Are you capitalising on the benefits of enabling your staff to work remotely?

If your answer is no, then maybe it’s time to re-evaluate your IT infrastructure as the benefits of working remotely are too valuable for modern businesses to ignore.. 

How does remote working benefit your business?

The definition of the office has now changed. No longer is it defined by sitting at your desk 9-to-5. Remote working allows your “office” to be at home, on your commute to work, at an event or even while you’re on holiday. It literally can be anywhere you want by simply using an internet-enabled device and a reliable internet connection. With the right tools you’ll be able to securely access emails, applications, files and even your whole desktop. This is a huge advantage for businesses as your employees can work anywhere, any place, at any time and on any device, so productivity is clearly going to increase. According to a survey from Global Workplace in 2017, 86% of employees say they are more productive working from home.

Not only can remote working increase productivity, but it can also save your business money too. As your employees can connect with one another from various locations, it can reduce the amount of office space required. This can actually mean you can downsize your offices or even rent out spare desks that were previously occupied by employees that no longer require to be “present” in the office.
According to the study from Global Workplace in 2017, nearly six out of ten employers identify cost savings as a significant benefit from working remotely. They found that employing remote working strategies helped increase revenue as it helped slash expensive rental costs.

Implementing an infrastructure to support remote working will also allow you to stay ahead of the competition and not fall behind with the times. A recent survey produced by Lancaster University found that by 2020, 70% of businesses are expected to implement remote working. The change in how we go about business and our everyday work life has started and it isn’t about to stop. Employees now expect to work in a modern, flexible environment, which remote working provides. This can also help to improve businesses as adopting a remote working infrastructure can allow you to attract better quality employees. As travel is no barrier it ultimately widens the talent pool and potential employees will always prefer to work in a modern, flexible working environment.

How does remote working benefit your employees?

It’s no secret that a happy employee is a good employee. Every business wants their staff to be happy and less stressed. Squashed and squeezed, you’d be hard-pressed to find an employee who actually enjoys their daily commute to the office. A recent study from Staples, found that employees who worked from home experienced 25% less stress. When working remotely employees can manage their own workload and factor in breaks to keep themselves focused.

Remote workers also have a better work-life balance since they can set their working hours around their lives. According to a study by ACAS, a poor balance between an employee’s work commitments and their other responsibilities can lead to stress, high absence and low productivity. Employees who have a better work-life balance often have a greater sense of responsibility, ownership and control of their working life. This not only benefits the employee but the employer too, as staff retention increases by adapting a more remote working strategy. A happy employee is a loyal worker. Offering employees, a healthy work-life balance is a great incentive for staff to stay with your business.

If you don’t think your business is ready for a complete remote workforce, then there are some simple changes you can make using technology to enable some flexibility. For example, moving to Office 365 can enable staff who are field-based, as well as those that like to keep their finger on the pulse whilst out of the office, to deal with their emails from anywhere.  Also, by adopting a cloud storage solution for your files, your staff can easily access documents and information they might need when out at a client’s site or if they are working on an important project out of normal working hours.

What’s the next step?

Remote working really is a win-win as it benefits your business and your staff in equal measures. 

At OGL we work with companies who have varying budgets and operate in different sectors hence why we have a wide range of options so your organisation can work remotely. We also like to gain a good understanding of the make-up of your business and its workforce, and like to spend time with businesses to see how they operate, as we know, no two businesses are ever the same. Only then can our IT Consultants be sure they are designing the best IT solution for your needs.

Don’t just take our word for it, one of our customers, Blue Bay Travel, stated “OGL’s cloud IT services have enabled us to maximise the productivity of our vital home-based workforce, whilst ensuring our IT costs are predictable and manageable.”
We’ve been in business for over 40 years and have acquired numerous accreditations with world-leading IT partners along the way. We’ll be happy to listen to your IT challenges and help you understand which options are best suited to your business needs.

To get in touch click here or you can call us on 01299 873 873 and an IT Consultant will be happy to offer their expertise.

Sources:

http://globalworkplaceanalytics.com/telecommuting-statistics