Since the global pandemic started in early 2020, millions of employees around the globe have been working from the comfort of their own homes. What once seemed to be foreign now feels completely normal – so much so, in fact, that a lot of people would now actually prefer to work from home as opposed to traveling back and forth to an office each day. Many workers feel strongly enough about this to resign from their current companies when they’re faced with a back-to-the-office mandate. Employers need to recognize this fact, and act accordingly. If you’re currently in the process of recruiting and hiring new staff members, one of the most valuable parts of your recruitment package should be work-from-home job flexibility.
What Makes Work-from-Home Jobs So Appealing
Although there are some downsides to working remotely – such as the lack of contact with co-workers and the challenge of keeping focused on work duties, for example – most people who have been working from home since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic are now embracing the work-from-home concept. There are many aspects of remote work that make it so appealing:
- Achieving work-life balance – The flexibility of working remotely affords people the opportunity to better care for their families and themselves. Whether it’s having the time to home school kids, or simply being able to fit in a 30-minute walk during the workday, work-from-home jobs provide flexibility that doesn’t exist in traditional office environments.
- Choosing a community – Not everyone wants to live in a large metropolitan area. Thanks to the availability of remote work, employees now have the option of living in a community that better suits their lifestyle rather than having to live close to their jobs.
- Saving money – Put simply, working in an office comes with expenses – expenses that don’t exist with a work-from-home job. Working remotely means that the employee can avoid some of the costly necessities of commuting, including fuel, vehicle repair, and/or public transportation costs. But there are other cost savings as well, such as the money saved on work clothes, childcare, lunches out, etc.
- Alleviating stress – Working at home is, quite simply, less stressful than working in an office environment. Even people accustomed to long daily commutes would agree that traveling from home to a job and back again is stressful, whether you’re driving a car on a busy freeway or taking public transportation. And employees who experience more stress also experience more health problems, which have a negative impact on their work performance.
It’s easy to see why remote work has become so popular with employees from a wide range of industries, and why it’s vital to offer work-from-home job flexibility as part of your recruitment package. If you’re worried that your remote workers won’t be as productive at home as they would be at the office, we have the perfect solution: MySammy! Our cloud-based software measures productivity levels of your work-from-home staff, and we do it with full knowledge of the employees and without blocking websites. MySammy is specifically designed for managers of remote workers. Sign up for your free trial today!