Never before in history has remote work mattered as much as it does today. Technology has made remote work possible. A pandemic made it necessary. The remote workforce is booming as a result of historical events. As we move forward into uncharted waters where “work remotely” becomes the new norm on job descriptions, all employers and human resource specialists need to keep the current trends in mind.

Statistics are just random numbers until you interpret them. The numbers tell a story, each representing a person but collectively representing a workforce. Here are some interesting remote workforce statistics and the stories that they tell.

1. Remote Work Affects More Than Work

Remote work affects productivity and workplace culture. But it does more than just affect the companies offering it. It can affect overall mental health of employees, the financial stability of employees, the environment. and the state of real estate.

Positive Mental Health

Approximately 75 percent of workers surveyed in a recent study claim that remote work reduced their stress level and increase their productivity. To a degree, these remote workforce statistics make sense. When you work remotely, you have the freedom to choose your work environment. All individuals have different environmental needs. And 97% of workers say flexible or remote work would improve their lives on a daily basis.

Consider your own needs. how do you work best? Do you need a quiet environment with gentle, focusing music or absolutely no sounds but your own humming and the click of your keyboard? Or do you need the gentle buzz of coffee shop conversation around you?

When workers can control their environments, they have the potential to work harder and increase their productivity. They can control the comfort level of their workspace, from the type of chair they sit in to the desk they use. They can control their temperature and avoid annoying thermostat wars that take place so often in the office. They can also control the mental noise, such as interruptions from colleagues and office politics that can block mental productivity.

Remote workers thus will initially report improved mental health because they can avoid the things that caused them so many problems in the office. With discipline, they can achieve a healthier work-life balance.

Poor Mental Health

While many workers initially report a more positive state of mental health, many express concern regarding the isolation that remote work requires. Approximately 33 percent of remote workers surveyed during the COVID-19 pandemic expressed concern about the potential mental health problems working in isolation could cause.

Considering many a regime has used isolation as a means of punishment for prisoners of war, one has to wonder about the mental effects of working alone for hours upon hours. Those surveyed during the pandemic listed stress and weight gain as their primary concern when isolated from their colleagues.

Much of the success of working from home and garnering better mental health lies on the employer’s shoulders. Employers can create a positive environment both in person and remotely. A positive work culture can bleed over to those working remotely and boost their mental health in the same way a purposefully good work culture affects the office atmosphere positively.

Thus, remote work can lead to better mental health if employers understand how to create a positive work culture for their employees working remotely.

Financial Gains

Because of the reduced distractions and increased productivity, remote workers can hope to earn more money than those who work from an office. Recent reports indicate that remote workers earn more than non-remote workers.

Even if the pay from home compares to the pay at work, remote workers have fewer expenses than those who work from the office. Their work clothes, for example, will typically cost less. After all, leggings and a tunic with bare feet cost far less than a pair of slacks and a blouse accompanied with heels. Even if remote workers keep their office wardrobes intact, they can keep far fewer items in their closets. They also won’t have to update their wardrobes as often.

Remote workers also spend less on their commute. Even if you’re working from home half of your work week and in the office for the other half, your commuting costs are cut in half. Your lunches and snacks will cost less because you can eat from home. Co-workers can’t tempt you to go out for lunch or after-work cocktails when you work remotely either. In the end, remote workers come out on top financially.

Environmentally Friendly Work

Even if your work isn’t related directly to the environment, remote work has proven to improve the environment. Fewer commuters mean less traffic congestion and less air pollution. Generally speaking, the air is cleaner because people aren’t driving to work. If you can commute to the coffee shop that’s just a short walk down the street, you’re contributing positively to the environment. Remote workers have better control over their personal environments as well. They don’t have to wait for corporations to decide to make greener choices. They can opt to use less paper, turn their lights on less, and monitor their heating and air conditioning more carefully. All of these choices collectively create a healthier environment for our world.

Real Estate Impacts

Remote work allows people to live where they want to live. You no longer have to live near your work because your work is always with you. As a result, people can make decisions for their personal liking instead of their occupational convenience. Individuals can flee the city and the high cost of living or they can seek out an apartment in an urban area where they’ve always wanted to live. As long as they have a wifi connection, the world is their oyster.

2. Remote Work is Booming

The amount of people who work remotely at least once per week has grown by 400% since 2010.

These statistics about the remote workforce are especially telling regarding the success of remote work. Think about the far reaching effects of such growth. Fewer people in an office means commercial real estate costs will drop for companies. Companies do not need as big of an office front to house hundreds of employees because those employees are housing themselves.

