Working from home benefits both employer and employee
As storm Doris hits parts of Scotland, many employees whose company affords them the luxury of working from home, are battening down the hatches and booting up their PC from their home office.
[Read “The Death of 9-5pm: Birth of the Modern Office” here]
Who is it Really Good For?
There’s a notion that prevails: working from home is a perk, enjoyed only by employees looking for better work life balance, or greater convenience.
5 Reasons Working From Home Works for Employees:
1. Improved work life balance
2. No rush hour commute
3. Reduction in stress
4. Cost saving (fuel, lunch, travel expenses)
5. Improved employee/employer relationship (trust)
[Read about what Entrepreneur magazine says about home working here]
For an employee, having the ability to work from home is invaluable. The reduction in stress alone improves motivation, reduced sickness absence and encourages staff to stay loyal to their employer.
5 Reasons Working from Home Works for Employers:
- Increased staff motivation
- Improved employee retention/recruitment
- Productivity gains from no commute and fewer interruptions
- Reduction in sickness
- Improvement in service – less down time
Ultimately, having the opportunity to work from home gives employers the ability to cast their net wider, hire top talent, regardless of physical location…and keep them.
So why does the notion of the lazy home worker prevail so much?
It’s All About Trust
I write about trust (or lack of it) quite often. It’s a common theme in business.
It’s lack of trust which prevents a finance director from moving from Sage software to an alternative.
[Read about alternatives to Sage software here]
It’s lack of trust which causes employees to reject software implementations.
[Read about how trust impacts on software implementation projects here]
And it’s lack of trust which prevents more businesses from allowing employees to work from home.
The starting point should be that all employees are treated and trusted equally. Consistency with how employees are treated, and honesty through communication helps too.
Using a cloud based system, like NetSuite or SAP Business ByDesign, will help employers to stay connected to employees, to be able to measure productivity and monitor effectiveness. Indeed, using a system like NetSuite or SAP Business ByDesign affords employees to work from any location in much the same way as they would within an office environment.
It’s Not All or Nothing
A working environment which is 100% home based isn’t likely to work well for every business. But many of the benefits listed above still apply to an environment of home working a few days per week or month. There are hundreds of companies up and down the UK, including Amazon, Apple, SAP and Salesforce, who have invested in the correct infrastructure to afford staff the benefit of occasional home working.
Whether it’s dealing with a storm or motivating your key employee as they battle a common cold, there’s a method of home working which is likely to work for all parties.
To talk to someone about how cloud based business software can enable home working, get in touch.
Written at home by Emma Stewart – Sales & Marketing Director at Cofficient and friend of Doris
