Does your business offer employees the ability to work remotely? If not, it’s time to consider it. I’ve long been a proponent of letting people work at home, simply because it makes employees so much happier. But if you’re resisting the idea, there are plenty of not-so-warm-and-fuzzy reasons to enable virtual work. Here are three:
1. Working from home is a coveted perk among almost all employees.
Whether your staff is made up of busy parents juggling home, child-rearing, and work, commuters suffering long hours in traffic, or Gen-Y-ers (who regularly cite work-life balance as one of their top priorities), working from home appeals to just about everyone. That means it’s a useful motivational carrot. In research done earlier this year for Microsoft Small Business Resources, 72 percent of employees say they prefer working from home -- and 52 percent claim they’re actually more productive working there.
2. Working from home saves your company money.
Many small businesses worry that having remote workers will cost lots of money. In reality, data from The Telework Coalition shows that businesses save an average of $20,000 annually for each full-time remote employee.
3. Working from home increases productivity.
Employees aren’t imagining things when they say working from home improves their productivity. Telework Coalition research shows the average business incorporating remote workers saw employee productivity rise 22 percent.
Want more tips on managing a remote staff? Check out these stories: 4. Creating a remote work policy does take some thought and planning. When you’re ready to give it a try (and the sooner, the better I say) follow these steps: All this said, it’s essential to get face time with remote workers. If your staff only works from home a few times a week, you may want to set one day each week when everyone has to be in the office. If everyone works remotely, consider meeting once or twice a month. Encourage employees to get together informally to bond and brainstorm.
Rieva Lesonsky is CEO of GrowBiz Media, a content and consulting company that helps entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. Follow Rieva at Twitter.com/Rieva, and visit SmallBizDaily.com to sign up for her free TrendCast reports. Photo used under license from Photos.com