Benefits to the Employer of Working From Home

Here are some of the real benefits to organizations (not just employees) that real companies are currently looking at:

• Real estate savings in the $Millions from not having to maintain as many offices and buildings.
• Employees working on average up to 5 or more additional hours per day since access to work is so easy at home and there is less stress and fatigue and wasted time commuting and getting stuck in traffic or caught in transit delays.
• Employees having higher morale and willing to work harder and longer without expecting more money (many employees are willing to take a cut in pay in exchange for the flexibility to work remotely, even part of the time).
• Geographic diversity, being able to recruit the talent needed without regard for location, willingness to relocate and relocation costs.
• Inexpensive compliance with Americans With Disabilities Act, versus constructing appropriate accommodations within a company facility.
• Reduced discrimination, people are evaluated based on what they can do rather than what they look like.
• Remote meetings are shorter and more to the point so things get done efficiently and less time is wasted in excessive chatter and going off on tangents.
• Enables effective Business Continuity Planning (BCP), without reliance on a specific location to be able to operate. The decentralized nature of working from home enables work to continue at multiple locations, even in the event of a disaster which stops work on some locations.

Bottom line: Working From Home really works and is not a way for employees to take a prolonged vacation and skip out on real work.  Management still needs to provide structure and set appropriate goals with the objective of evaluating people's performance by what they get done.