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Benefits to the employee
Research has agreed that a remuneration package is not the only important aspect of a new job for 21st century job hunters.
Increasingly, the ability to work flexibly is being valued by modern workers, and it’s not difficult to understand why:
– Working parents can take care of their children without worrying about finding short notice child care
– Employees can feel like they have an improved work-life balance
– Long commutes to work can be taken out of the equation to increase motivation, especially if commuting involves battling through the snow and ice and delayed public transport!
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Benefits to the employer
So, we’ve discussed benefits to employees, what about benefits to the company they’re employed by?
Well, to put it simply, happy employees are productive employees. Workers will also feel secure and motivated by the fact that they are trusted by their managers and are valued members of a team, improving general morale.
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Technology
There is currently so much technology available to make our working lives easier, so why not take advantage of it? Is there really a need for people who work desk jobs to make their lives miserable this winter by trekking through the cold and risk getting stranded or stuck on the road for hours?
Slack is an instant messaging app, useful for connecting to your co-workers and your clients, Skype, and VOIP systems can replace your office phone so you’re always contactable and reachable by your clients.
Embracing the cloud will mean your clients will have peace of mind knowing that you are still able to serve them remotely, meetings don’t have to be cancelled or rearranged!
Blu Sky, like many increasingly digital businesses, have adopted a hosted desktop, allowing all employees to link to their work desktop anywhere, even from halfway across the world! This can be an attractive option for giving employees access to the specialised software needed to do their jobs.
At Blu Sky, working from home is a common occurrence and even a weekly ‘WFH’ day happens for those in the team that like to. A simple update to the rest of the team via slack is enough to keep everyone informed.
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Practicality
So, now you know the benefits of working from home, how exactly do you work from home?
It sounds easy enough; wake up and drag your laptop into bed while you’re still in pyjamas? This is not optimal. Working from home can be done by anyone, but to do it effectively requires some effort and discipline! Below are some tips that can be helpful:
1. Boundaries
Home can be full of distractions, pets, children or other family members wanting attention or time with you. It is important to make them aware that even though you are home, you are working and not ‘available’ to be disturbed. Making others aware of your time boundaries can help with this.
2. Work area
Have a separate work space in your home; a desk is good, a home office is even better. This psychologically removes you from ‘home’ and puts you into work mode. If you don’t have a home office or study, remove yourself from the room you spend most of your leisure time in and work somewhere else. Even going to a local library or coffee shop can be effective! Our team are all given headsets to help with communication and computers or laptops when needed.
3. Break
Don’t overwork yourself by not taking breaks or keeping yourself well fed or well hydrated as you would at the office where breaks are required by law. Temptation can be present when working from home to catch up on lots of work due to the amount of time freed up by a lack of commute, however working long hours without any break or sustenance is not good for the brain and may make you less productive over the course of the day.
4. Routine
Make effort to have ‘a normal work morning’, wake up at a regular time, have breakfast, have some coffee, put some clothes on. Rolling out of bed and straight to the desk is not an optimal strategy for working as it gives you no chance to wake up properly! If you have phone or skype meetings with clients or co-workers it will make you feel more professional to be presentable, even if no one can actually see!
Although many might see working from home as ‘the easy option’, or a “oh you’re working but you’re not really working, right?” type scenario; if you follow the right techniques and adopt the correct discipline, working remotely can be very rewarding and can provide multiple benefits to all parties involved.
Allowing employees the opportunity to work from home can provide valuable efficiency to your business, make your company more attractive to recruiting 21st century workers, boost morale to your employees and team, as well as providing a quality and consistent service to the clients who depend on you.
