Remote work means employees can choose, again within limits set by management, where they will perform their work.
Remote work has been becoming more and more popular in the last few years, and with the COVID-19 pandemic and need for social distancing, remote work policies are on a steep rise, wherever the type of work allows it.
Reading this article, you might also be considering remote work for yourself or your company’s employees. Listed below are the pros and cons of remote work, so you can more easily make the decision on whether remote work is beneficial for you.
Pros Of Remote Work
- Saving Time and money
Transportation to and from work usually takes lots of time, energy, and money; especially if we take rush hour into consideration. Without a doubt, these hours and money can be spent much more productively.
- Higher productivity because of less distractions.
With remote work, employees can avoid many distractions such as unimportant meetings, office gossip, casual phone calls, and interruptions from coworkers.
If there are no supplemental distractions at home, like personal calls, pets, household chores, etc. Work productivity can be dramatically increased with remote work.
- With remote work, the employee can usually also have a more flexible schedule. They can adjust their work to their biological rhythm and level of energy during the day.
- Employees can completely customize their working setup.
Employees can arrange their home workspace as suits them best. These are all big advantages of working remotely.
- Lower carbon footprint
- It’s the new normal
During COVID-19, employees expect their companies to allow them to work remotely, especially if their physical presence is not necessary. Remote work help aid social distancing and also reduces the spread of the virus.
- Employees keep full pay and benefits
- Greater pool of potential talent (almost no geographical limitations) for employers, just waiting to help you achieve your company’s goals, if you can offer great working conditions.
- Remote work assist employees with disabilities
- Less parking spots and office space needed. Many companies that allow remote work save money for parking space, office space, travel cost reimbursements and so on.
The Cons Of Remote Work
- Less suitable for positions that require the use of specialized equipment.
- Fewer networking opportunities for employees
- Heat and electric bills at employees’ homes may increase. Employees usually have some additional costs when working remotely, such as electricity, heating, use of equipment, and so on.
- Some employees could be less productive in this arrangement. Some employees might have challenges with personal time management when out of the office. For employers, it’s recommended to organize time management courses or coaching for such employees to make sure they reach their full productivity potential.
- Some employees may feel overlooked and isolated.
- Harder to build team spirit, peer-to-peer connections and to manage people
- Remote work could create difficulty in scheduling meetings and coordinating projects. Also there could be difficulty to supervise and evaluate work.
