5 Ways Remote Work Benefits HR Employees—and Their Employers

There’s one thing that hasn’t changed over the last several years: We still have to take home the bacon, no matter how divided our country is or how bad the climate problem is. However, when it comes to where and how we conduct our work, things are changing. Here, we take a look at 5 ways remote work benefits HR Employees and their Employers.

In the next 5 years, almost 40 million Americans are anticipated to work totally from home, with an increasing number of companies implementing a hybrid work style to accommodate them. In May 2020, the number of at-home employees will jump from 6% in 2019 to 33%. Of course, the pandemic has played a huge impact.

Workers and employers alike may have legitimate worries about the new normal as the barriers between work & home continue to blur. However, there are many reasons to be happy. There you go, rush hour.) Please, no more suit pants for me! We’ll look at how remote and hybrid work models might benefit people and employers alike, both now and in the future.

1. Creating a work-life balance A Lot Easier Now

Women who want to return to work after having children, or parents of young children, are more likely to benefit from flexible work practices including telecommuting and hybrid work arrangements. Most workers who began working from home because of the epidemic have followed these trends. According to a Gallup poll conducted in 2021:

• Only 6% of workers who are presently working from home say they would want to do so in a traditional office setting instead.
• More than nine out of ten remote employees want to keep working from home.

According to those who prefer working remotely, the following are the top three advantages:

• Lack of commuting
• Improved wellbeing
• The ability to better balance work and personal life.

Sixty percent of working professionals polled by the recruitment agency Robert Half said their work-life balance had improved since they stopped driving to and from work. Those who have a daily commute of less than an hour now have more time in their schedules to do what they want.

2. Employees have the option of working from home or from Bora Bora.

Many remote workers are taking advantage of the opportunity to work from anywhere—whether it’s their hometown, a more cheap suburb, and the beaches of Bora Bora—without the constraints of a traditional office.

According to FlexJobs research conducted in 2021, the flexibility to work from anywhere is a major factor in employees’ desire to remain virtual during the pandemic. The following are only a few of the many reasons people said they’d consider moving:

• Better quality of life
• Lower cost of living
• Different climate
• Change of scenery
• Closer to family or friends
• Access to better schools

For distant professionals, inexpensive housing, closeness to family, & retirement are the top three reasons for downsizing from large cities to midrange and small metro regions in 2020. Because they can keep their big-city incomes even after relocating to a more cheap locale, many of these individuals have more money to spend on fun work holidays like Barbados or Bermuda.

3. Everybody Saves Big

Employers and workers alike save a lot of money when they move to remote work. Workers who work from home save 32% over those who work in an office, according to a new poll by RisePath HRTeam.

Here, gas and public transit savings play a key role. Some of the savings are more subtle. In the absence of meals out, beautiful work clothing, and those occasional excursions to the shop, the savings soon accumulate.

Employees that can work from home save the firm money, and this is particularly true if the business is located in a big city. Employers may save money on salaries without jeopardizing the quality of their workforce by employing employees in cities with a lower cost of living. Companies in the most expensive metro areas might save up to $37,000 per employee per year by employing remote workers, according to Upwork’s estimations.

The savings don’t only apply to corporations in pricey locations or to workers who work entirely from home—they apply to everyone. Employers in the US may save $11,000 per half-time remote employee, according to Global Workplace Analytics’ projections. Remote and hybrid work models may help companies save money on utility costs, cleaning services, and potentially lower their tax burden.

4. The Earth as a Whole Is Happier As Well

Companies are working hard to lower their carbon footprint & become more environmentally friendly as climate change becomes a major issue. We congratulate those firms and wish them well. This may be accomplished in several ways, with one of the most successful being remote work.

There will be fewer automobiles on the road, which means fewer pollutants contaminating our air, thanks to employees who work from home. Lockdowns in 2020 saw a significant reduction in air pollutants such as particulate matter by as much as 40 percent in several regions of the planet.

Despite the unsustainable methods of early COVID-19 lockdowns, remote work may nevertheless have a positive environmental effect. Residential and commercial structures, together with a significant amount of our nation’s energy usage and construction materials, account for over 40% of all U.S. CO2 emissions. The use of paper documents, electric power, water use, and other behaviors that hurt the environment may be greatly reduced by remote work.

5. Access to Meaningful Benefits Increases

Employers may also take advantage of the opportunity to reimagine employee perks when their employees work remotely. Ping-pong tables and workplace refreshments may be phased out in favor of more important perks, which workers will value more.

Eighty-eight percent of company executives intend to give new or extended benefits to their employees because of the pandemic, concentrating on the things their workers demand, such as:

• Benefits of taking care of children and elderly people
• Support for people’s mental health
• Flexible working hours

Employee engagement, loyalty, and recruitment are all boosted by these incentives. The great majority of workers choose significant benefits above a raise in wages. Over eighty percent of workers indicate they would rather have more perks than a raise in their compensation. Similarly, eighty-eight percent of study participants would prefer a lower wage with a more accommodating work week than the opposite.