Running your business remotely has become the new normal for many owners lately. Over this last year or so, a lot of businesses have been forced to change the way they work or shut down. In the time of the pandemic, crowded offices were no longer feasible, and a fresh approach to remote work was needed to survive. Many businesses made the move, and wIth hindsight, if more owners had seen the benefits of running your business remotely, when the pandemic hit, its effects may not have been so brutal.
It’s interesting to note that even before the pandemic, a study showed 80% of employees actually wanted to work from home, at least some of the time. In fact, this study showed that over a third of workers would have taken a pay cut in exchange for being able to work from home.
“If you’re too busy to build good systems you’ll always be busy” Brian Logue
So as things slowly make their way back to what we think of as normal, why should you consider running your business remotely? Well even before the crisis, business owners who moved to a remote workplace would have benefited from greater staff loyalty, engagement and productivity. When you include the cost benefits, it seems like an easy decision, especially as our new normal will never quite be the same as the old.
So today we will be looking at seven compelling reasons to run your business remotely.
Financial Benefits:
Firstly, let’s look at financial benefits. Workers working from home already have their infrastructure set up, making it more cost-effective than running an onsite business. This cuts down on your office and travel expenses. There’s also the possibility of reaching further than your local market, when working remotely you can literally access global markets.
Staffing Benefits:
Your staff are going to benefit as well. Studies show that there’s greater engagement and productivity from staff when they’re working from home. They enjoy the flexibility and being able to balance their life and fulfill all of their priorities. This is much easier when they are not stuck in an office workplace from nine to five.
Operational Benefits:
Operationally, running a business remotely is absolutely the best possible idea. It is more efficient and saves a lot of time. With the advancement of technology, people can communicate more effectively. Using the latest software can improve all aspects of your business, the use of which is encouraged when working remotely.
Employee Benefits:
Your employees can also directly benefit, in that they can apply for more jobs. When working within a business that is running remotely, they’ve got a greater scope of career progression available to them. This means they can start to find a work-life balance that really suits them.
Client Benefits:
Now if you can get it right, your clients are also going to benefit. They will enjoy faster service for a start. They’re also going to enjoy more transparency because you’ll be operating online anyway, so it’s easier to share. Of course, you can reach more clients with more flexible timeframes and geography, because you’re not tied to a nine to five site.
Owner Benefits:
Also, you as the owner will benefit if you run a remote business, simply because you’ve got more flexibility yourself. You can start to really scale and grow without being tied to a rigid routine. Your growth can happen faster and more expansively, simply because you’re working online where there are no boundaries.
Benefits To Humanity:
Finally, we cannot discount the benefits to our world and humanity. It’s fabulous to see people literally connecting across the globe, working in intercultural workplaces from right there in their home. One of the greatest benefits of remote work is to the environment, reducing emissions and damage simply because fewer people are commuting to work each day.
I hope that’s been helpful, and I hope you really embrace this whole remote work phenomenon, and make it really work for you in your business.
