing of the past,” but is there really that strong of a case to be made for remote work? There have certainly been a few big headlines on the subject: Remote workers tend to log more hours. Virtual teams are actually more engaged.
A study from MIT Sloan was able to show that, “Dispersed teams can actually outperform groups that are colocated,” if the right sort of collaboration is in place. In addition, a more general case for virtual teams comes from a 2009 study by Cisco, which surveyed 2000 employees. Here are some of its findings: “Approximately 69 percent of the employees surveyed cited higher productivity when working remote, and 75 percent of those surveyed said the timeliness of their work improved.”
If you’ve read the sources and still aren’t convinced to make the leap, why not try it for yourself or one employee to test the waters? Companies like ours have so many ways to help you ensure that you are just as available in and in touch as if you were in the office, but without the many distractions, gossip and frustrations that come with it.
Stay tuned and we’ll show you some of the best ways we can help, like the amazing new mobile app that magically transforms your phone into your own personal receptionist with the greatest of ease.
We can’t wait to show you how.