Working From Home: An Overview
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Table Of Contents
Remote working is something we've done for a long time.
It's become so common that the second question after "What's your occupation?" is "Are you working remotely?".
In fact, many of you are possibly reading our blog while working from home, although some of us have returned to offices or may be experiencing the hybrid model.
Have you ever tried to find out how long you've been working from home? Or, if you're planning a new professional path, have you considered how you'll work?
Let's look at what's transpired in this two-year-old work atmosphere. The Working From Home Overview is here!
Remote Work Facts
Working from home is not a new deal; in fact, 4.7 million people formerly worked from home.
As per data provided by the US Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4.7 million workers, or approximately 3.4 percent of the US employment, were already working remotely before the coronavirus. In fact, the coronavirus isn't the only culprit. The majority of the credit for this may be attributed to technological advancements.
According to a report conducted by Global Workplace Analytics, remote work in the United States rose by 173% between 2005 and 2018. According to these statistics, working away has been steadily rising since the early 2000s. As you can see, this is not a trend that will fade away once the quarantine is gone.
According to LinkedIn, 55% of American professionals believe that remote work may be successful in their field.
Overall, there is a broad consensus that remote work has a role in most businesses. It is especially true in software, finance, and media that have embraced the information age. According to the same 2020 telecommuting statistics, 75% of professionals in these industries expect to work from home in the future.
Fact: Remote working decreases greenhouse gas emissions by 600,000 automobiles, according to the State of Telecommunication!
Remote work is worthwhile to both employees and corporations, and it is also advantageous to the environment. The rationale is simple. Since employees can work from home, they don't have to travel each day, resulting in fewer automobiles being utilized and lower pollution levels.
The sector with the highest number of remote workers: Health services!
Web development, web design, and content production are frequently connected with remote labor in the technology and digital marketing industries. On the other side, the healthcare industry has the most remote personnel. It always comes to demonstrate that vast chances are worth searching out, no matter what area you work in.
In the second year of the COVID-19, several healthcare operators in the United States are still operating with some remote employees. Even after the pandemic, a hospital in New Hampshire plans to enable its IT, human resources, and finance departments to work at least a portion of the time remotely. A few hospitals in Pennsylvania allow flexible working arrangements for specific departments.
Technology and digital marketing positions are frequently connected with remote employment. According to the PwC USA Pulse Survey from 2021, 32% of healthcare executives strongly believe that employee preference is an essential aspect to consider when establishing back-to-office strategies. Parallel to this, employees appear to agree on working with more flexible hours.
Online or Resign!
If they are not allowed to work from home, 52% of men and 60% of women will quit.
Remote work has become quite popular among working professionals. Cost savings, commuting, time savings, better mental health, greater productivity are just some of the many benefits that remote working offers. The issue is so severe that 70% of Americans say they would forego employee benefits in exchange for remote work. They are willing to give up health insurance, paid leave, retirement benefits, and gym benefits to maintain their remote work positions.
63% of job applicants prefer to work from home
Start building remote positions if you want to hire and keep outstanding employees. It's because, more than any other form of employment, 63 percent of job searchers are seeking remote jobs today.
Are you having problems filling your available positions? Incorporating remote employment options into job advertising may have a considerable effect. Since 85% of Americans choose to apply for employment to work from home.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Remote Work
Those who prefer to work remotely see fewer distractions as the most significant benefit. It highlights the benefit of working totally from home and having more concentrated work time.
On the other hand, those who favor hybrid work, talk about spending time face-to-face with co-workers and the opportunity for interpersonal connection and cooperation that this sort of flexible work arrangement gives. Employees who like to be entirely in place, on the other side, are in the minority. The biggest reason for their decision is productivity, followed by improved access to technology and more accessible communication with others. Where people work best varies greatly depending on the sort of job they perform and how much collaborative time they require. However, it should be noted that there is no commute time, and a more flexible working system makes working remotely advantageous.
Advantages of Remote Work
Reduced Commute Time and More Flexibility
Employees save approximately 51 minutes per day while working from home. As companies consider reopening workplaces, many Americans ask what employment was like before COVID-19. More importantly, how long it took them to get there.
Among the most significant benefits of remote work is eliminating commute to work. In terms of both time savings and productivity, not commuting can improve a person's overall satisfaction and work-life balance.
Remote work appears to be beneficial thus far. Is the idea of full-time remote employment, however, the most practical?
Productivity: Best at home!
While some can be more productive at home, others are easily side-tracked. Even though each person is unique, one of these two models should be more effective in terms of percentage. To test the dilemma, Jose Maria Barrero of the Mexico Autonomous Institute of Technology, Bloom, and Steven J. Davis of Chicago Booth initiated [a monthly poll ]of US employees in May 2020. The poll examined on 30,000+ individuals aged 20–64 who earned at least $20,000 in 2019.
In an analysis of the data collected until March 2021, respondents' home productivity was on average 7% more than they expected. 40% of workers stated they were more productive at home during the pandemic than at work.
Power Consumption is Reduced by Working from Home!
The benefits of working from home are not only for us but also for mother nature. We can achieve many actions that will reduce our carbon footprint by working from home. Since office spaces use more energy, offices consume nearly twice as much energy as households. An office must have an optimal air conditioning system, several computers, and data servers, overworked printing equipment, and so on. When workers work from home, all these criteria are reduced. The behavior of office workers influences consumption. According to studies, every teleworker saves at least 5,400 kWh each year.
