Benefits of Remote Work

Krisp, the audio enhancing plug in for better conference calls, has a nice recap of facts and stats supporting the benefits of remote work. From a longtime remote worker and remote manager's perspective I'll share my take on their findings below.

1. Remote Work Boosts Growth-in the hay day of Comunicano we were growing in staff and revenue, and remote work led to it as my overhead was people, not real estate.  We paid better and got better. 
   
   
2. The Environment Angle- that angle has been around forever. When we worked with SightSpeed back in the 00's the whole idea of less travel cost and less driving to and from the office was one we regularly pitched to media. 
   
   
3. Employee Productivity-without question. We had soccer moms working while watching their kids play soccer. We had people working from beachfronts on tablets and laptops. There were people working while driving between homes in different states on mobile phones and tablets. We never saw anyone being unproductive. Clients we're happier with our approach of "always" on as we were in all 4 time zones and able to manage their work.
   
   
4. Freelancers-not exactly. A lot of "freelancers" only work for one company. This makes them employees. A good tax accountant  (CPA) for your business will help keep you on the right path. The key is being able to have the freelancers demonstrate they have income from other sources.
   
   
5. Working from Where-I've worked in my houses, apartments, in WeWorks, Regus suites, Airline lounge conference rooms, hotel suites and of course cafes, wine bars and restaurants all over the world but WFH (working from home) is the easiest and always the most relaxing. Back in 1976 when I was working for the Philadelphia Flyers I had a very big and expensive answering device from Bell of Pennsylvania that I could remotely access in my bedroom so I could be attending high school hockey games and calling in the scores from others that were reported to me nightly. This continued for 14 years where I could be anywhere, and still get the games results into the newspapers. As early as 1974 (when I was 14) I was working in the Press Box of the Philadelphia Wings. Reporters worked from there covering the games. Fax machines were their way of "sending" in their stories or they "dictated" to the sports desk.  Those were early examples of remote working that gave me an easy path into working that way the rest of my life.
   
   
6. Happiness-people who work remotely seem happier. They can be more relaxed in attire, there's no stress of a daily commute and there's less need to "look good" for others. It also gives people more of a voice and the feeling of being heard.
   
   
7. Flexible Work Schedule-Totally. But it's more than just flexible hours, it's the ability to work around your life. For married people with school age kids, being able to work around drop off and pick up hours means a lot to a parent. We scheduled conference calls around those hours and rarely did team members miss client calls. With UberConference in use, and before that GoToMeeting, we recorded the calls and people "caught up" by reviewing the call we uploaded to BaseCamp.
   
   
8. No Commuting- this is another point we made with SightSpeed way back when. But it goes farther. When people can WFH they start their day when they would have driven in to the office and work during what would have been the ride home. That earlier start allows for matters to get handled often before others are working in the office. 
   
   
9. Collaboration, Communication and Loneliness-while tools for collaboration have improved thanks to Slack mostly, which has replaced Skype, as the virtual watercooler and bulletin board. With app integrations that we never had with Skype, Slack has become the center of the "virtual" office. Collaboration tools are getting better, but still are not there. While lots of improvements have been made with conferencing apps, the issues are still remain.  
   
   
10. More Money By Working Remotely - without question the cost of working from home saves businesses money, but also saves worker money as well. No driving, means no gas bill. You don't have to wear business clothing so you save money on dry cleaning bills. Eating at home is cheaper than eating out.

As a proponent for remote work, and as a practitioner of it from an era that didn't have the category until today, the ability to grow the business, and to have your people grow is all about how you approach things. Remote work works.