Teleworking, previously a marginal practice, is now widespread among businesses as a result of the global outbreak of COVID-19. At the beginning of June 2020, almost 40% of the Canadian population worked from their homes.
Will this sudden transition in the workplace be there to continue once the pandemic is over? Is it profitable for a company to practice telework? Is employee satisfaction actually increased when they work from home?
One thing is certain is that teleworking raises many questions for both experts and business leaders. Today, Outgo highlights the most crucial aspects of the practice of teleworking.
Employee Productivity
One of the most popular benefits among employees in favour of teleworking is, of course, the flexibility of scheduling provided by this practice. Work-life balance is often easier and allows employees to manage their own schedules based on family schedules. While managing this may be rather difficult at times, it can also greatly increase employee productivity.
A survey conducted by LeSoleil indicated that companies surveyed in the survey noted a 13.5% increase in productivity due to telework. Another study also found that 96% of companies with telework policies believe that telework is not harmful to productivity, and 65% see an increase productivity among teleworkers.
Employee Satisfaction
Increasing the productivity of your business; increasing the satisfaction of your staff is a must. It's well known, the more dissatisfied your employees, the more your turnover increases and the less productive your organization will be (not to mention all this lost training costs)! In other words, the success of your business depends heavily on your employees.
Not surprisingly, more than 60% of employees consider telework to be an important criterion when looking for a job. In addition to significant time savings for employees by eliminating home-office travel, telework also helps to reduce distractions during working hours.
Some will be surprised by this argument, but when you put coffee breaks, ambient noise and corridor discussions into perspective, you realize that distractions are sometimes even more present in the physical workplace. Telework would thus lead to greater concentration among employees.
Benefits for Employers
In addition to increasing employee productivity, the practice of teleworking reduces or even eliminates rental costs and other fixed costs. It is therefore a substantial saving for businesses. However, some companies will prefer to adopt telework in a hybrid way. This can be seen by the increasing renting of collaborative spaces (coworking), which allow us to foster team spirit and combat the isolation sometimes caused by telework.
Never seeing co-workers can create a lack of human relationships for some employees and can become demotivating. In the United States, a study conducted by Humu, a technology company led by Google's former Chief Human Resources Officer, found that work was more efficient when employees were at home for one or two days a week, in all types of organizations.
Collaborative spaces will allow you to bring together your teams without having to bear the expensive rent of a fixed office. In addition, you may even decide to experiment with more than one and thus enhance your encounters in completely different environments: see here for ideas for trendy collaborative spaces.
Another very relevant advantage of teleworking for employers is the possibility of hiring staff beyond the physical territory of the company. Indeed, it becomes easier for companies to recruit talent since they are not constrained to their city, as are physical companies. Teleworking can also be a good practice in order to counter the current labour shortage observed in Quebec.
The importance of building a relationship of trust
Building a relationship of trust with your employees could be a great deal of benefit as you think. Indeed, by establishing a relationship of trust with your employees, you will greatly reduce your chances of stealing hours (this is as true for physical offices as for telework)!
With regard to the lack of team spirit, a simple solution would be to implement a social network for the company. By encouraging frequent interactions and using the various digital tools, you will be able to establish a working climate much more user-friendly, even at a distance!
In 2020, it is clear that many professional areas no longer require physical presence at work. Teleworking, an increasingly popular practice, has the advantage of being able to be modulated according to the needs of your business. Whether you use it in a hybrid way or not, it will surprise you and even destroy certain prejudices that may surround it. And you, what are your impressions of telework?
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