Working From home = Low Cost
Have you ever considered how much it costs you to commute to work? Or the money you spend on looking more stylish at work? Although such purchases appeal to our visual perception and make us feel good, they are expensive pleasures. We shop for workwear less now that we work from home. We also avoid spending a lot of money on things like skincare. Of course, it's not just about personal spending. Some of us drive to work. Consider how much money you spend on gasoline to go to work. Long-term employment from home can save a significant amount of money.
The Hybrid Model
Two years after the outbreak, global highly educated people are beginning to demand and accept flexibility in both place and timing. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, roughly half of the world's skilled professionals worked full-time in offices. However, by November 2021, that percentage had fallen to less than a third (30%) of all qualified employees.
The hybrid approach is presently the most popular, with most skilled workers spending some time in the office and working remotely. Between May and November 2021, hybrid work arrangements increased by 12%, from 46% to 58%.
As for why it's so popular, according to 78% of HR experts polled by Crain's Future of Work, flexible scheduling and working from home are efficient strategies to retain employees without investing money. Many businesses will have to adapt their strategic plans to compete globally. The hybrid business model is an excellent strategy to remain ahead of the competition. It keeps employees engaged and satisfied, and contributes successfully to a company's profitability.
Hybrid teams require the tools that physical teams use to maintain team responsibility. Whether remotely or in a physical work environment, BeforeSunset can help you retain team responsibility.
A hybrid working model can be a win-win case for employers and workers. It allows employers to hire qualified people without spending too much on office space or other overheads.
Fact: It's Getting Difficult to Fill Meeting Rooms These Days!
Approximately 17.3% of Manhattan's office space is available for rent. According to property consultancy firm Newmark, demanded rentals have declined from $82 per square foot at 2020 to $74 per square foot.
Disadvantages of Remote Work:
How to Cope with Downsides of Working Online?
Isn't it a little sad that every nice thing has a drawback? Even though remote working makes our living simpler in many aspects, it cannot be disputed that online working usually contributes to loneliness.
Before the pandemic, organizational psychologist Lynn Holdsworth researched remote working among journalists. Holdsworth discovered that full-time remote working increased loneliness by 67 percent compared to office employees. Based on 2019 data, the State of Remote Working 2020 research produced by social media management start-up Buffer, revealed that loneliness is the most significant concern experienced by remote workers.
Many people satisfy their social needs at work.
Friendship is the most vital ingredient of a pleasant work life, according to 70% of employees in a recent poll. According to this research, employees claim that they create not only professional but also social relationships in a shared workplace.
Employers who want to get out of the workplace may argue that the pandemic has resulted in the expansion of communication technology, reducing loneliness. Before the lockdowns, few of us utilized Zoom; now, many of us see our co-workers on the platform for hours every day. It's as though we're not speaking with each other.
However, these technologies are not an acceptable replacement for face-to-face connections for happiness. Psychologists from the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Cambridge evaluated the mental health of 119 young individuals in the first study to look into the impacts of Zoom since the outbreak began and found no link between online social interactions and happiness.
As a result, while distant technologies provide an essential substitute for face-to-face labor during a pandemic, they cannot address our human communication requirements. After the pandemic outbreak, researchers discovered significant increases in depressive symptoms and significant declines in pleasure and social fulfillment.
So, How Can We End Our Epidemic of Loneliness?
Don't worry; you can prevent this problem with specific steps. Let's find out!
Spend a day working outside the house.
A coworking environment, café, neighborhood library, or a friend's home might all be good places to go if you're feeling lonely. If you have a friend who also works from home, invite them to join you to collaborate. Although your work from home solution may be more ergonomic, keep in mind that you can carry a laptop riser, portable keyboard, and mouse with you wherever you go.
Even if you don't interact with other people, simply stepping out of the home might make you feel like you're a part of something. Working online does not imply that you must spend all of your days in your bedroom.
Furthermore, coworking spaces that may be rented for a reasonable price are becoming increasingly popular. For a modest charge, you may work in a contemporary office setting and take advantage of the building's amenities. You could meet someone who does the same work as you during your coffee break and make new friends.
Make plans if you're sad after work hours.
When you're feeling particularly lonely throughout the week, make plans with your friends. So, you are forced to go out which will eventually make you feel better.
Some days may be less pleasant than others, which is okay. We can't feel good all the time!
In one of his poems, Goethe notes:
"Happiness is in overcoming unhappiness. The worst nightmare is a long, long row of sunny days."
Use your daytime flexibility to your advantage.
Make use of the flexibility in your schedule to create time for yourself. When working online, most individuals work longer hours. It's sometimes good to leave the house a little bit earlier than usual. If you can extend your working hours and the traditional 8.30-17.00 working schedule is exhausting, you may solve the problem by working during the hours when you are most alert.
Listen to music!
Music has been demonstrated to boost productivity, creativity, and happiness in studies. Being alone with your thoughts may be difficult, and things can rapidly spiral out of control. Make your own Spotify or YouTube playlist to chill and focus during the work.
Wrap Up
Overall, these remote working data indicate that working from home is here to stay. Remote working has increased since the early 2000s, and there are no clear endpoints.
However, that does not negate that it is not without its difficulties. It's not easy as it seems to work remotely and handle everyday jobs and tasks while connecting your team asynchronously.
So, it's better to get help from tools that make lives easier, such as time management tools.
BeforeSunset is a perfect tool to enhance your remote work experience. You can track and manage your own and teams' time for all the projects you're working on. Allocating tasks according to the workload makes the processes much more efficient, while planning your day smoothly to spare some time for yourself.
Start your free trial today with BeforeSunset and experience the new generation productivity!
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