“Remote work is the Future of work” – Alexis Ohanian
“I want to have a good job, but I also want to have a life.” This sentence sums up one of the most important statements of Millennial and new gen workers. These are the fastest growing groups in the workforce today, which means it’s not a sentiment to take lightly. In fact, it can be argued that younger workers are changing the way we work, based on the current and projections on the future of remote working.
Remote working isn’t a new concept. It’s been around for as long as people have had to travel for work. The recent rise in remote working culture is largely technology-driven, since collaboration via cloud systems is so prevalent. The future of remote work will be dictated by a younger generation of workers intented on working to live instead of living to work.
More than a year has passed since the outburst of Covid’19 where remote working was a lifesaver, and the trend seems to continue in the future too. Lockdowns and travel bans made it impossible for employees to go to their workplaces, and the remote working was the need of the hour.
Why remote working became a need?
Coronavirus made work from home as new normal. Organizations had this as the only option to allow their employees to work from home during the pandemic. A remote working culture brought overwhelming success from employers as well as employees. A higher number of companies shifted to the remote working environment due to the benefits of making their employees work from home. Also, no one knows how long this pandemic is going to stay. But this change of office working to remote working will take place for the industries where it is possible to implement the same.
Remote work has been a success
For Employers
83% Successful
For Employees
71% Successful
Why do organizations want to enbrace the remote working culture for a longer term?
Many remote working trends we’re seeing today are due to the shifting concept of what a “workplace” is. For employees, it’s about having a comfortable place to do their best work. The benefits of remote working for employers is all about keeping costs low and minimizing overhead costs — more employees working remotely means less demand for office space.
The mutual benefits of remote working culture for employees and organizations have spawned several trends. These developments provide valuable insight into where remote work is headed for in the coming years:
- Cost savings – Remote working not only leads to saving of real-estate, infrastructure, and other costs for the employers but also employees can save huge money like car maintenance, parking, formal outfits, lunches, etc. Employers are saving billions of dollars by allowing their employees work from home.
- Enhanced productivity – Remote working helps employees stay away from office politics, and other interruptions. Employees can focus on what matters to them, and it leads to higher productivity levels.
- Work-life balance – Employees have better control over their work hours when they are working from home. Remote working helps to save a lot of their time which otherwise would have been wasted. Employees can also manage their personal life well when they work from home.
- Low stress levels – Employees feel lower anxiety and stress levels and tend to be happier as they can give more time to their family and hobbies. Employees feel more satisfied and have happy relationships.
- No commuting problems – Most of the employees spend more than an hour daily commuting to and fro to their office place. It leads to higher stress and anxiety levels too. In work from home scenario, no commuting is required, and this also helps the employees to get more sleep.
- Global talent pool – When employees work from home, organizations have no restrictions to appoint employees from the same city or place. They have access to a global talent pool and can hire any candidate of their choice. Employees also learn to respect other from different cultures.
- Technological advancement – With remote working culture, organizations are bound to utilize the technologically advanced options for their employees which earlier were not in place. Employees also became sounder in using the latest technology tools and trends. It helpes in improving efficiency and effectiveness of the overall organization.
The pandemic had a long-lasting impact on everything- our habits, working culture, organization’s working styles, etc. More than half of the current population is currently working from home. The transformed working scenario is going to thrive for a long period of time. In the remote working environment, employees are safe and more productive. The organizations also enjoy several benefits and help both employers and employees to focus on what matters most.
“Now that companies have built the framework – and experienced the cost and time savings associated with it – there’s no real reason to turn back.” – Mark Lobosco, VP of Talent Solutions at LinkedIn
