Ah yes, remote work. For the employee, it’s a blessing, but for the employer, it’s risky. Who would want to risk conflicting schedules and time zones, unreliable communication, and employees potentially slacking off in the comfort of their home. However, the team behind HappyFunCorp, a software developing company founded 7 years ago, beg to differ. In fact, they think the effects are quite opposite, and can lead to more time, greater flexibility, and higher productivity.
While remote work isn’t perfect, it too has as much upsides and downsides as in-office work. Just because someone is physically present in your office doesn’t mean the employee is doing their work in the most productive manner possible. In-person meetings don’t equal to successful communication either, and arguing otherwise is just “sheer intellectual laziness.”
My feeling is if a company doesn't have a way to support remote and flex work, they don't know how to manage for results https://t.co/DmtkCCDwnJ
— Christopher Mims???? (@mims) June 14, 2017
Source: Twitter, Christopher Mims
The team at HFC, while being based in Brooklyn, had worked with other teams from New Delhi, Milan, New York, Berlin, Campina Grande, and San Francisco. And in this digital era where Skype, Slack, and Github exist as a means of communication and passing on work, people from different timezones can be just as productive as those working remotely. In fact, the team had actually found a “massive, massive improvement in performance — a 13% improvement in performance from people working at home.” No wonder fully remote companies like Automattic, Gitlab, InVision, and Zapier are so successful- It’s because remote work can actually make someone more productive!
Source: Skillcrush
And as time goes by, more and more companies are making the transition from traditional office work to remote work. “Surveys done by Gallup indicate that in 2016, the proportion of Americans who did some or all of their work from home was 43%, up from 39% in 2012. Over the same period, the proportion who only work remotely went to 20% from 15%.” And who could blame them? Not only would you not need to consider physical geography, but because your employee is working in a place they’re most comfortable at, they tend to work harder and faster.
Source: Universidade Federal de Campina Grande
The only big thing that companies need to worry about when transitioning to remote work is the mode of communication. While you can’t physically check on them by walking over to their desk, you can definitely track their progress by messaging them on Skype or Slack and asking them to send over proof of their progress.
So with that in mind, should companies offer remote workers? Well while some forms of work definitely benefit more from the traditional work-in-the-office model, a lot of other companies, especially those geared towards technology, get more benefits from remote work.
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