Every employee wants remote or hybrid working. But what are the benefits of offering remote working for employers? After all, a big decision like this needs to make sense for a business, right?..
Hybrid and remote working was on a slow climb in popularity before the pandemic. But since then, it has exploded in popularity. The benefits for employees are obvious and well documented; the comfort of working from your own home, no commute time, the flexibility offered, the money saved… The list goes on.
But what are the benefits of offering remote working to employees, for businesses and employers? It can certainly bring about its share of challenges in operational terms. So why should you, as an employer, offer remote working to your employees? Let’s find out.
The 7 Benefits for Employers Offering Remote Working
Offering employees remote work can have its own share of problems and difficulties to overcome. So before you make such a huge leap, it’s important to consider if the switch to remote working is a sound operational and financial business decision. The short version looks like this:
- It gives you access to a larger, and sometimes stronger talent pool.
- By reducing or eliminating your need for an office, you can reduce overhead costs.
- You become more attractive to work for, allowing you to attract stronger employees.
- It reduces the amount of sick days and holidays your team takes.
- Remote and hybrid working increases your team’s productivity.
- It increases your employee’s job satisfaction.
- And finally, it reduces attrition rates and your recruitment costs.
But if you want the full scope of just why you might consider offering remote work to your employees, then continue below.
1. It Gives You Access to a Larger, Stronger Talent Pool
Perhaps the most obvious perk of offering remote working is how much wider your prospective talent pool becomes.
When your company is limited to a single physical location of operation, you can only hire people who are in a commutable distance OR those who would consider relocating to join your business. Both of which mean that you need to be offering at least the same level of remuneration, if not more, than what your competition is offering.
After all, if you’re asking someone to potentially relocate across the country to work for you, you might need to offer something that they can’t find anywhere else.
Whereas with remote workers, you can offer a higher salary than some employees would find elsewhere. Talented professionals who live in a low cost-of-living area can be tempted by the higher salaries that your business is willing to offer.
And the employees you hire can often be of a higher quality. Because the best person for the job may not be the one looking for jobs in your business location alone.
2. Lower Office/ Operational Costs
Switching to remote also offers a potentially lower operational cost for your business.
Not renting an office space can save your business thousands that can be invested into other areas: And with the rising cost-of-living, this can be a not-so-small saving for your business.
But if you’re not sure about shifting your business model to purely remote working (or your team can’t due to the nature of your business), then even moving to a hybrid and flexible model can lower the operational costs of your business.
Some businesses we work with have even downsized their offices as they have switched to hybrid working. In a deliberate effort to ensure that their entire workforce doesn’t fit into their office.
3. You Will be More Attractive to Job Seekers: Meaning You’ll Have the Choice of the Best Candidates
It’s no secret that employees love remote and flexible working: In fact, it’s one of the most important things to the job seekers that we work with here at Dynamic.
Offering remote or hybrid working opportunities to potential employees can give yourself a significant advantage over the competition when it comes to attracting the best candidates.
Because the best employees in your industry know they have greater choice when it comes to their next role. And they’re going to choose the company that not only gives their teams flexibility in their role; but also trusts them to get the work done without the need to be physically in the office and managed.
4. It Reduces Sick Days and Holidays
Remote work and flexibility in working hours can even reduce the amount of time your staff take off sick, and the amount of holiday days used.
With the additional flexibility in their work day, your employees no longer need to take an entire day off to go to a dentist or doctor’s appointment for example. This can mean happier employees, and can in turn also lead to an extra boost of productivity, as employees no longer miss the extra working hours in the day out of necessity.
5. It Can Increase Productivity
A significant worry for employers and managers is that when workers aren’t physically in the office, they won’t put in the same amount of work.
But data from 2021 found that 71% of managers reported flexible and remote working as increasing productivity, or making no difference: So over two thirds of employers attributed the increased flexibility in working remotely as a major benefit to employees’ performance.
ONS Analysis of BICS data found that 48% of businesses in all industries reported an intention to use remote working permanently, due to increase in productivity during COVID lockdowns. And as the data from this report stems back to 2021, this trend is only likely to have increased as businesses have become more adept at working remotely.
And while not an overall significant increase, the report from Bloom found that the productivity of IT Engineers rose by 4.4% when working from home.
Statistics show that remote working has a direct correlation to increasing employee productivity, creating a strong argument for flexibility in your business’s working environment.
6. It Increases Job Satisfaction
A study from Owl Labs showed that remote working significantly increases job satisfaction. And the link between job satisfaction and productivity is well documented. Studies from Forbes and from Oxford University and BT have given credence to the saying “Happy employees are productive employees.”
And while this is obviously good for productivity’s sake, employees who are performing better in their roles are more likely to see their careers and salary’s progress. Meaning they won’t need to switch jobs for pay rises or the opportunities for upwards progression. Which leads us to our final point.
7. It Reduces Attrition Rates: Meaning You Spend Less on Hiring
As job satisfaction increases, attrition rates naturally reduce. The happier people are, the less likely they are to look for jobs elsewhere. In fact, studies have shown that employees who are happy in their role are likely to stay in their jobs 7 times longer!
This has multiple obvious benefits for your business, because recruitment isn’t cheap. Lower attrition rates means less time and money your business spends less on recruitment, and frees to grow the business in other areas.
In Summary
Offering remote working is not always a possibility, depending on your business and industry. But if you’re reading this, then you are likely in the position where it’s possible for your employees.
Any one of these benefits can be reason enough. But altogether, they create a compelling argument for the benefits of offering remote working for employers. If you are interested in hiring remote employees in the IT, Network, Infrastructure, and Cyber industries, we can help. Have a look here for more information on how we can support your business.