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Is it Time to Hire a Telecommuter? A New Study may Convince you to.
Technology has made it possible for a growing number of businesses to offer the ultimate in employee flexibility—the ability to telecommute.
Once upon a time there was a negative connotation of people who worked from home as being frumpy housewives who divided their time between watching Oprah and carpool duty rather than actually working. Those stereotypes are falling by the wayside though as more businesses learn a few important facts about the reasons people prefer to telecommute and the types of people who tend to be most successful with this work environment.
A new study conducted by FlexJobs has exposed a few secrets about telecommuting you’ll want to know before you make your decision as to whether or not it’s a good option for your business.
Busting the Housewife Myth
The housewife stereotype is more common than anyone wants to admit when discussing telecommuting as an option in any place of business. However, according to the FlexJobs Survey, a better work-life balance is the number one factor for people seeking a telecommuting job (weighing in at a hefty 79 percent) and not family, which is only a concern for 59 percent of people seeking work from home.
Most people actively seeking telecommuting positions believe that it will save them time—96 percent of them to be exact. 93 percent believe they can save money by working from home as well. But the surprising numbers came from the 86 percent who believe they’ll experience less stress working from home and the 78 percent who believe they’ll be healthier by telecommuting. It’s not all about being home to bake cookies for the children after school.
Who Wants to Telecommute?
Most business owners are surprised by the sheer number of employees who are not only willing to work from home, but also eager to do so either part of the time they’re working or on a full-time basis. Even without the potential health and wellness benefits, there are plenty of reasons for the average person to consider working from home and many of those reasons begin and end with the absence of a long ride to and from work every day.
People eager to embrace telecommuting are often well educated, experienced in their field, and often live in or around larger cities. These are cosmopolitan people who are generally attractive employees to have in the office. There’s no reason they shouldn’t be attractive to employers as telecommuters.
What Telecommuting Employees Mean for Businesses
While it’s important to consider the benefits that allowing telecommuting as an option brings to the table for your employees, it’s also important to take a little time to see what’s in it for you. You are running a business, after all, and not some charitable organization. You’re looking for greater profitability while cutting costs. Telecommuting is one way you can achieve these things for your business.
The University of Melbourne’s researchers in the Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society found that in addition to the health and wellness benefits it provides teleworkers with, the ability to work from a distance also allows workers to be more productive. Combine the increase in productivity with the lower overhead necessary for a workforce that’s largely “off-site” and it’s difficult to argue with the recipe for success this creates. Unfortunately for some businesses, the research also concluded that not all roles and positions within an organization are suitable for telecommuting.
Businesses should be aware also that not everyone who believes they want to work from home will make the transition successfully. For other workers, there’s no going back to a traditional office setting once they’ve experienced the benefits telecommuting can provide. The key in all things related to telecommuting lies in finding balance between the demands of home (and family in many circumstances) and work once office hours are a thing of the past. Is it time for you to consider hiring a telecommuter? Based upon the results of these two studies, it might be time to take that leap.
Do you offer a telecommuting option at your company?
