Is Remote Working Here to Stay?

The vast majority of office employees were forced to work at home due to the pandemic. Many companies and their employees found this change relatively easy with many preferring a remote setup.

However, with the pandemic slowly coming under control, is remote working here to stay?

For the most part, this decision will be up to senior management and department heads. While many employees prefer working at home, most aren't in a position to have a major say in what happens long-term. Employee sentiment should be a deciding factor in the final decision but a decision shouldn’t be made purely on that.

Ultimately, management needs to weigh the pros and cons of remote working. Doing so will allow creation of the best model for both company performance and employee sentiment.

In this blog, we summarize the pros and cons of remote working along with our view of if remote working is here to stay. Hopefully, this will help in making your own decision on whether remote working is the future of your company.

The Argument For Remote Working

Remote working offers many benefits to both the company and its employees. The following are some of these benefits which are most visible across all industries.

Access to a Larger Talent Pool

Having employees work remotely opens up positions to a bigger pool of talent. Not needing to be within commuter distance of an office location means that people from a larger geographic area can apply to job openings. This could include candidates from across your state, the country, or even the globe.

Remote positions also work better for people with certain lifestyles, such as stay-at-home parents. This is especially true if you allow your remote employees flexibility on the hours they work.

Allowing employees to work remotely increases the number of applicants open to working with you.

Benefits Related to Removal of Commute 

Allowing employees to work remotely eliminates their commute to the office. The time saved from not having to commute offers many benefits.

One benefit is that your employees gain more free time. Many people will spend two hours or more commuting each day. Freeing up this time allows them extra time for themselves. This will make for happier and more relaxed employees due to the improved work-life balance.

Along with more time for hobbies and social activities, the time saved can be used to get extra sleep, spend time with family in the morning, or exercise before work. These pre-work benefits can help employees feel more ready and motivated to start their day, leading to greater productivity.

Additional Time to Work at Productive Hours

Another benefit is that employees can work at their most productive hours. For example, someone that likes to work early may have arrived at the office at 7 am, having left home at 6 am. Now, they can start work at 6 am. This gives them an extra hour to work during their most productive time. The same goes for those who work better later in the day.

Environmental Benefits 

Of course, eliminating commuting offers environmental benefits. Companies can use this to promote sustainability. They may also receive government benefits and tax breaks thanks to eliminating employee commutes, especially if coupled with other sustainability initiatives.

Cost Savings 

A primary benefit of remote working is that it saves money. This is mainly savings on rent and utilities. Having all employees work remotely means you can eliminate your office space and its associated rental and utility costs. Or, you can at least downsize your office, reducing these expenses.

On average, a company can save at least $120,000 a year from eliminating office space rental payments alone. This can increase to $500,000 plus for large offices in the center of major cities.

You may still encounter expenses relating to employees working at home. These include paying for their utilities during the workday and providing furniture and tech. However, these costs will be drastically less than operating a physical office space. 

Increased Productivity

A worry about remote working was that productivity among employees would drop. However, most employees adjusted well to remote work, and productivity was not affected. In some cases, employee productivity rose.

The elimination of in-office distractions allowed employees to put all their focus on the task they were working on. This allows for quicker completion of tasks and often higher-quality work. Employees can also work at their most productive times, as discussed. 

However, some employees will get distracted at home and be more productive in-office. Therefore, each company needs to assess their employees’ performance and ability to concentrate remotely when deciding whether to stay remote full time.

Having a remote set up allows you to reduce or eliminate office space lowering your operating costs.

The Argument Against Remote Working

While many companies and employees are on the side of remote working, others aren’t. There are also the negatives of a working-at-home model to consider. The following are some issues that may arise from full or part-time remote working.

Negative Effects on Company Culture and Team Relationships

Remote working makes team building and maintaining a strong company culture more difficult. Remote working causes employees to miss out on professional face-to-face communication and the sociable elements of office life, like chatting at lunch.

Even if companies put on lots of virtual events, these don’t often make up for in-person events, communication, and team building. These issues can make employees feel disconnected and not as though they’re part of a team. New employees especially will find it harder to fit in.

Employees may also feel less comfortable asking things of others due to weak relationships. This can hinder their own and the company’s growth and performance.

A solution to this could be holding weekly or monthly in-person events as well as longer company retreats. However, some employees may find it more difficult to attend these events as opposed to attending an in-office event like a happy hour during work hours.

Increased Likelihood of Employee Burnout

Burnout is a big problem for both the employee’s mental health and career progression and your operations and employee retention level.

