Is Remote working the future? It should be.

The future of remote work is happening now. Remote working is the new normal but how long will that be the case? If there is one thing that the corporate world should be learning right now, it’s that more consideration should be given towards remote working roles. 

Alright. It’s probably not the biggest lesson for any corporate structure. Yet.

Once everything simmers down a bit though, it should be. If you’ve been working from home these last few weeks and realized how unnecessary it really is to be at your desk at work in order to achieve your goals, you’re not alone. A lot of people are coming to the same conclusion. Our very Earth may well be asking us to think harder about this too. You may have heard of all the improvements that have already taken place environmentally.

Of course, there are a countless number of roles that do require an employee to be at the workplace. Let’s not even start to list them. Highly essential ones too. There are also many important roles where employees will realise during this times do not require that long and sometimes soul-reaping journey into the workplace. There are lots of theories out there about why remote working will die out soon enough. I think it’s only just getting started.

It’s time for organisations to consider the potential benefits of creating remote roles and adjusting roles to make them work from home-friendly. I know there are some disadvantages to organisation of work from home roles but the benefits to both employer and employee are incredible. 

Benefits of remote working

Money saved

Transport costs saved 

For a lot of employees, especially in big cities, the biggest chunk of their salary goes towards commuting. Remote working where possible would mean saving a lot of money, even on a reduced salary.

Food costs saved

Workers would be saving on the inevitable costs of eating away from home everyday.

Lower salary

Companies would be spending far less on salaries as transport costs (or lack thereof) would be accounted for.

No geographical restrictions in hiring process

Money is therefore spent on paying the very best people for the job.

Resulting Diverse employee profile

Due to having a wider candidate pool as per last point, companies will hopefully be employing different kinds of people from all over the world. This is good not just financially but also good for international businesses as they’ll always have employees in the right time zones to deal with various work calls. 

You may also like: WFH when your spouse is around

Time saved

Higher productivity for some

With fewer to no distractions at home for some people, there’s more time available to get some actual work done. Some employees may even argue that working from home means no unnecessary and random team meetings with little structure and therefore also the ability to focus better on the tasks at hand.

No commute 

Apart from the money being saved on often high transport costs, there is also a lot of time saved when long commutes to and from work are cut out. Commutes to and from work can sometimes amount to several hours in total and that’s not counting all the delays and cancellations often experienced using public transport.

Better overall health – I’d say mainly due to the above point 

I’d say that this will largely come from less time spent on crammed public transport and in traffic commuting to and from work. There’s also more time available to dedicate to sorting out any pending medical issues that people neglect while busy with work.

More time to spend with family

This is the most important point in my view. You know how I feel about the family being one of the most important elements of society. The benefits of more time together as a family also lead to more time to cultivate the values and morals that we need to have better and more caring societies.

You may also like: From WFH mom to SAHM

Unless the job requires it, I don’t see any reason why employers shouldn’t use this is an opportunity to look into the current roles to make them more flexible. I do believe that there are many employers who would still choose to go into the workplace even if they didn’t have to because they’re unable to focus at home or aren’t able to get into the work frame of mind at home. I just think we need more options.

Work from home jobs of the future will ideally be abundant and varied in nature. The benefits of remote working are too many to ignore.

What do you think?