With more and more industries opting to hire remote employees and set up remote teams, more and more workers are looking at the option of working from home.
If you run an online business, then you’ve probably spent some time thinking about whether or not to employ remote workers who work from home or in different states, even different countries because it’s certainly not the easiest way to do business. But it can be very advantageous if you find the right people and appropriate way to manage it.
Working from home can save workers plenty of time, money, and headaches. But it also has its drawbacks. The benefits are often difficult to balance with the cons which makes it difficult to decide whether you should opt for remote teams or not.
This blog will share some of the pros and cons of work from home arrangements for remote teams, which will help you make an informed decision about your business’s needs.
But before that, let’s first understand who remote teams are and how they work.
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Who are remote teams?
A remote team is any group of individuals working together in different locations, whether they’re in other cities or countries. Allowing everyone to work remotely can be beneficial for both companies and employees.
Research shows that companies save ample resources on office space by utilizing telecommuting workers and people who work from home enjoy their jobs more than those who don’t. This may be because an employee feels like his management trusts him to get his job done, even when he isn’t under observation all day.
Studies have also shown other perks of remote teams such as 24-hour customer service, less traffic congestion due to fewer commuters, and reduced employee turnover.
By adding remote coworkers to your company, you could potentially see higher productivity as well as lower operational costs and happier employees, which is best for every business.
So now, as you are familiar with the remote teams.
Pros and cons of remote working:
Pros:
- More freedom
The work-from-home arrangement is perfect for a remote team, as it gives its members more freedom.
Working remotely means you’re not chained to a desk, which allows you to take breaks when necessary.
There’s no limit on how many hours you can work per day. Also, working remotely doesn’t mean arriving at an office each morning by 9 am and staying there until 5 pm. You can set your schedule based on what works best for your lifestyle.
Giving your employees more control over their time at work is one way to reduce higher turnovers, and such flexibility enhances workers’ morale.
- Good work-life balance
Working remotely allows you to create a better work-life balance. You can spend more time with your family or just relax after a long day.
However, it is essential to have some kind of structure so that you still get things done effectively. By setting times that are free from interruptions (e.g., scheduling work hours), staying focused on tasks during those times, and keeping distractions such as social media at bay will help ensure that you do get things done without spending all day in front of your computer screen every day.
Work from home allows you to schedule your life rather than being scheduled by your employer plus having flexible working hours means being able to spend more time doing what you like, whether that’s taking up new hobbies or going out with friends.
- Reduced business costs
One major benefit to allowing remote work is a significant reduction in overhead. There’s no need to provide office space, internet access, or cell phones, which cuts down on expenses significantly.
This creates an environment where business owners can spend more on their employees’ salaries and give them more incentives.
The result?
A happier staff with higher morale and motivation. In many cases, you’ll also have less employee turnover because people who enjoy working remotely tend to stick around longer than those who work at an office every day.
- Increased productivity
One of our favourite benefits of working remotely is increased productivity.
Studies have shown that employees are actually more productive when they work from home, especially in cases where employees telecommute two or three days a week instead of every day. Employees feel less distracted in their home environment and focus better on the tasks at hand.
What’s more, since they don’t have to commute, they can save time by getting right to work without wasting energy on travelling.
A study reported that workers who telecommute even one day per week were 13 percent more productive than those who came into an office every day.
A review published in Human Relations found similar results: telecommuters performed up to 36 percent better, were 13 percent happier, and took 6.6 percent lower wages than their counterparts doing traditional office jobs.
- Improved retention
Employees who work remotely can stay with a company longer.
A study by American Express found that employees who worked at home every other week were 15% less likely to leave their jobs than those who worked in an office.
Employees also found themselves spending more time at work since they weren’t leaving as early to commute home, meaning they stayed longer hours, which resulted in more productivity and improved retention.
Companies have also seen decreased turnover rate (12%) among remote employees versus those based out of an office (24%). It has been shown that companies generally see better overall performance from remote teams because remote workers tend to be more efficient.
Now that you know the Pros let’s take a look at the Cons of remote working.
Cons:
- Gap in interaction
The obvious drawback to working from home is that you’re more isolated than if you worked in an office. You don’t have colleagues to talk with managers to collaborate with, and it’s difficult to get motivated when there’s no one around you with whom you can discuss your ideas and projects.
These factors could add up to slower progress towards achieving goals than someone who works out of a traditional office workplace. Even though technology like internet phone calls has reduced some of these negatives, it isn’t as good as actually being able to meet with others face-to-face.
