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In spite of a quiet growth in popularity over the last decade or so, remote work really had its big moment with the onset of Covid-19 and the introduction of social distancing. Since everybody was mandated to stay apart, and therefore had to embrace the idea of remote work, which meant simply working from home. After years of following the mantra that for workers to be efficient, they need to go to work, it was as if everyone could suddenly see that the emperor has no clothes. And turns out that employees can be both productive and focused, even when working from home. In fact, it's been noted that productivity saw a huge increase when people were out of the office. Slowly but surely, the thinking behind remote work has changed.
Today many workers and employees are by definition millennials. As you know, millennials have a different view of work and tend to focus a great deal on finding the best work-life balance. With remote work, many employees are able to control their own work schedule, which allows them time to live their personal lives. It doesn't matter whether you are dropping the kids off at school or going to an online fitness class in the afternoon, all these tasks become easier if you're based at home
When you think about it, commuting is such an enormous waste of time as well as a huge waste of energy and resources. In the US, the average commute is 27 minutes, which means that nearly an hour is spent toing and froing to work. On the whole, commuters spend around 41 hours stuck in traffic and over 100 hours commuting each year. Of course, that's just the average, as many communities around the world face commuting times of much longer, with many suffering one-and-a-half hours each way.
Not only is commuting a champion waste of time, but it also increases both stress and anxiety. It's been shown that even a 10 mile commute each working day will produce some very negative health issues. One of the biggest ones being the onset and increasing possibility of depression. It's very difficult if you have an 8-hour working day along with an hour commute, to be able to fulfill your normal daily life and especially stay to be healthy
It makes sense that in the age of the internet, we are not dependent on living within commuting distance of where we work. If you have chosen to live the quiet life in a rural community or a small town, then the job opportunities there are going to be pretty limited. But thanks to the internet, and the possibilities of working remotely, then many city employment options become available. It's interesting to note that over the last 5 years or so the term “digital nomad” has become de rigueur. The idea that travelling with your laptop and finding freelance work, whilst at the same time enjoying different things, is being taken up more and more, especially by younger people with less responsibilities. On the whole, cities tend to be much more expensive to live in, especially if you count rent. By being able to live anywhere and work from any location with a Wi-Fi connection, means that employees are able to save money through both cheaper living and not having the awful daily commute.
Being able to employ anybody who has an internet connection from anywhere in the world will allow companies to be more inclusive by embracing diversity, and also having people from different geographic and cultural backgrounds. In fact, having people with different perspectives can be a useful benefit for any business.
It's a proven fact that remote workers are able to save around $5,000 a year simply by working from home. The lack of the commute, car maintenance, public transportation, parking fees, gas money and lunches bought out during the lunch break, allow many workers to save for the first time in their working lives. With so many people living hand to mouth, this is a great opportunity for everyone to be able to finally have a possibility to embrace the lifestyle they seek. But it's not just the employees who benefit. It's a massive benefit to the economy. The latest estimate is that during the Covid-19 pandemic, US employers have managed to save a staggering $30 billion every single day by simply allowing their employees to work remotely from home.
In the US, by not commuting, you are essentially removing 600,000 cars from the road for an entire year. Just think of the greenhouse gases that are saved from being produced. This lack of cars saves 2/3 million tons of greenhouse gas that are avoided, along with oil savings of over $1 billion. Looked at in these terms, it's hard to deny that remote work isn't the most environmentally sound choice. Then think of the constantly working air ,heating and lighting, and the environmental cost of all of those. It's been said that over the last year the better air quality that came from many workers working remotely was equivalent to planting 91 million trees.
Some amazing benefits of working from home include having a quieter noise level, and less disturbances, fewer interruptions, and less stress from dealing with office politics. By adding in the lack of having to commute and those lesser distractions, then it's not surprising that every employer has seen productivity increase. This is beneficial for both the employer, the employee and for the company itself. To a degree all work is about “performance.” Without office life, and all that comes with it, a remote worker can dedicate themselves to the tasks at hand and get things done quickly and efficiently
A major contributor to mental health issues is stress. And it's one reason remote workers are happier. Without the stress of the commute or office life, and the lack of time that comes with the hectic working life, then everyone is more centred. With less stress. Finally people have time to enjoy themselves whether it's via personal relationships or having hobbies and interests. Working from home gives purpose to the life
You can thank the Covid-19 pandemic for being the catalyst for allowing remote work to become more acceptable by all employers around the world. Of course,social distancing is not the only reason to work from home. We would suggest that all employers think about making homework a permanent option, with the ability to meet person to person in an office being always available to those who need it.
