Advantages and disadvantages of employees working from home

Today, all aspects of human resources are influenced by technology tools to further improve people’s processes and skills. As an HR professional, you do well to keep abreast of technological trends that strongly influence the type of people who run your business. These trends will help you find, manage and attract the right people and further consolidate your competitive advantage in the industry.

Using the benefits of modern HR technologies had led us to increase the number of remote employees. So, this article is about how effective remote employees are for an organization.

With the emergence of new technologies that enable most people to work from their homes, more and more companies are starting to let their current employees work from home while recruitment freelancers who live in different countries and even on different continents. Other companies also play with the idea of having some of their employees work from anywhere, knowing that remote workers can actually increase the overall productivity of the company. The expansion of home-based work opens up new opportunities for companies to work and structure themselves.

In addition to the opportunities and benefits, working from home brings new responsibilities for employers and employees. For example, the flexibility plan means that you must now seriously consider the requests of all employees who are on duty from home for 26 weeks at the time of the request.

Benefits for employees working from home

With an increasing number of employees working from home or using at least part of the home week as a basis for work, it is clear that there are a number of economic benefits, such as;

· Better employee retention — Working from home can help keep working parents with family responsibilities

· Access to more candidates — for example, people with disabilities who prefer to work from home

· Potential productivity gains — by reducing the number of interruptions and commuting time

· Increased employee motivation — with a reduction in stress and illness

· Financial benefits — savings in office space and other facilities

· Convenience — the ability to find sales representatives close to customers and not on your premises

· Better work-life balance — Employees who work from home can improve their health and well-being

Disadvantages of working from home

There are also some disadvantages for home-based workers, as most of them are related to those who work at home for everyone, not during part of their working week:

· Difficulty in monitoring effectiveness — it can be difficult to manage and control the work of homeworkers. Learn how to effectively manage staff working at home

· Productivity problems — possible deterioration of skills and quality of work of employees

· Cost of working from home — Initial training and equipment costs, including accommodation that meets health and safety standards and the needs of workers with disabilities

· Staff development issues — difficulties in maintaining professional growth and staff development

· Information security risk — information security issues may be more likely to arise

· Increased telecommunications costs — for example, increased telephone bills or broadband Internet access or the need to provide a mobile phone for an employee to work with

· Communication problems — can increase the sense of isolation among domestic workers.

· Reducing employee morale — It may be more difficult to maintain team spirit when employees work in different locations

· Not all jobs are suitable for work from home — some are better off working from home than others. Similarly, home-based work is suitable for some types of individuals, but not others. Some people may prefer to communicate with colleagues through personal communication

Moving to home-based work does not mean that employees should only work from home. Often sharing time at home and at work is the most productive solution, and you may want the homeworker to attend meetings and be fully involved and informed.