Should businesses rethink their work from home policy?

Organizations are always in a dilemma of whether they should allow the employees to work from home or not. While a great number of people are now turning to work from home, not all companies are willing to allow employees to do so due to the risks associated.

When an employee works from home, there is no guarantee of him or her being able to meet deadlines, which can be a lot of trouble for the business as deadlines are very important to meet.

They might be right to some extent as missed deadlines means lost businesses. However, companies should be looking at the bigger picture here as allowing employees to work from home can prove to be mutually beneficial for both parties in many ways.

Employees actually love to work from home due to the benefits. There was a time when people preferred to go to the office, but now more and more people prefer a flexible job that allows them to work at their own hours from the comfort of their home.

Now let’s talk about why businesses should allow so:

Which businesses can afford to operate remotely?

Certain businesses such as restaurants, cinemas, or salons obviously cannot allow their employees to work from home due to the nature of work.

Businesses that have the tendency to operate online such as an ecommerce website can allow employees to work remotely, at times. However, the key to make work from home policy a success is solid communication between the employees and employers. This is where a purchasing and  procurement management software can be handy as it helps businesses to keep track of order information, customer information, and invoices. In addition, it keeps everyone connected at all times.

Here’s why businesses should rethink their work from home policy:

1. Time saving

As per a Careerbuilder survey, it is believed that:

• 39% of employees love to gossip in offices.
• 27% of employees love to stop by at a friend’s desk.

The numbers show enough evidence to know that employees tend to spend most of the time away from their workstations while working in an office. Compared to this, working from home is easier where they face fewer distractions. Further to this, there are no colleagues to communicate with when you are working at the comfort of your home allowing you to be solely focused on your work.

2. Money saving

It goes without saying that allowing employees to work from home can significantly cut down expenses. For instance, office rents, electricity bills, maintenance bills etc. can cut down a major chunk of your business’ earnings. When employees work from home, they use their own electricity and computers, making you spend less on bills.

There’s benefit for the employees as well. They get to work at the comfort of their homes and have flexibility of time as well, if the company allows. Other than that, employees don’t have to spend on transport fares, parking fees, and more. Therefore, it’s a win-win situation for all

3. Hire employees with potential no matter where they are

Many businesses lose potential employees because of distance. When an organization allows employees to work from home, distance does not matter. No matter if they are living in another state or another country, a company should hire individuals that have the potential. All you need is to conduct a few interviews online and determine if the candidate is good for the designation or not. In some cases you can even ask employees to visit you at different intervals to stay in touch.

4. Happy employees

Lastly, the productivity and efficiency levels of an employee will increase only if they are provided with an environment that suits them. Working from home means that people get to manage their personal and professional lives equally.

Three verdict

If a business can afford to work remotely, they should consider allowing their employees to work from home. Not only will this save time and money, but will mutually benefit both parties.