In today’s digital age, close to 70% of the Indian workforce is comprised of Millennials and Gen Z-ers (i.e. people in the early 20s right up to people in their early to mid 30s). Of the countless benefits that advanced technology has bestowed on these younger generations, having the luxury of telecommuting is one of them. The internet of things has made work from home – something that was only a fantasy for many about a decade ago – into a reality. The trend of telecommuting has quickly caught up in the past few years and having the luxury of flexible work arrangements has allowed global employees to enjoy the benefits of work-life balance.
Not only the employees, even corporate firms and employers around the globe have realised that telecommuting has a lot in store for them too. By giving their employees the freedom and flexibility to work from home, employers have become conscious of the increased productivity that they were able to extract from their workers. Closer to home, a survey conducted in 2017 by an Indian HR services provider showed that 53 percent of subjects surveyed preferred to work from home and 47 percent said they would rather commute to the office.
Whether it is allowing their employees the benefits of work-life balance or whether it is a move to save the company costs per employee, whichever the reason may be, Indian companies are readily adopting work from home policies to suit themselves. Organizations can save huge money that would otherwise be spent on infrastructure, transport costs, electricity bills and even food and beverage costs, just by allowing their employees to be able to work from their place of convenience. The corporate world’s reliability on technology and the positive change in company culture (where employees’ needs are also given due importance), have made this transition less challenging for both parties.
Among the various benefits of working from home for employers, is the need to attract and retain the Millennial workers. Because of the global exposure that they received while growing up and during the start of their careers, Millennials are really interested in exploring different paths to reach financial freedom. Maintaining a work-life balance is a top priority for them. They want to be highly productive at work, while also making time for personal commitments and priorities like family/children, hobbies, studies, etc.
Today’s workforce considers such life priorities to be valid reasons to work from home. They would be more likely to take up a job which allows them such perks of working from home, and are less likely to quit a job that offers flexible work arrangements. Owing to this realization, if more companies start offering remote working and telecommuting benefits to their employees, the quality of service, creativity and productivity levels will accelerate drastically in little to no time.
You might also be interested to read: Effectively Engaging with Millennials in the Workplace
But how can companies ensure the perks of working from home that they offer are not being misused? To solve this small snag, it is imperative that a level of mutual trust is established between employers and the employee. Companies must figure out what benefits do employees value the most and draw out policies around them. Having work from home policies in place will also help ensure employees always have valid reasons to work from home. Flexi-hours can be checked with the help of time-tracking applications; and various other software and communication tools can be utilized, like conference calls, video conference apps, voice over IP services (VOIP), virtual private networks (VPN) etc.
The bottom line is, telecommuting or working from home is a functional model that will remain high on demand for both employees and organisations as it offers a win-win situation for both.
Reference:
“Telecommuting is the new normal at work”, Shivani Kagti, 03 Sep 2018