- Tough to keep your motivation up
When you’re working from home, it can be hard to motivate yourself. Since you don’t have coworkers around you, who are there to prod and encourage you in your day-to-day tasks and even give motivation when needed, you may feel like slacking off or putting work off at times.
This isn’t a good situation for anyone involved. Your management won’t like that you aren’t meeting projects and deadlines, which leads to lower productivity.
Meanwhile, if you do slack off or put work off too much, then eventually, they might take necessary actions against you. So, keeping up with motivation is crucial if you want to maintain a healthy balance between your personal life and professional life.
- Dependency on technology
One common drawback of working from home is you could become too dependent on technology.
Whether it’s your smartphone, laptop, or Internet connection, there are many ways for you to connect with others and complete assignments as long as you have access to these tools. However, losing one or all of these connections at once can create a major issue for getting work done on time.
In fact, 43 percent of employees say they worry about losing their mobile devices while they’re away from their desks. In addition, a Harris Interactive survey found that 35 percent of employees who reported having connectivity issues at work said they worried about losing their ability to perform assigned tasks when technology let them down.
So before you decide to work from home, make sure your business has an alternative plan for delivering work regardless of your location.
- Higher distractions
According to a study, 29% of remote employees who worked remotely were significantly more distracted during their workday than those who worked in an office.
The researchers linked these distractions to transient situational factors like day-to-day interruptions rather than intrinsic ones.
This means you’re likely to be less focused when working from home, no matter how hard you try. And if your attempts at staying on task are unsuccessful, it may negatively impact your performance over time and eventually cost you your job.
- A high level of self-discipline is required.
We’ve all heard how great it is to work from home and not have to put on real pants if you don’t want to.
The reality is that it takes a high level of self-discipline to make working at home as productive as being in an office. As there is no one around, it can be easy to procrastinate or get distracted by other hobbies.
That is why it is highly essential to have a high level of self-discipline when you are working from home. Having a routine and some structure in place will help you stay on task, even though you don’t have anyone breathing down your neck for meeting deadlines.
So while working from home is certainly convenient, comfortable, and advantageous for many, it has some drawbacks as well.
Fortunately, with the right timesheet software for remote employee tracking in place, you can avoid some of these downsides and still reap many benefits.
Don’t know what Employee Tracking Software Is?
Don’t worry. We’re here to guide you.
Employee tracking software allows you to track your employees and helps you to know when and where your employees are working. The software is particularly helpful if you have a large remote team or one that works in multiple locations globally.
With the appropriate remote employee monitoring software, you can keep track of your remote staff with ease. The software keeps track of how much time a remote worker spends on a specific activity, site, or app so that your employees can stay highly productive while working.
The key benefit of using employee monitoring software for work purposes is that it ensures all the employees are using business systems and apps in line with company expectations, and organisational resources are also being used in a way that will help grow your business.
To put it simply, employee tracking software is an essential part of managing and keeping track of your employees, which leads to more effective results.
Are you searching for the best software that will meet your organisational needs?
Well, your search ends here.
Workstatus is a fantastic tool for tracking time at work.
It allows you to keep track of several tasks your employees are performing, provide daily reports, and share screenshots to give you informed insights about your employees’ productivity. It can help you determine where time was spent on projects, how many miles were driven, basically anything that contributes to a healthier work/life balance.
Workstatus is also a GPS location tracker that allows you to track your employees’ location in real-time. So, for example, if an employee works from home, you can access where they are and see what they are working on at any given moment. You can use it on all of your mobile devices, so no matter where you are, whether out of town or sitting in a coffee shop for that much-needed break, you can be sure that all operations at work continue seamlessly. And you will know who is doing their job as opposed to slacking off.
You can even set alerts when employees log in and log out! A great way to keep track of your remote team who is spending too much time away from their desk or getting off early.
Workstatus not only helps your business but also helps keep your employees accountable by making them aware of just how productive they are throughout the day.
If you also want to make your employees more efficient and want your business to flourish. Workstatus is worth giving a try.
You can try our free timesheet app and software today
Sign up now and claim your free 14 days trial today!
Conclusion
Managing and tracking your remote team doesn’t have to be complicated.
While there are several benefits and drawbacks to remote work, the advantages greatly outweigh the disadvantages.
Furthermore, you can simply avoid all of these disadvantages by adopting suitable employee monitoring software that will assist your team to stay productive and efficient while working from home.
Well, that’s all for today. Let us know in the comment section if we have missed any advantages and disadvantages in our list.
Thank you !!
