How Remote Work is Increases Productivity

1.  BLOGS >> How Remote Team Work Increases Productivity How Remote Team Work Increases Productivity 01 Apr '2019 Shyamal Parikh Whoever thought that there would be vi?ual o?ces? A vi?ual o?ce is nothing but a company purchasing an address from where all the communication takes place with the remote teams. Having a remote team is another trend that is rising mainly because it reduces the cost of holding the team in an o?ce space. The concept of remote work may excite many people and it may look very pleasing from a distance. However, remote workers face many challenges like isolation, the di?erence in time zones, interruptions at home, technical issues and so on. These problems may have a detrimental impact on the productivity of a worker. The bene?ts of this kind of a work se?ing exceed the sho?comings and this is why a large majority of employers are now sticking to remote teams. In 2012 – 2013, Professor Nicholas Bloom selected a group of 9 students to work from home for a Chinese travel agency. The study spanned 9-months and the conclusions drawn were truly mind-blowing. It was found that the remote workers were 13% more e?cient than the in- o?ce employees working for the travel agency. Also, 6 of the 9 remote workers took signi?cantly less sick leaves and the remaining did not take and sick leaves. A similar study conducted in 2014 found that remote working improved the pe?ormance when the work was given on a task basis. This eventually contributed to a healthy, positive, productive, and cohesive work environment. One of the remote workers from this group stated that they felt much more engaged in the processes of the company. Why there is such an inclination towards remote working? The main reason is increased productivity. Apa? from this, other reasons that contribute to the rapid adoption of remote workforce include:   Flexibility Increases Productivity: Remote workers have ?exibility which basically means that they can work during any time of the day which suits them the most. Workers know when exactly they can work at the peak of their productivity level which helps to increase the overall productivity of the company.   Remote Workers Put More Hours: Because of the ?exibility, remote workers can work a?er the business hours as well. They have the luxury to manage their personal commitments alongside business ones. This basically means that they have 24 hours to accomplish the tasks of the day. O?ce-goers are not entitled to this privilege.  

2. No Distractions: The o?ce ?oor can get a bit too noisy at times which may hinder the pe?ormance. All employees do not have their own cabin spaces where they would not be disturbed by noises, people moving around, lose focus, etc. Remote workers have a dedicated workspace at their houses where they can work with full concentration without any distraction. Also, they have access to everything sta?ing from co?ee to books to keep them motivated.   Less Sick Leaves: As mentioned above also, the downtime of remote workers is way less than regular o?ce goers. O?ce goers have a long day as they have to get up early to get ready and commute to the workplace. This can take a toll on the body whereas remote workers can utilize this time to rest, do some exercises and if you are not into all this, you can simply sta? working early and ?nish the work on or ahead of time. A healthy work-life balance is a must to reduce the downtime.   Remote Workers Are Happy: According to recent research, it has been found that remote workers are happier than o?ce goers because they are autonomous and feel that the company values them. The research proved that 8 out of 10 remote workers were happy with their work whereas 6 out of 10 o?ce goers were happy with their work.    How To Ensure That Remote Workers Don't Fall Behind Time?  Working with remote employees who are out of the o?ce or even in di?erent countries can have a lot of bene?ts. It can save your money and space but you have to make that work for you. The below-mentioned pointers make remote employees very successful:     Meet Regularly 1-ON-1 Via Video: Skype is perhaps the most common and prevalent tool for conducting remote meetings. This allows you to convey the non-verbal messages and make a li?le more human of a connection.   Regular Repo?ing: This means that on a consistent basis the employees have to submit to you a repo? to let you know what they have been working on and what challenges they ran into.   Include Them In The Company Culture: Just because they are far away doesn’t mean that they can’t pa?icipate in the activities that your business is doing. Help them feel uni?ed with everyone else.   Use A Task Management So?ware:  There are task management applications available in the market that bring to you a snapshot of everything happening in your business in one spot. The employers can just log in and see what di?erent remote workers are up to. This is perhaps the biggest win for any employer that has a remote team.    Bene?ts And Challenges Of Remote Workers : It is expected that 50% of the workforce in the US will work from home. It is bene?cial for the employees as they save time and money spent in the daily commute. For the employers, there are many bene?ts of remote workers which are mentioned in the pointers below:   Employ Talented Workers From Across The Globe: By de?ning a region of hiring, you are really limiting your prospects of hiring the top talent. When you consider the world as a recruiting ?eld, your company learns to work with a diverse workforce. People from di?erent regions of the world look at things from a di?erent perspective and they might be able to bring new ideas to the company.    Low Employee Turnover: Researchers have found that remote workers are happier than those working at the o?ce. Happier workers tend to take fewer sick leaves and also the pressure of work is less. This causes the employees to stick around for a longer period of time.   Savings For The Company: A company spends millions of dollars on employees working in the o?ce space. This amount will decrease drastically if the company sta?s to employ remote workers. Also, the real estate requirement of the company declines along with the expenses of electricity, phones, and computers and so on.   Increased Productivity: As mentioned above, remote workers have ?exibility and can work when they feel on top of their productivity level. Also, they can put more hours into work as compared to o?ce going employees.

3. t ey ca put o e ou s to o as co pa ed to o ce go g e p oyees.   Every coin has 2 sides to it and similarly, there are some drawbacks of remote workers. All the problems have a solution and it is crucial to ?nd a way out to solve the problems related to remote workers. Here are some challenges faced by employers of remote workers:   Communication: This is perhaps the main worry of employers with remote workers. To solve this problem, employers can deploy a task management tool where all employees and remote workers can log in to update the employer about the tasks they have completed, tasks on which they are working and what will they do a?er completing the task at hand. Also, they can mention the di?culties they ran into during accomplishing the tasks.   Company Culture: Remote workers could be in di?erent countries and this shouldn’t stop them from being a pa? of all the fun activities and meet-ups going in the company. Invite your remote workers to the o?ce once a year so that they can interact with the rest of the employees. Also, conduct Skype meetings so that everyone can see everyone else’s faces.   Pe?ormance Tracking: It is di?cult for the employer to keep a track on the progress and pe?ormance of the remote workers. Use a work management so?ware to track the pe?ormance of all remote workers. CONCLUSION It all boils down to one thing and that is coordination. Remote teams will rule the future and now is a really good time to invest in a work management so?ware. This is a one-time investment and your organization will bene?t hugely from such a system. The answer to all problems related to a remote team is work management so?ware. PRODUCTIVITY REMOTE WORK COLLABORATION Team Collaboration like never before Give enough space to your business to grow. Make it accessible anytime anywhere. Sign Up FOLLOW US     Recent Blogs How To Tell If A SaaS Provider How To Tell If A SaaS Provider Is Handling Sensitive Data Is Handling Sensitive Data Correctly Correctly