Employees experiencing burnout are more likely to take days off, take longer than needed to complete tasks, and put less effort into their work. They’re also more likely to quit at short notice.

One negative of remote working is that it’s harder to spot employees on the road to burning out. Seeing employees in the office makes it easier to pick up on cues that suggest someone is unhappy and unmotivated. This isn’t as easy to assess when all contact with employees is remote.

For example, it’s easier to put on a happy and motivated face for brief video calls than to keep that act up all day. It can also be difficult to tell how people feel based on email correspondence.

The remote work environment itself can contribute to burnout too. For example, not having clear lines between work and personal time and having the option to work longer hours without being made to go home can contribute drastically to burnout.

To help minimize the chance of your remote employees burning out, read our blog on preventing employee burnout while working from home for some top tips.

Employee Preference for Working In-Office

A benefit of remote working is that your talent pool could increase, including those from a greater geographical area and those needing a flexible schedule. On the flip side, you may also be missing out on employees who enjoy an office environment.

While many employees had to work remotely due to the pandemic, most have also experienced working in-office. Therefore, many employees are currently weighing up the two and thinking about what they prefer.

For many, full or part-time in-office working will be the preference. Your pre-pandemic team also signed up for in-office work, so some will be expecting (and hoping) to return to the office when possible.

Similarly, while many won’t miss a commute or going into the city, some people enjoy that. Individuals may use their commute to do an activity they enjoy, like reading. Many people also appreciate the bustle of the city and being close to shops, bars, and restaurants for easy access after work.

Some employees prefer to work in-office due to increased chance of burnout and lack of team culture when working at home.

New Hire and Entry-Level Employee Preferences

Remote working may be daunting to all new hires who may opt for an in-office position if they have the choice. This is especially true for entry-level employees who have never worked in the industry.

The thought of sitting at home alone, not knowing your team much, and being required to do a job you’ve never done before can be unappealing to entry-level employees. They may also be looking for the lifestyle that comes with commuting to the city or living there to be close to the office.

By committing to full-time remote working, you lose out on these employees. Whether that be losing current employees who find a new in-office job or missing out on new hires that don’t want to start a new position remotely.

Onboarding Issues

Along with the possibility of missing out on new hires, onboarding remotely may be an issue. This is especially something to consider if you haven’t hired while working remotely. Or, if you’ve only hired very experienced employees who are more likely than lower-level employees to pick things up quickly and perform well when left unsupervised.

Inequalities Among Employees in a Hybrid Set-Up

A hybrid set-up is what many companies will opt for. This will see certain employees working from home full time with others in-office. Or, it could see a flexible schedule with employees splitting the workweek between working at home and being in-office.

This may seem like a good strategy to keep all employees happy and productive and to appeal to the largest pool of applicants for open positions. But this can cause inequalities and issues between those working in-office and those working remotely. Ultimately, this setup could remove a level playing field and alienate certain groups.

For example, in-office employees may get frustrated that they cannot get as quick an answer as you would when walking over to someone’s desk. This means it may take longer to complete tasks and can result in in-office employees’ schedules depending on the out of office employees’ ability to communicate quickly. This can cause annoyance and animosity between in-office and remote employees.

This setup may also see one group getting more opportunities than the other. For example, if higher-level management and department heads are in-office, the other in-office employees are more likely to be asked questions, included in discussions, overhear conversations and join in. This makes it likely that they’ll get offered opportunities that arise.

Equally, having higher-ups work from home, or communicating mainly with those working from home, can cause the opposite problem and result in in-office employees being shut out.

Onboarding issues and a lack of equality between employees are some managerial concerns with the remote model.

Is Remote Working Here for the Long Term?

Is remote working here to stay for all companies that worked at home during the pandemic? Probably not. But is full-time remote working or a hybrid in-office/remote model going to be the reality for more companies than before the pandemic? Absolutely.

Ultimately, the decision to return to the office or stay remote will depend on multiple factors. This includes the type of work employees perform and the ability to effectively move to a remote model permanently. This includes having evidence that management can hire and onboard well remotely, keep productivity levels up, and keep company culture alive.

With the lifting of restrictions on the horizon, now is the time for companies to think about their post-pandemic work environment and begin planning for that reality.

The majority of companies will likely incorporate some form of remote communication into their post-pandemic model. Whether that be employees working remotely at least some of the time, or moving client meetings and other types of events to a remote platform.

While remote working will have been daunting for many, the pandemic has allowed companies to see the benefits of remote operations. This new openness to remote work and communications will benefit companies significantly, improving efficiency and productivity, no matter how much they incorporate those things post-pandemic.