Working Remotely Is On The Rise And Companies Love It
According to Gallop, the survey company, 37% of people employed by a business do some or all of their work from home and the number continues to rise.
Both companies and workers report positive benefits from having their employees work remotely. Companies are saving a lot of money. Forbes magazine reports that American Express has annual savings of $10 – $15 million dollars and Aetna, where about one-half of their employee now work remotely, was able to reduce 2.7 million square feet office space, saving the company $78 million dollars each year.
Many workers prefer to work distraction free. 86% of workers who work remotely said that they prefer to work alone and two-thirds of their managers said that those remote workers had higher productivity.
A study by PGI, a provider of software services, found that “80 percent of workers reported higher morale when working from home, while 69 percent reported lower absenteeism”.
And, according to a study published by Stanford University, working remotely reduced employee turnover, with job attrition rates falling by over 50%
AfterCollege, a career network for college students and recent grads seeking employment, 68 percent were more interested in working for a company that allowed them to work remotely.
With longer lifespans, older workers are discarding the idea of retiring at the age of 65 and 34 percent of them would like to work from home, this according to AARP.
Today’s technologies and readily available low cost cloud services are making working remotely from a home office easier and less expensive than ever before. American Voice Mail provides local and toll free phone numbers that ring directly to a remote worker’s cell phone.
Additionally, Virtual Voicemail, Fax to Email, Desktop Faxing and Phone Numbers are all readily available, many at no additional charge, and replace the tools once reserved for a physical office.
Internet service is usually provided by the remote worker’s home Internet service and their cell phone.
Remote desktop services allow remote workers to login to the company’s computer system from anywhere and Skype and other online meeting software has made it possible and easy for workers to collaborate with other employees and work directly with customers.
The traditional office is now being replaced by a virtual office, from which workers can do all of the same work from anywhere.