Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the economy has been on hold. Lockdowns went into effect in March last year, and businesses were encouraged to have employees working from home or remotely to maintain social distancing.
While this was not possible in all industries, the economy’s closure forced many businesses and organizations to consider the ways that employees could work remotely. Although this took some logistical planning at first, the abundance of technology that we now have has made it feasible.
With the economic crisis that Sri Lank experiencing now, can getting employees to work remotely save your business money?
Here are a few insights that will help you strategize.
Saving on overhead costs
The most obvious cost saving that results from telecommuting is reduced overhead costs including rent, rates, utilities and supplies. If you only have a small percentage of your employees on premises at any given time, you can reduce the size of your premises, saving money on rent, and utilities. Similarly, other costs such as catering, cleaning and transport could be reduced or eliminated by remote work. Companies that operate virtually can also save money on business travel. Many companies have realized that they don’t have to pay for expensive interstate or overseas travel, when they can simply leverage remote communications platforms including video chat.
Remote working can increase the efficiency of employees
While it requires a certain degree of trust to allow your employees to work from home, your business could benefit from increased productivity. Employees who work from home are up to 13% more productive when compared to their in-office counterparts, according to a study done by Stanford University.
Some of the reasons for this productivity increase include:
- Less noise than in a loud office environment
- Less distraction by co-workers
- Minimal tardiness due to unpredictable commuting
- Reduced stress when not commuting
- Reduced sick leave and unscheduled absenteeism
- Elimination of unnecessary meetings
Improved employee retention
Recruitment can be one of the biggest challenges for businesses, and it can be even more frustrating when those carefully vetted team members decide to leave, especially after you have invested in them, trained them and allowed them room for growth and development.
Working from home can provide parents with childcare responsibilities flexibility, while other workers can enjoy an enhanced work-life balance that will help your business to see an improvement in employee retention.
Reduced costs of payroll
While you’re not likely to have happy employees if you want to cut their salaries in exchange for a more flexible workplace, research shows that almost one-third of employees would choose to work from home over a pay raise.
This means that you can reward your employees for their good performance with the flexibility of working remotely rather than a pay increase. You can keep your payroll costs down without compromising productivity.
Therefore, allowing employees to work from home unless they must be physically present at work will help you save money as a business, while allowing your employees to enjoy a higher level of job satisfaction.
Visit our blog for more helpful tips and tricks to help save your business money.