The benefits of homeworking

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Why Should Employers welcome the idea of Homeworking? 

Now restrictions are easing; there is a debate on whether companies should continue letting their employees work from home. Some companies like Legal and General embrace their employees to work from home, while others want to go back to traditional working. 39% of people want to go back to traditional working, but still, the majority want Homeworking to be an option. Google is suggesting a pay cut for their US workers who choose to work at home. But ComputerWorld embraces home working/Flexi-working as it is shown to have more benefits for your business and employees. Reviewing the different benefits that Homeworking can bring to your company may help those hesitant to continue forward with Homeworking.

Employee Morale

According to the Office for National Statistics, many employees prefer Homeworking as it allows them to have a better work-life balance. The lack of commuting means they can deal with family matters more easily before or after work, or domestic duties in their break, leaving more personal/family time in the evening. Having this better ratio between work and life means the employees are happier, lowering staff turn-overs. In addition, employees are more grateful when an employer considers their needs, so if a hybrid/home working experience is helping them, they are more likely to invest more time within your company and increase their productivity. The Office for National Statistics has shown that homeworkers are on average doing 6.0 hours of overtime per week.

More Talent

Homeworking is also advantageous for organisations, as they aren't limited by location when searching for new employees. If your new job position is available for homeworkers, it widens the scope for new employees from different areas and regions. This means you are more likely to get a better-suited person for that position. Not only this, but it means that existing employees are less likely to leave if they must relocate as they can continue that job from home. Expanding your company through having employees from different regions/countries can also help the business itself expand. A diverse range of cultures will mean that the business is gaining useful insight into different perspectives, cultures, and norms. Using this knowledge can help open the doors to different stakeholders.

Reduced Office Costs

There may be an upfront cost in setting up your employees for Homeworking (Technology, Subscriptions, etc) but think of it as an investment as many other factors will save you the money in the long term. Bills and utilities like gas, electricity, and water can all add up within an office, especially when all your workforce is there. Even renting the office space is an added expense; allowing remote working to happen means you can downsize your office and pay less for a smaller space as you would no longer need a large office to accommodate all the staff. Then by reducing the number of staff in the office or even downsizing the physical office also means that services like cleaners will have a smaller job, reducing that bill. Complimentary office refreshments, like Tea, Coffee or food within a cafeteria are no longer a factor when your employees are home-based. The sick days' rate has also been shown to decrease with homeworking employees with 0.9%, compared to those who are office-based at 2.2%. With less interaction with others in the office, employees have less exposure to illnesses. Also, if an employee is working from home, they are likely to be more willing to work through it when having a slight illness, opposed to going to the physical office.

Public Relations and Branding

A good public image is very important for companies to succeed. More and more customers are identifying as "Ethical Consumers". These consumers are using their money to support businesses that are contributing/supporting things other than their business (e.g., the environment, local businesses, good employers). It has been reported that the average ethical spending in a UK home spends £1278 on ethical products, a large increase compared to back in 1999 where the average was £202.

Supporting Homeworking can help your brand image by:

  1. The Environment. Many of us commute to work; whether it is by car or public transport, they contribute to Global Warming. The average petrol car adds 180g into the environment (per km) and public transport about 82g (per km). So, unless you walk to work, the best way to reduce individuals' carbon footprint is by supporting home working. Energy usage, paper usage, employees have more control over these in their home.

  2. Supporting Mental Health. The past year has been hard for many and has had significant contributions to people's mental health. Anxiety, depression, OCD, low mood, and others have risen to 1.7million people in the UK, a larger number than when the UK first went into lockdown. Many people aren't ready to leave their home office because of the past year. Even people with existing mental health issues would appreciate the option of hybrid working for those days where they feel ill.

  3. Understanding your employee's needs. Being a supportive employer tends to gain support from the public.

Summary

Change may be difficult to come to terms with but moving forward, we can normalise this change. Speaking to your employees in their preference about home/hybrid working would be a good start to understanding why they would like to be at home more. 

If you're ready to implement Homeworking properly, speak to our expert team.