The Benefits of a Remote Work Arrangement
Written by Olivia Lim, HR Consultant at Melbourne HR.
Remote work. Flexitime. Job share. These are just some of the concepts that have burgeoned in recent years as employers incorporate flexible work arrangements into their everyday operations.
During the pandemic, remote working was a necessity to ensure business survival. Now, as we return to operating in the covid-normal world, remote work has continued to be a preferential working agreement for many businesses. And this isn’t expected to slow down any time soon (read: HR Trends for 2022)
Today, we’ll be examining remote work arrangements – more specifically, its benefits and whether it could be an option for your business.
Keep reading to find:
What is Remote Work?
The Benefits of Remote Work
Is Remote Work Right For Your Workplace? (including a free downloadable checklist)
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What is remote work?
Remote work and work-from-home (WFH) are terms commonly thrown around in the SME space – but what’s the difference between the two?
Remote work is an agreed-upon arrangement for employees in which they are not required to travel to a particular location for work, such as an office, store, or warehouse (Chatterjee, Chaudhuri & Vrontis, 2022). Take the MHR team, for example. We work remotely four days a week, with the exception of weekly team meetings and on-site client visits. Working remotely requires a range of different infrastructure and processes, which is detailed in our blog ‘4 Key Considerations for Flexible Workplace Arrangements.’
Contrastingly, WFH refers to an employee who typically works at a designated workplace separate from their home, but is afforded the opportunity to WFH on particular days for convenience or other reasons. If, for example, an employee does not have any face-to-face meetings, they may decide to WFH for the day. That employee may bring their laptop and other necessities home, which represents a significant change to their routine and pace of work.
In essence, WFH can be regarded as a perk and a temporary work arrangement, whilst remote work is an entirely different approach to getting tasks done.
“Remote work is an agreed-upon arrangement for employees in which they are not required to travel to a particular location for work, such as an office, store, or warehouse.”
The Benefits of Remote Work
Apart from the obvious advantages (goodbye peak hour train and expensive parking!), remote work comes with a range of benefits that influence both employees, and you as the employer.
1.Greater job satisfaction:
The balance between work and leisure is a strong mediator between remote work arrangements and job satisfaction (Wiatr, 2021). This relationship is driven by the assumption that remote work allows for greater flexibility and more autonomy, allowing an employee to meet the needs of their personal and work agendas.
2.Lower levels of workplace stress:
The commute to and from a workplace can contribute to workplace stress. Remote work could not only eliminate travel time, but also reduce stress related to distractions, interruptions from colleagues, and those associated with office politics.
3.Lower absenteeism:
As mentioned above, remote work can contribute to greater levels of job satisfaction. There is a flow-on effect from this, as an employee who feels happier to come to work is less likely to be absent from work. Seems like a no-brainer, right?
4.Increased productivity:
Productivity appears to be the crux of all debates revolving around flexible work arrangements. Will my staff get distracted? How do I measure their productivity? How do I know they’re doing work? The proof is in the pudding, or in this case, the data. In a recent study, forty-five per cent of organisations that permitted remote work reported an increase in wellbeing, whilst a quarter noted an uptick in productivity.
5.Increased ability to attract and retain skilled staff:
Long gone are the notions of employees remaining with one organisation for 10-20-30 years. Job mobility has significantly changed as the job climate changes. This is a result of greater access to education, the creation of jobs, self-employment, and of course, COVID-19.
As of February 2021, only ten per cent of the population had been in their current job for 20 years or longer. The majority of workers lie within the 1-4 year range at thirty-six per cent. It is evident that employees, and usually talented ones, are ready and willing to jump ship to another organisation that offers better working conditions, salaries, or overall fulfilment. Remote work can be seen as a perk and advantage during recruitment time, along with a retention strategy for current employees.
As with anything, remote working also comes with its own set of challenges. Here’s just a few to consider:
Blurred work/life boundaries: In a remote arrangement, an employee’s main workstation is often located at home. This blurring of home-life and work-life can lead to stress for employees, as they are tempted to increase their hours and lose their ability to ‘shut off’. This hurdle can be overcome through scheduled ‘down time’ for employees, and a limitation on communication outside of regular business hours.
Team isolation: One of the main advantages of an office-based role is the social element. Interacting with other people is great for mental health and workplace morale, and careful consideration needs to be made to ensure that despite working remotely, employees still feel included and engaged. Video calls and virtual social activities can help to ease this isolation, along with communication channels like Slack which enable instant chat functions.
Individual Productivity: Some employees may struggle with productivity when working alone and out of the office. It's important to be proactively providing feedback and making WFH dependent upon continued and consistent productivity.
Is Remote Work Right For Your Workplace?
Being aware of the benefits of remote work and how to measure it is just the start. We also need to examine whether remote work is right for your organisation.
To get things started, we have prepared a checklist - have a look at the table below and fill out the right-hand column with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
Download your own copy of this checklist here
If the majority of your answers to these questions are ‘yes’, then it is perhaps worthwhile to look into transitioning into remote work.
The pandemic has dramatically changed how we think about work, and how we operate at work. A remote workforce has both benefits and challenges, and careful consideration is needed before deciding if its right for your business.
Contact Melbourne HR
If you need assistance managing your workforce structure, contact Melbourne HR for a free consultation and quote.
Olivia Lim is a HR Consultant with Melbourne HR
Edited by Nicole Torrington, Marketing Manager at Melbourne HR.