A recent survey indicated that up to 40 percent of current at-home workers would quit their job if their employers forced them to come back into the office. Remote working thus is not just becoming a perk. It is becoming an expected norm for jobs.

Cloud Assist

Cloud-based software has grown immensely in the past several years. Reports indicate that SaaS has grown consistently by 30 percent each annum. SaaS is a popular cloud software service that has exploded since its inception in 2010. Small businesses in particular use SaaS to centralize their business processes. The growth of SaaS indicates that remote work will persist because the technology continues to support it.

Security

With all growth comes security concerns. When people go home to work or begin to work remotely, they need proper cybersecurity to protect company assets. Using home wifi isn’t enough to protect businesses from cyber attacks, ransomware, and spear phishing. Employees need more education on cyber security so they can protect their companies from home.

This also means that the growth and normalization of remote work will lead to growth in the field of cybersecurity. Expect cybersecurity businesses to begin booming as more people begin to work remotely. Employees will need more than basic home cleaning wipes to stay safe. They’ll need official training to keep their computers free of cyber bugs.

3. Remote Work Affects Productivity

Many questioned early on if remote work would negatively affect productivity. After all, no one is monitoring your progress. You can goof around all you want in your home office without fear of a supervisor popping their head in to check on you. But the most recent studies predict that the work-from-home trends will increase productivity in the domestic economy by five percent. The study attributes this increase to the lack of commute time, indicating that people actually work during the time they normally would commute.

Technology plays a big part in workers’ productivity from home. Simple innovations like noise-canceling head phones and microphones allow employees to ignore the neighborhood noise and focus on the task at hand.

Reasons for Productivity

Work distractions are unique to their environment. Home distractions include the neighborhood dog or the desire to deal with domestic tasks instead of sitting down and working. Office distractions include co-workers interrupting work along with the mental noise of office polities.

Thus, one could argue, remote workers have found a way to minimize their home distractions more easily than office distractions. You can ignore the looming pile of laundry behind you, but you can’t ignore the office mate that wants to share gossip.

Happy Workers, Productive Workers

Productive workers typically believe strongly in the type of work they’re doing. They’re satisfied with their employer and feel like they’re making a difference in their corner of the world. Thus, if an employer supplies the basic needs for comfortable work like reliable internet and wireless keyboards, and when an employee creates a zen-like environment at home, the employee will be happy and productive.

Furthermore, individuals who work from home have more time for family, exercise, and hobbies, and thus they’re able to strike a better work-life balance than when they’re at the office. They have no commute, and thus they have more time. They have their office, their computer, and their home office printer with their family, be it a fur baby or a real baby, just in the next room bringing them emotional support. It’s an ideal work environment that leads to maximum productivity.

4. Remote Work Culture Matters

Millennials, the growing workforce in the world, consider work culture more important than salary. In fact, in the U.S., 65 percent of individuals under the age of 45 would choose a better work culture over a higher salary. Approximately 52 percent of those above the age of 45 valued work culture over salary.

All this means that a healthy, positive work culture matters. Creating a positive work culture in person comes easy for good leaders. They know how to encourage their employees and lead with nobility to garner the best work out of each employee.

In the in-person world, a good leader will stop at his employees’ desks, ask them about their families, and foster strong relationships. In the remote-work culture, however, employees cannot do this as easily. Employees don’t have the face-to-face interaction that fosters a positive work culture. Thus, employers who want this culture need to encourage it more purposefully.

What Is Company Culture?

Company culture defines your business. It consists of yoru company’s goals, mission, and values. It takes time to develop and requires purposeful effort from administration to the HR department and down to the employees. Remote work culture thus becomes the cultural norms of what the company members reject, accept, discourage, and encourage within the business from a remote location. It’s the digital culture that allows employees to stay connected and continue with the same culture they had in the office. It gives employees this feeling of belonging.

A company that understands work culture will garner the same sense of belonging no matter where the employee is located. Employees will know what actions receive rewards, what their company expects of them, where they can act independently, and when they need permission from their supervisors. Even companies without a set or defined culture have a culture.

Because the remote work force is growing so quickly, companies must focus on creative a positive remote work culture. They need to utilize the tools available to them like a communication platform where they feel like they’re talking across the cubicle.

Successful Remote Work Culture Tools

Companies that have a successful, positive remote work culture understand the tools needed to create such a culture. First, they need to consider the technology that keeps their employees connected. Millineals will walk away from jobs that have substandard technology. Thus, companies who want long-lasting remote workers must also have excellent tech.

