As the COVID-19 pandemic reaches its third month for some countries, a lot of companies affected by the lockdown have adopted flexible work options for their employees to prevent getting infected by the virus. One of these options is to work from home. Companies have advised most, if not all, of their employees with sufficient work from home equipment to stay safe at home while still working on company deliverables.
Benefits for Employees
Here are some of the benefits that employees will get with a work-from-home arrangement:
- More Savings. Employees may save a lot of money because they will no longer have to pay for fares or gas to travel to and from their office. Employees will also get to enjoy meals prepared in their homes and may save up by not ordering restaurant food every lunch break.
- Less Emotional Stress. Work-from-home employees will also enjoy a less stressful environment when working in the comforts of their homes. They do not have to experience the hassle of everyday commute, and they will be at ease by knowing that their loved ones are only a few feet away from them. Employees working from home will also be spared from any office politics and rumours and may go about working peacefully and productively.
- Health Benefits. Employees will also have healthier eating options since they choose what they get to eat from what they have in stock at home. Also, employees will get a manageable work-life balance by having a flexible schedule to get a productive workday.
Benefits for Employers
Employees will not be the only ones to get benefits with the work from home arrangements. Businesses can also gain from having remote employees. Here are some of the benefits employers can get:
- Get More Qualified Employees. Companies with the right infrastructure to maintain remote employees now have the option to hire more qualified employees from any part of the globe without sacrificing productivity. Technologies such as cloud computing and cloud contact centre solutions have made it possible to communicate and collaborate seamlessly with remote employees wherever they are in the world. However, to effectively make this arrangement, employers must make sure that their employees have the proper work from home equipment that meets their minimum requirements.
- Get More Work Hours In. Employers may also benefit from getting more work time from their employees. Since their employees are already working from home, these employees will not have reasons to be late in signing in for work or be in a rush to catch the bus home. Since employees enjoy a stress-free home environment, they are more likely to give more minutes of productive work per day.
- Health Benefits. Employers also cash in from the health benefits that their employees get from work at home arrangements. When company employees are healthy and stress-free, companies will spend less on medical costs for employees with work-related medical conditions.
- More Productivity. When companies realise that having a work-at-home arrangement with some of their employees will lead to increased productivity, then these companies may invest more in this type of work arrangement. The investment that the company will make with providing work from home equipment will soon be realised as their employees become more productive.
Work from home arrangements may not be suitable for some companies that rely on their employees to work on-site. However, there are still a lot of businesses that could make use of the effectiveness of a work from home arrangement, especially during times of a pandemic.
