Is Remote Work Effective? Advantages & Disadvantages

Remote work means moving the central place of work away from the usual office workplace. Remote work is typically done from home, a personal office, or another employee’s favourite place. In the case of working from home, it can even mean that the commute to the office is no longer necessary. Some companies even offer this option to all of their employees and are known as fully-remote workplaces. Remote work offers the opportunity to hire great employees from all over the world. Remote work is also beneficial for reducing commute times and costs. It also helps to reduce the ecological footprint of employees.

Strictly speaking, teleworking, or working from home and remote work, is generally understood to mean working at home on a computer or laptop, participating in telephone conferences or even handling emails. More and more employees are choosing to work remotely to balance their personal and professional lives better.

Is Remote Work Effective?

A concentrated and undisturbed work environment in the home office means that employees are more productive and can achieve more than if they were sitting in the company’s open plan office. For the employer, this has the advantage that the tasks can be completed faster, more reliably and even better .

Teleworking has come to stay. The pandemic has allowed large companies to discover the possibilities that remote work has for employees.

Remote work has arrived to innovate business practices, with new collaborative and remote environments that optimize communication and the execution of different tasks from home. Next we will explain what are the advantages and disadvantages of teleworking.

Each country faces its own challenges, which are related to the degree of commitment that workers have with companies, access to the Internet and the management of tools and technological platforms that facilitate this remote modality, based on the criteria that not all The world is willing to update itself and resistance to change is still evident.

Also Read: Essential Tools To Stay Productive While Working Remotely

Advantages of a remote Work

If you want to work in a safe and pleasant environment, what better way than from home? And the possibility of working remotely offers various benefits for the physical and mental health of the worker. Inevitably, it is affected by work performance since it improves motivation and work productivity.

1. Travel savings

The employee feels more comfortable, seeing how they don’t waste time getting to the officer standing in long queues for the car or using public transport. In addition, commuting to the workplace can take several hours out of the day.

2. Conserve the environment and sustainability

Betting on remote work or organization also influences the environment and sustainability more than you think.

Firstly, in the office, the energy consumption of lighting and air conditioning is significantly reduced since not so many people need it.

But also the noise and environmental pollution suffered by cities around the world. When employees commute to their offices daily, either by public transport or by private car, however, it also supposes an additional economic expense that can be avoided.

3. Positive work climate

If you want to avoid gossip, rumours and intrigues, this is the best option. Maintaining communication with the team through social networks, websites, and applications, among others, facilitates clear and direct communication. It guarantees to avoid many unnecessary problems and a fluid and comfortable environment.

4. Infrastructures and facilities

When part of your employees or the vast majority work from home or somewhere other than the office. Often it is not necessary to have large infrastructures and facilities. The money dedicated to the workspace and the computer equipment will be reduced, and you can invest it in other activities.

5. Autonomy

Having the absolute freedom to organize your time for your work is very favourable. Sometimes being able to decide on a unique occasion to reconcile professional life with family life can be of enormous value. In addition, being able to work in pyjamas and slippers is the most comfortable.

Disadvantages Of Remote Work

We have explained the great advantages of a remote organization. However, there are also some disadvantages to consider, which can be decisive when choosing this type of organization.

1. Internal communication

A possible disadvantage of remote work or teleworking is the absence of verbal and non-verbal communication between employees and company managers. This feeling can eventually translate into demotivation and belonging within the business team.

As shown in ExpressVPN survey among remote employees, people don’t feel satisfied with their conditions. So, they spend ⅓ of working time playing games, streaming, shopping, or even searching for other job positions.The employers use verbal warnings, training, and terminations to impact their behavior.

2. It makes it difficult to work on certain professional profiles

Not all professions are the same, and therefore, neither is how the company’s activity is carried out. Therefore, there are various professional profiles in which the remote organization is not as effective, and the presence of employees in the offices is necessary.

3. Family and work

It can be a big problem if you don’t have a good space or you think you can carry out your workday inside the house, it can be a big problem. This space should have a place separated from the family, where concentration can be found. To be able to more easily separate work from personal life. At this point, it is important to be disciplined and set schedules to comply.

4. Difficulty disconnecting

You can also see the option that there are people who are very demanding with themselves and do not know where to stop. Bringing work and personal life together in the same space can be a problem for the separation of one and the other. Therefore, the best option is to set schedules and respect them.

Also Read: Employee Engagement Among Remote Workers: 8 Key Practices