Second, companies need flexibility. Employees want to feel included and like they belong, but they also want the freedom to work where they want and when they want. Companies will retain their remote workers more often if they establish flexible hours and encourage autonomy. Finally, companies who encourage a growth mindset will retain their remote workers more often than not. They also will find themselves growing as a company. A growth mindset is the perspective that you can continue to grow and learn. Most often, your growth stems from learning from your mistakes. Companies with a growth mindset will respond to setbacks positively, noting they can learn from these setbacks and grow into an even better company.

No matter where your employees are located, the company culture should be welcoming and consistent for all of them. Moreover, it should provide the employees with the right opportunities to grow, learn new skills and explore beyond the boundaries of what they can accomplish.

Positive Remote Work Culture Perks

For one, a positive remote work culture will reduce the feeling of isolation that comes from working in isolation. Employees who work remotely struggle with loneliness. A strong work culture will give those employees a shared sense of purpose and camaraderie, reducing loneliness. Secondly, a good remote work culture sets your company up for success in the future. If you establish a positive work culture, it will withstand the test of time and the transitions that come with it.

Finally, a strong work culture will build long-term relationships. If your employees trust you and enjoy the work culture, they will be more willing to come back to the office when the time comes if you need them to. The strong work culture will apply whether you’re in the office or working remotely.

Creating a Strong Remote Work Culture

A strong work culture is built on an environment of trust. Thus you need to foster openness and trust with your team. Communicate high-level decisions with the team members to prove you trust your employees to handle their work no matter where they’re working.

If you trust your employees, they will trust you and work hard for you. To demonstrate this trust, focus on your employees’ output rather than the amount of time they spend online. Focus on their end product, and encourage them for this.

Give your employees the space they need to work, and trust that they’re doing their work. Check on them occasionally so they know you care, but do not badger them. Second, share your company’s goals. If everyone on your team understands the company’s big goals, they can work together to achieve them. Find a simple way to describe the organization’s mission and goals, both long and short-term.

As you share goals, define the remote work policy for your company. Employees will know what to expect if you state the policies up front. The policy should include the following elements:

Number of hours employees must be online

Specific times employees must be available

Company stance on employees making their own work schedule

Requirements to travel to the main office

Stipend to set up home office

If you communicate clearly with your remote team, you will foster a positive company culture. No matter where your team members work, prioritize face-to-face meetings. Remote workers face isolation and loneliness daily. Leaders should establish specific times to hold regular one-to-one video chats and meetings to establish trust and celebrate the individual achievements of their employees.

When you have video meetings, encourage your team members to turn on their videos to establish stronger face-to-face communication. Finally, collect feedback regularly from your employees. If you’re just starting now to manage a remote team, you will make mistakes. You need your team members’ critical feedback so you can improve your leadership and build a cohesive team.

5. Remote Work Works

The 2020 pandemic forced many companies to quickly transform their work force to a remote work force. Not all companies will transform back into in-person work, though. In fact, recent studies indicate that up to 70 percent of the workforce will be working from home by 2025. Surveys like this one indicate that remote work can work well for both employees and their employers. Here are a few reasons why.

Remote Work Attracts Talent

The jobs that give individuals the opportunity to work remotely will attract more people than those that chain their employees to a desk in a cubicle. Images of windowless offices, days without seeing the sun or anyone other than your stiff-collared co-workers do not attract dedicated, hard-working individuals.

Many individuals care so much about working from home, they’re willing to take a pay cut to do so. They recognize the savings of not commuting or establishing a work wardrobe. Furthermore, they understand the value of having a home support system and will sacrifice a high-paying salary to establish a better home-work life balance.

Remote Work Improves Business

Studies indicate that businesses lose over $600 billion a year because of workplace distractions. Employees have other employees not to mention workplace politics and gossip to distract them daily when they’re working in person. But when individuals work remotely, they can control their distractions. Plus, if you foster a solid remote workplace culture, you’ll have more productive employees and a stronger business overall.

Remote Workers Like Their Jobs

Companies who give their employees the flexibility of remote work will have happier workers. Surveys indicate that workers who commute to their home office rather than their company office are happier with their work and more satisfied with their jobs.

Happy, satisfied workers are productive workers, dedicated to the companies they serve.

Remote Workforce Stats Tell the Future

The statistics surrounding the remote workforce tell a current and future story. More individuals are working from home, and more companies are experiencing increased productivity as a result. At-home workers deal with more controllable distractions, and as a result, they simply get more done. Furthermore, employees working from home tend to be more satisfied and have a better home-work balance. They’re healthier, and they’re more dedicated to their work than ever.

A company’s success in managing at-home workers depends heavily on their ability to establish a positive corporate culture for remote workers. The future looks positive for remote workers as a result of the trend to move employees home.

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