Working from home

More and more people are working from home nowadays. Companies are beginning to see the benefits and employees are also realizing big advantages from working in their own home.

Once, employers were concerned about the level of output, the data safety and security and other problems which were associated with having their staff work from home. Most of those problems have now been resolved and we are on the brink of a ‘work from home’ revolution.

The convergence of technologies which engendered super fast broadband, reliable web servers, voip, wireless and gps, has made it possible for a substantial percentage of the workforce to work from home.

Many service, marketing and admin jobs can be easily done by individuals away from their office pool. If you work from home, you only need to grace the office once a fortnight to attend briefings/meetings and drop off or collect data which can’t be transmitted wirelessly.

Savings to Employers
Employers can reduce their office footprint and save money on furniture, heating/lighting/power and rent, etc. In some cases, savings can also be made on computer hardware and equipment

Savings to Employees
If you work from home, you can save money on travel fares, fuel, lunches, clothing and the most important saving of all – time. Some people can gain more than 4 hours each day if they have to travel from the suburbs into a congested city to work.

Savings to Environment
One big savings which can be made by society is the reduction of vehicle traffic congestion over time. This will eventually impact on the carbon emissions as well. The consensus on road travel is that there are too many vehicles on the roads. Politicians have long since run out of ideas as to how to curb traffic at peak times when commuters are travelling to and from work. Any reduction in numbers of people struggling to get to and from work each day will be an important accomplishment.

Effect on the Economy
How will working from home benefit the economy? Well, some restaurants, retailers of food, drink and clothing will find that their turnover drops initially but the benefits will far exceed these losses. However, large retailers will recover this loss of income from an upsurge in local sales.

All that’s left is for good practice to be developed so staff who work from home can get the same protection and benefits as their counterparts who brave the traffic and the horrible weather to work in draughty and sometimes unpleasant environment every day.