The potential for this new research to help inform discussions about remote work policies excites Choudhury. Giving knowledge workers, particularly those who work solitarily, the freedom to choose their location could benefit not only employees, but companies and the environment, too. Moreover, they’re saving vast amounts of time each week by forgoing the daily commute, which also reduces absenteeism and increases productivity.
So, can people work remotely, regardless of whether they want to or whether they’re actually able to? We asked respondents to rate their response on a scale of 1 (“not at all”) to 5 (“completely”). We asked respondents if they’re currently working remotely or in a hybrid setup. The result was quite evenly split, with 54.6% saying they’re currently working remotely or in a hybrid setup, and how companies benefit when employees work remotely the remaining 45.4% saying they aren’t. And we have interesting findings for you on what the benefits of working remotely are, whether remote work is indeed happening, and how important it is to workers in the UK. Because of that seismic change, we included questions around remote work in our Great Discontent survey, which surveyed 500 workers in the UK on what matters to them in a job.
Fully remote model
Remote work allows employees to find the best possible jobs for their skill sets, wherever they are in the world. As remote work becomes more commonplace, let’s dive into the benefits of remote work. Meanwhile, “I have fewer distractions” (17.6%) and “I’m more productive” (20.6%) do not rank as highly in the list of most popular benefits for those in the UK. Since distraction is regularly cited as a major factor and inhibitor to productivity, we’re surprised that these don’t rank as highly as we thought they would. Perhaps the remote work trend is more a pandemic-driven rather than paradigm shift in the end, and now that people have become comfortable in remote work, they realize it’s not as important as they once felt.
If onboarding were to be done remotely, for instance, it would require significant rethinking of the activity to produce outcomes similar to those achieved in person. It happens in small scale companies and multi-million dollar organizations. There will always be likes and dislikes, tears, or anger in a working environment.
Location Independence
Remote working has all kinds of benefits including staff motivation, increased productivity, and employee retention. And remote working doesn’t just apply to staff that work from home (telecommuting). It includes freelancers, contract workers, frontline workers, international workers, etc. A frequent complaint in today’s world is the difficulty of striking a good work-life balance. Working eight or more hours a day leaves little time for family — especially when commutes and sleep are factored in.
Likewise, the freedom to choose where to live is far down the list, with just 13.2% citing that as a major benefit of remote work. Again, we thought this would rank higher given the ability given by remote work to avoid the high costs of living in dense urban centres such as London where most jobs exist. With nine months of experience under their belts, more employers are seeing somewhat better productivity from their remote workers. Interviews with chief executives about remote work elicited a mixed range of opinions.
Offering remote work makes businesses more competitive
One study found people who work remotely generally make around 1.9% more than their office workers. While employees love the freedom remote working offered, employers benefit from wider access to talent and more productive staff. One study found 30% of remote workers felt more engaged and productive working from home.
Nearly two-and-a-half years on, organizations worldwide have created new working norms that acknowledge that flexible work is no longer a temporary pandemic response but an enduring feature of the modern working world. Without the need for long commutes to work and travel to other cities and countries, people find that they have a lot more time for their work and their families. This “found time” can be used to get more work done or spend more time with family, exercising, or relaxing. To put their findings in perspective and offer a framework for future research, the researchers emphasized the nature of a patent examiner’s work, which requires little coordination with co-workers on a daily basis. Prior to TEAPP, examiners could work from home as long as they were within 50 miles of the USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, but they had to report to the office once a week.