Working from home has presented a significant alternative in the reworking of the world’s established system of employment. However, despite its reputation as a convenient way to side step the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, this article will seek to establish the fact that its recent growth has only been a greater continuation of a pre-pandemic trend. Yes, that’s right, remote working might have been much more common than you think, and not just a trendy “postmodern” strategy of safer employment.
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Here are some examples of studies that aim to show the reader, remote working strategies have been alive and well much earlier than its recent onset would suggest. Furthermore, the recent lockdown has given us an opportunity to study in greater detail the consequences and benefits of WFH strategies on a deeper level, I think it would only be appropriate to throw in some current studies in as well:
- Gallup
Gallup, Inc. is a well-known American analytics company, well known for their worldwide polls in regards to a wide variety of business and societal issues.
In a 2013 article named “Remote Workers Log More Hours and Are Slightly More Engaged”, they cite their own analysis report titled “State of the American Workplace”, which reveals that 39% of the workforce in the United States was already engaged in some form of remote based employment. Keep in mind that this study was first conducted in 2010 and has continued into 2015 and 2016 with new iterations of the report. Therefore, it is quite clear that Americans (at least) have been thoroughly engaged in WFH strategies well before the 2020 pandemic; there was no impetus other than the efficient results such a strategy was likely to produce. In fact, the 2012 Gallup study revealed that employees spending around 60% to 80% of their work time from home or at an off-site location experience the most optimized level of productivity.
However, study in its propensity for objectivity, highlights that this sixty to eighty percent rule is indeed the optimum range found to increase engagement; no more, or no less. Therefore, workers should indeed spend most of their hours WFH, however, a portion of time should be dedicated to meeting face to face with their coworkers.
- Airtasker
The company Airtasker conducted a survey which included 1,004 American full time employees. Of those surveyed, 505 of them had already worked on a remote basis. The study highlighted the marked difference in actual work hours, where remote workers, besides saving around $4,500 on fuel, also gained, in total, 17 days a year worth of free time, due to not having to spend time, energy and money getting from point A to point B, with those points being out the backdoor of one’s abode, to the front door of the office.
The study also highlights that the average remote working employee even puts in more work than your average joe, specifically 1.4 more days worth of work per month. Furthermore, its not just about quantity apparently, but quality was also taken into account, as according to the study:
“On workdays, [remote workers] spent more time getting things done [and] office workers reported an average of 37 minutes each workday not getting work done (outside of lunch and standard breaks), [while] remote employees only lost 27 minutes of each workday to distractions.”
- Fast Company
Fast Company is an American business magazine and media company with a focus on a wide range of topics. In an article titled “Why remote work isn’t going away anytime soon”, they state their main point, supported by a Gallup study, which is that remote work is much too convenient to discard as an employment strategy. Indeed, they point out that simply better work performances from employees was “the biggest driver of the pivot to a remote workforce.” Interestingly, they did not highlight the role that the pandemic had in being the impetus of the exponential rise in distance based employments; rather, they simply state that the productivity results speaks for itself: businesses have had no problem implementing WFH strategies on their own because of the vastly superior output it results in.
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Their claim is backed by the mentioned Gallup study, which states that remote workers are “substantially more engaged” in their work when they are allowed to work from home for up to three to four days within the week.
- Stanford
The well known Stanford study led by Nicholas A. Bloom concerning the effects of remote work was conducted with the help of a NASDAQ travel agency company in China. In the experiment, 16,000 employees were tracked throughout a period of 9 months. Consequently, the results led to quite clear outcomes: specifically, a 13% increase in productivity. Within that increase, 9% consisted of employees working more minutes during their shifts, which includes fewer work leave and breaks in the middle of their work. Furthermore, 4% of this overall increase consisted of the employees making more calls than usual, based on the fact that the workers were employed in a call center.
After the end of the experiment, due to its success, employees were given the choice to stick with their new WFH
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In today’s digital era, an online attendance system is increasingly required to properly integrate into an up to date work strategy. By optimizing the role of technology, companies can build a better work culture and encourage business development.
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