Virtual workplaces have become very popular in the last couple of years and it is becoming the norm for a lot of businesses. And if you look at the benefits, this actually makes a lot of sense:
Work-Life Balance
This is obviously the main appeal for the employees: spending more time with their families and more flexibility to have a work-life balance. Giving your team members the power to manage their work and life can increase their ability to perform successfully on both fronts. This is due to there being trust and respect between the employer and employee. If an employee understands the boss trusts and respects them, they are more likely to put in maximum effort.
Your employees can organise their days to fit their productivity schedule. Perhaps your Marketing Director prefers start the day early and then workout at noon. Maybe one of your team has school run responsibilities and prefers to work a couple of hours in the evening when the kids are in bed. They can easily and effectively intertwine their normal day-to-day activities with their work schedules giving them more flexibility. This flexibility makes people happier with not only their lives, but their jobs as well. And for the employer this means better results and employee retention. Win-win.
Also, no commute = more productive. This makes a lot of sense, as workers won’t have to spend time sitting in traffic or on packed public transport. Both of these things can potentially put employees in a bad mood before they even start the day. And bad mood = less productive.
But what are the benefits for an employer?
Less Micromanaging.
Instead of clocking the time your employees spend in the office (and you can’t always tell how much work they are actually doing whilst at the office), you can measure their success via analytical results and track how much time they are spending on each task using a time-tracking app such as Toggl. (That’s what we use). Remember, longer hours do not always mean better results. When people have specific measurable goals to work towards, they have to become more productive to reach them.
Save money
Just think about all the money you will save if you don’t have to worry about utility payments, having a lease, and everything else that goes with a bricks and mortar space! As I am sure you’re aware, that is A LOT of money that you could put away for other aspects of your business. But if you do like working from an office there are plenty of collaborative workspaces that allow people to separate their work from their home life without actually working in an office or being chained to a desk.
No Limitations on Hiring
The great thing about having a remote team is that you’re not restricted to a geographic location? With a virtual workforce, you can hire the BEST employee for the job, regardless of their physical location. (We have members of our team from the other side of the globe!) One of the great things about this is that it also enables you to expand your business into new territories!
With such great benefits for both employees and employers, it is strange that it has taken us so long to start implementing virtual teams but we believe this is the way forward. What do you think? Tweet us your opinion @StrategySMedia and use the hashtag #virtualoffice