How Working Remotely Can Boost Employees’ Productivity

Sounds hard to believe, right? It’s actually the opposite! According to a 2018 survey by Flexjobs, employees working remotely at least once a month are 24% more likely to be productive and happier. Here is why and what you can do to promote their productivity.

Controlled Environment:

In today’s changing climate, we are seeing more and more employees working remotely than ever before. Workplace flexibility allows employees the freedom to work anywhere; with 84% choosing to work from home, 8% preferring coworking spaces, 4% visiting coffee shops and 0.5% going to libraries (Buffer).

One major benefit to working remotely is the ability to control your surroundings. Most adults know what environment makes them most productive, and this might be different from the colleagues around them. By working remotely, employees have control over small things that might have a huge impact, such as room temperature, a window with a view, natural light, fresh air, or the ability to change locations, i.e. work outside, move to the floor or a couch.

Another survey by SurePayroll found that 86% of people achieve maximum productivity when they work alone. Moreover, Flexjobs noted that 49% of people would rather work from home when they really need to finish a task. This can be as a result of various distractions that may go on in the office – i.e. office politics, a Chatty Kathy in the lunchroom, distracting music, impromptu meetings, or maybe the sensing others’ stress around them.

Flexible Hours:

Similar to a work environment, people work best at different times in the day. You’ve heard of the terms “Early Bird” and “Night Owl” and most likely you fall into one of these categories. By choosing their work hours, employees can be selective to the hours they are most productive.

According to FlexJobs, working remotely creates a better work-life balance and greater employee satisfaction, especially for the working families. Understandably, when employee morale goes up, work engagement also goes up. In fact, 76% of employees say they would be more willing to stay with their current employer if they could work flexible hours.

Avoiding the Commute:

It’s safe to say that most people dislike their commute to and from work. It’s time out of their day that they could be sleeping in, spending with the family, or being productive. According to Global Workplace Analytics, half-time remote workers save 11 days a year by not traveling to work! This in turn, lowers stress and can help to boosts employees’ general health.

Healthier Lifestyle:

Finally, and most importantly working remotely can lead to a healthier lifestyle. In fact, 77% of people in a FlexJobs survey believe that working remotely improves general health. This is definitely the case when it comes to working from home as it allows for a better diet, more exercise, and a generally healthier lifestyle.

By working from home, employees can use their breaks more productively. Lunch time can be spent cooking a fresh meal from scratch without sharing the kitchen with 20+ other staff members. Completing a few chores around the house, can allowing them to completely relax and unwind when they get home. Some employees may reenergize after squeezing in a midday workout. While others may benefit from a nap in the middle of the day or a quiet place to meditate.

What Employers Can Do to Boost Productivity:

With all positives comes some negatives. Loneliness, lack of communication, switching off and the loss of a team dynamic are some of the biggest problems among remote workers. In fact, 22% of remote workers found it hard to unplug after work, 19% said that loneliness was a problem, and 17% of remote works believe that working remotely had a negative affect on normal communication and collaboration with coworkers (Buffer). Brainstorming especially can be difficult when your team is working from different locations.

Thankfully, there are lots you can do as an employer to help nourish your remote teams and promote productivity. Team building is so important to cultivate a happy and productive team, and this shouldn’t stop now that your team is working remotely. There are lots of fun activities for remote employees.

We at Total Team Building have a list of virtual team building activities that with get your team connecting and communicating like never before. Our programs all focus on bring your team together and encouraging them to find fun and different ways to stay connected throughout the day!

Our most popular online team building game for remote employees is our Office Olympics. This program sees remote teams completing photo and video challenges, trivia and brain teasers TOGETHER while working REMOTELY! Want to find out more? Check out our Remote Team Building page for this program and MANY more!