Top 10 Benefits of Flexible / Home Working for Employers?

As an employee there are many benefits to working from home such as more time with the family, reduction in stress and less time commuting, however you might be wondering what the benefits are for the employer?

Read about the new UK law on Home Working / Flexible Working for all employees

A new law has been passed as of the 30th June 2014 introducing changes to the existing UK home working/flexible working laws, extending them beyond employees with children to all employees.  Some employers have been concerned about how this will affect production and the effect on their businesses.

We have decided to focus on the many benefits that home working and/or flexible hours can offer your business.

Top 10 Benefits of Home Working / Remote Working for Employers

The top 10 benefits of home working/flexible working for businesses are;

1. Increased Productivity
   Many studies taken place confirms that employees are more productive when working from home.  British Telecom (BT) has experienced a 20% increase in productivity thanks to telecommuting; they have over 15,000 home working employees out of 92,000 employees.
2. Empowered Staff
   Gaining trust with your employees who work from home makes them feel valued and empowered, feeling valued makes staff more committed and prove themselves to ensure the trust remains intact.
   Staff should be paid for their skills, not their time.  Making your staff know that they are valued makes them feel empowered, but also more responsible for their output.
3. Improved Staff Retention
   Retaining committed staff is vital to any business and stability can only be beneficial to the company image. A large staff turnover can tarnish any company image.
4. Brand’s Image
   The benefits from being committed to CSR, happier employees, potentially extended opening hours, and access to a wider talent pool for employees, your brand’s overall image will likely improve.  You will have happy customers who will receive better and more efficient service.
5. Expand Your Talent Pool
   Working from home opens your business to being able to expand your talent pool potential thus being able to recruit talented individuals nationwide and not just locally. The positive effect on your business will be seen in increased productivity.

   Perhaps consider a flexible start time enabling the employees miss out the worst of the traffic and are more productive at their desks.

6. Extended Opening Hours
   Many customers would like to consult outside the office hours for convenience, by encouraging flexible working hours the employee is likely to have no problem accommodating customers after hours.
   By offering flexible hours or start times could mean your business can now be officially open for longer working hours in a day, or even at the weekends, at no additional cost to your business reducing overtime costs.
   
   
7. Reduce Absenteeism and Tardiness
   Many large companies have both found that flexible home working results in employees taking unnecessary time off and fewer sick days and happier employees who are more willing to commit to their employer.
8. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
   Every business must be committed to CSR and flexible working hours will assist greatly by reducing your business’s environmental impact, saving around 4000 kilograms of pollutants per employee per year in travel.

   Your business is required to be socially responsible to its customers, staff, suppliers, general public, and the outside world.  Taking your business CSR seriously is a great marketing angle; customers support businesses that are seen to be socially responsible.
   
   

9. Reduce Costs
   Every business aims to reduce costs whilst not compromising on the productivity of the business. By offering a flexible work environment makes your business more appealing, and makes potential recruits more interested in working for you.  Apart from the salary, you’ll likely reduce your overheads, and potentially even downsize your office and its costs.
   
   
10. Growing your Business
    Growing and focussing on your business is of better value than having to manage your staff, contend with office politics and distractions. You can focus on the important aspects of the business.

Technology can make flexible and home working much easier

Make home working and flexible working hours work for your business by utilising the best technology available. The right use of technology can help make teleworking more effective.  Cloud Computing means that all staff can access their files, data, and applications from anywhere in the world, and collaboration tools such as Swyx Unified Communications will enable staff members to talk to each other (telephone, instant message, video conference, etc.), and collaborate (screen sharing, application sharing, presentations, etc.) more effectively than ever.