The definition of the modern workforce is changing, and with millennials playing the most vital role in ruling the business world, employee expectations from top-level management are shifting. Nevertheless, today’s working generation is very different from what the employees used to be 10 years ago. Knowledge workers and the field force are becoming more responsibility-oriented and production-driven, with a tendency to get more done in less time.
Today’s workforce believes in leading a fulfilling day with a complete work-life balance without compromising work efficiency, performance, and timeliness. No wonder telecommuting as a concept is gaining momentum with each passing day.
In its simplest terms, “telecommuting” is the ability to complete office work anywhere and anytime without physically being present in the office premises or building. Also known as e-commuting, telecommuting offers much-needed flexibility to employees and enables them to work from anywhere outside the brick-and-mortar office space – be it from home, be it from somewhere while traveling, or from various other places like a coffee shop, a library, a hotel room or even a children’s park!
While working remotely, employees keep in touch with co-workers, teams, managers, and customers via telecommunication links like phone calls, webcams, distant conferencing, emails, instant messaging apps, and so on. Thanks to advanced mobile communication technologies and intelligent devices, telecommuting has come a long way in driving modern workforces.
An increasing number of employees who prefer agility and flexibility at work, telecommuting, or remote work, is gaining popularity in high-tech, financial, transportation, and communications organizations. Several forward-thinking and progressive companies are embracing telecommuting options as one of their core business strategies. 3 names to reckon with are Dell, Xerox, and Aetna. A pervasive study and survey report made by OWL Labs reveals the following statistics about telecommuting:
Telecommuting or remote work options are paving newer ways for 21st-century companies to gain multiple business benefits – it’s a win-win situation for both enterprises and employees. The above-mentioned study report’s most apparent benefits comprise employee happiness, an elated sense of job satisfaction, and heightened productivity driven by flexibility and agility to complete office work from anywhere and anytime. Flexible and remote work options accelerate a company’s retention policy and reduce staff turnover.
Companies spend a lot in interviewing and training employees; hence, it is always advisable to adopt progressive employee-flexibility policies like telecommuting to retain the best talents. Another advantage of remote work is that the employees can be on-the-go to physically meet a specific customer or stakeholder whenever required by the business. Executives who have the flexibility to telecommute have shown 100% satisfaction, happiness, and engagement towards their work and at the office. Companies with telecommuting options can often save money in expenses around space, equipment and electricity, and other operational costs.
Like every coin has two sides, telecommuting also has some unavoidable disadvantages. Apart from the situational isolation that working from home sometimes brings, there can be other distractions like a crying child, an annoying pet, uninvited guests, etc. There may be occasions where glitches in communication channels hinder team collaboration, and a lack of direct supervision sometimes poses a challenge. Above all, there’ll always be concerns about security breaches of corporate data and other mission-critical enterprise information in case of device theft or loss.
Working remotely in isolation also means there will be no brainstorming sessions that often leave loose ends of a tactical problem. Also, it should be kept in mind that telecommuting is not an option for every employee or every job function. To avoid these and many other challenges that can come between company flexibility policies and employee productivity, companies can take the following measures:
If done with perfect management and planning while protecting the corporate data with robust IT security policies, telecommuting proves to be immensely advantageous for both companies as well as the employees – ensuring employee productivity, job satisfaction, enhanced engagement, improved customer experience, and company cost savings, all at once.
A robust and intuitive Mobile Device Management solution like Scalefusion goes a long way in ensuring the successful operation of your remote workforce – credit goes to its enterprise-level management and security features and UEM capabilities, which enable companies to accelerate employee productivity remotely in real-time.