A great deal has changed in the past three years. The pandemic forced the world to adapt, and the workplace was no exception.
Much of what began as a temporary measure now represents a change of paradigm. There is no better example than remote work, or home working.
The model had been regulated in Brazil since 2017, but it remained little used until then. With the need for social distancing, its popularity grew. And today, companies that do not adapt to remote work already find hiring difficult.
Earlier this year, Microsoft published a study on trends in working models. The research found that 58% of Brazilians would prefer to move to hybrid or fully remote work in 2022.
What is more, 51% of those already working hybrid want to move to home working.
That means it is fundamental for companies to understand the impacts and challenges associated with remote work. In this article you will learn how to prepare your company and discover the advantages of home working.
Shall we?
What are the advantages of home working for your company?
As a business owner you certainly keep close track of the company's costs and revenue. So you know what it costs to keep a business open.
But have you stopped to consider how many of those costs are tied specifically to maintaining the workplace?
If you keep an office, for instance, your fixed costs have to include:
- Rent;
- Water and electricity bills;
- Phone and internet bills;
- Cleaning;
- Furniture;
- Items such as coffee, toilet paper, soap and the rest;
- Travel allowances for your employees;
Even in a hybrid model, many of those bills would come down. Imagine how much a company that can be entirely remote could save.
Talent from around the world
Ever imagined being able to work with the best talent wherever it happens to be? With home working, that is now possible.
Professionals no longer need to live near major commercial and industrial centres. As well as improving quality of life for the employee, that means a wider range of options for your company.
Your talent pool is no longer confined to the area around the office.
Your employees gain too
Home working means the chance to work with more flexibility
Many companies have used those cost savings to offer more benefits to their employees. And people who work from home gain a great deal in quality of life.
It is not only about more freedom or flexibility. Employees highlight benefits such as less time in traffic and better use of their time. And as you know, happy employees translate into a productive company.
Hiring outside the home-working model is also getting harder. Most Brazilians now look for remote opportunities. That is especially true in technology.
Highly specialised professionals can frequently choose where they work. And at the moment the preference is for remote.
People in the field were arguing for remote work before the pandemic. Software developers, for instance, enjoy the flexibility of working from anywhere in the world, for anywhere in the world. Those sought-after professionals are unlikely to give up that comfort.
Remote First: how home working can be applied in your company
Remote First means bringing home working into your company strategically. Under that model you study your company's activities with the aim of identifying everything that can be done remotely.
At many companies there are still activities that have to happen on site. Administrative functions, though, can certainly be moved to home working.
Consider a food factory, for instance. There, employees need to be on site, manufacturing and controlling the quality of the products. But the marketing team and the accountants can work remotely.
The first step, then, is to draw up a plan of which activities can be remote, which need occasional on-site attendance and which have to be based at the company.
With that list in hand it becomes easier to plan your company's migration to the Remote First model.
What should you consider when changing working models?
To start implementing home working at your company, it is fundamental to understand how to support employees, even at a distance.
Here are some tips for meeting that challenge:
- Consider a home-working allowance, such as reimbursing internet costs;
- Provide the equipment your employee needs to work;
- Agree how hours worked will be recorded;
- Set out your expectations of employees, such as the hours they should be available;
- Promote transparent, empathetic communication;
- Offer individual feedback to employees regularly;
- Listen to your team's suggestions and needs during the transition;
- Find ways to encourage socialising between colleagues and to recognise achievements and effort, even remotely;
It is also fundamental to consider the practical side of the work: which tools will be used day to day to enable interaction and productivity?
That list should include software suites for meetings, project organisation and the delivery and sharing of documents, for instance.
Home working: from improvisation to the future of work
Implementing home working was a rushed and forced measure for most companies. The results, though, were surprising: most saw not only a drastic cut in costs but an increase in employee productivity.
Today, companies known for engagement and employee satisfaction are already implementing the Remote First model. The focus is not only financial: improving quality of life for the worker is the priority for those companies.
According to Microsoft's research, for 53% of professionals, wellbeing and health have become more important than work. In Brazil the prioritisation of those two factors was among the highest: 71% of participants chose them as their biggest concern.
Home working means the chance to work with more flexibility. The employee is exposed to less stress, spends less time travelling and has more time with family.
And at your company, is that transformation already under way?