Remote Work Benefits For Employees and Employers. (Backed By Statistics)

Remote work benefits listed for employers and employees backed by statistics

Remote Work Benefits For Employees and Employers. (Backed By Statistics)

Before you start anything new the first thing you often do is weigh the benefits and disadvantages. If you are looking to start working remotely or an employer looking to hire remote employees, these are the top benefits backed by statistics. Remote work often gets a bad reputation that is mostly due to lack of statistics. As more and more companies make the switch to remote work, they are quickly realizing that in most cases the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. 

Companies making the switch to remote include: Facebook, Twitter, Square, UpWork, and many more. It is estimated that about 56% of people have a job where they could work from home at least part time. – (Global Workplace Analytics) This may be proof that the benefits to employers are much greater than the disadvantages. How about the benefits for employees?

Let’s start with the benefits for employees.

Remote Work Benefits For Employees and Employers.

Remote work benefits for employees.

According to Buffer’s State Of Remote Work 2019 Survey, people stated that the top four benefits were:

  1. Flexible Schedule 

40% of people stated that the top benefit of working remotely was having a flexible schedule. We all can relate to work interfering with life or vice versa. Getting sick, kids events, getting the car to the mechanic… Things like these can be very difficult to coordinate with regular job hours. Remote work often comes with the ability to make your own schedule and lets people make time for the things in their life that matter.

  1. Working From Any Location

In most cases remote jobs allow people to work from anywhere in the world, as long as they have an internet connection. 30% of people stated the top benefit is the freedom to work where they want. Remote jobs allow us to visit family, have working vacations, work and travel, or simply work from home.

  1. Time With Family

Work often gets in the way of spending time with our loved ones. 14% of people stated more time with family was the top benefit. With a flexible schedule and the ability to work from anywhere, remote workers can spend more time with their loved ones.

  1. Working From Home

Not everyone that wants a remote job dreams of working in Thailand on a beach. 13% of people said that the top benefit was the ability to work from home. In fact 84% of people in the study stated that their primary work station was home.

  1. Remote Workers Are Happier

OWLLabs State of Remote Work found that “full-time remote workers say they’re happy in their job 22% more than people who ever work remotely.”

OWLLabs State of Remote Work asked what the biggest reason was for people deciding to work remotely. They were:

  1. Better Work-Life Balance

91% of people according to the study said that a better work-life balance was one of their top reasons to work remotely. Balancing work and life can be extremely difficult especially with set hours. Remote work allows for a lot of flexibility to balance our lives. It can also be a difficulty. Remote work requires discipline. 

  1. Less Stress

As our lives become more complicated it seems that stress is at all time high. Trying to juggle a set work schedule, commute, and co-workers can add to the stresses in our regular life. Remote work gives us a level of control in our lives and the ability to lower our stress. 78% of people in the study said less stress was a top reason.

  1. No Commute

Commuting to and from work is costing you money. It accumulates wear and tear on your vehicle, gas, and extra time. Remote work allows workers to save money and time by eliminating the commute. In fact 78% of people in the OWLlabs study stated this as one of their top reasons to work remotely. It could be good for the planet also!

  1. Childcare Responsibilities

Childcare, especially for younger children can be very expensive. It can also add to commutes, driving them to and from daycare. Remote work allows for parents to be a stay-at-home parent and a working parent. This can be a difficult task but can also make life a lot easier.

  1. Saving More Money/Financial Reasons

Working remotely can allow us to save more money and be smarter with our money. Commutes are not the only big cost that a regular job has, typically we are more likely to eat lunch out, buy more coffees, and many other small expenditures when working a regular job. Working from home allows us to eat home, make our own coffee, and get our finances in order.

  1. Better Health

We already mentioned that working from home can reduce stress. It also gives us more flexibility and more time to take care of ourselves. Instead of commuting to work, remote workers can use that time to workout.

Remote Work Benefits For Employers. 

  1. Wider Pool Of Talent To Choose From

People can only commute so far. When you have an office you are restricted to the talent that is within driving distance. Making a position remote will give you access to talent from around the world. This allows you to build a stronger and more talented team. In fact 81% of remote workers said that they would be more likely to recommend their company to a friend (OWLlabs).

  1. Improved Employee Retention

83% of people agreed that the ability to work remotely would make them happier and 80% responded that working remotely makes them feel like their employer cares (OWLlabs). With happier and less stressed employees, remote workers are most likely going to stay with your company longer.

  1. Lower Operating Cost

Offices and office supplies are huge expenses to a business. Allowing most or all employees to work from home can allow companies to save on office space costs and costs associated with having an office like electricity.

  1. Increased Productivity/Better Focus

79% of people stated that they would be more productive and have better focus working remotely (OWLlabs). Many employers worry about productivity and believe that employees with slack off. As someone who has managed both remote and in office teams. I’ve seen much more productivity when employees have the freedom to work from home. It is important to measure projects completed and not hours clocked.

  1. Increased Business Hours

This can be both a benefit and obstacle. When you have employees around the world working remotely, you can easily have support teams available to your customers 24/7 and open your business to more opportunities. It can be difficult to manage schedules and have teams work on projects together.

  1. Other Languages For Translation

If you are hiring around the world chances are your talent is going to speak a few languages. This can be great for translating content and opening doors in other languages for your company.

  1. Less Office Drama

Office politics can be a huge problem to overcome. When you force many different personalities to work 40 hours a week in a space there is bound to be drama and disagreements.

  1. More Capital For Teambuilding/Growth

The money that you save on office space can be put towards good use. Some great uses can be company trips, education, and better benefits for your employees. These all make you a more attractive place to work.

  1. More Overall Experience

Having a team that is from all around the world can bring an abundance of experience to your team. This experience can help grow your team and give you a step ahead of your competition.

Do you work remote or do you have remote employees? Tell us what benefits have you seen in the comments!

Justin Palmer is Founder and CEO of The Remote Firm

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