It’s hard to find a person who hasn’t heard about remote workers. What’s all the fuss about? Is it just a trend or it’s come here to stay?

LinkedIn reports: in 2019 72% of talent professionals agreed that work flexibility will be very important for the future of recruitment. We can easily understand why – two-thirds of workers confess they would take a new job if it had a better commute. Needless to say how many of those people would change their jobs for even a bigger freedom, including flexible working hours and less control from the managers.

But here’s the main question: why should YOU choose such workers for your business?

Let’s find out.

1.     Workers avoid the stress of the commute

The part which is so important for the employees turns out to be of great importance to the company, too. It’s not a big secret that long commute can cost anyone a lot of nerves and directly influence the working attitude for the day. Imagine that your workers – instead of having to waste their time in traffic jams – take a walk with their dog, or have a cup of morning coffee with their family, or get a little more sleep and a little more time for physical exercise. Do you think their new day at work would be happier? And happier employees make more productive employees.

2.     Access to the real talent

When you hire an employee for office work, you limit yourself to some narrow pool of specialists. Sometimes it gets just as small as your city, especially if you’re looking for a professional. Today many high-quality workers are ready to relocate only for good money, and you will not always have that budget. If you try searching for remote workers, you may be surprised by the level of quality service you can get at a smaller cost.

3.     Business saves money

Talking about saving money. Have you tried to calculate how much money you lose when you get call-ins due to the weather or illnesses? Unscheduled absences can cost a business up to $1,800 per employee per year, and it’s only the smallest expense item. Let’s add here some office services you’ll need to pay for – all the electricity bills, furniture and office supplies cost, cleaning services… Of course, if you hire a remote worker, you shouldn’t hope they will deal with all the outgoings themselves. Yet covering those expenses will never come close to the amount of money you pay for office needs divided by the number of workers you have.

4.     Employees save money

Gas doesn’t get cheaper; neither does public transport. So only by commuting your employees get more stressed and spend more money. Remote workers get to save money on various things other than transport: lunch-outs, clothes and accessories for the office, and many small things that together may give more than $4,000 per year (according to the ConnectSolution Survey). Isn’t that impressive!

5.     More productivity from the same people

This is the best part of it. Countless studies support the idea that even the same workers become more productive when they get the chance to work remotely. The reasons for this are very simple:

• Employees are less distracted by chats with colleagues or calls for the meetings. Once a person gets to go back to the task, it takes their brain up to 25 minutes to get to the point where they stopped. Just think how much working time is wasted only because of distractions!

• Employees can use their strengths when they are actually ready for it. It’s a well-known fact that a fixed schedule cannot be good for everyone even for biological reasons. Somebody can be incredibly productive at night or in the early morning and will reach the best results by using that power.

• Employees get more freedom and feel more responsible. When your workers realize they will be in charge of their own time they gradually will start following their inspiration. This can easily lead to spending as much time as they need on the project (even if it means more than 8 hours a day). In a recent Global Workplace Analytics survey, 53% of remote workers said they are likely to work overtime to finish something, while among the office workers only 28% stated the same. Give your team a chance for a flexible schedule and you will be surprised how well they can manage their work-life balance.

6.     Increased employee retention

Remember how expensive the recruiting and training process is for your company. Research reveals that 95% of companies who deal with remote workers report a big positive effect on employees’ retention. For the jobs which require wide educational process this can be even more valuable.

7.     Workers feel connected with technology

Nowadays all the companies use technology for communication. It’s even more essential for big companies. And many of the workers don’t see people they communicate with in the office every day, so it’s very natural for them to stay in touch via messengers and e-mails. Today it’s easy also to find services which will help you with creating an online workspace; and because of our love for social media of all sorts some people will even feel more connected to their colleagues in such workspaces. Just remember to make a small plan of how you can keep both official and informal communication flowing among your remote team members.

8.     Your business gets greener

We talk about saving the environment a lot, and hiring remote workers can be your big step towards making your business greener. Even if your employees work remotely part-time, you will still save thousands (or even millions) of barrels of oil, tons of greenhouse gas emissions and hundreds of kilowatts of electricity. You can also encourage your workers to use e-documents instead of printed ones as much as possible, which will also make their life a little easier.

Do these benefits seem solid enough to at least give it a thought? Truth be told, hiring remote workers will not be good for any business. But if you’re reading this article, there probably are some positions in your company that can be filled remotely. To do this, you will definitely need to think over many aspects including how you will change processes which were there for ages. However, the result may turn out to be just remarkable.