By 2020 72% of workers will be working remotely according to Microsoft, which explains the motivation for the partnership they’ve entered with Spaces to create a new workspace at Schiphol in their old office building. Many of us already do work remotely for at least part of our week. I can work from one of two offices or from home, I just need my laptop and wifi, in fact we have such good tools available that no-one would even know which location I was working from.
Remote working has been on the rise for at least the last decade, as tools have improved it’s even become a more productive option. But who is it good for?
Proponents of remote working schemes often promote the benefits to the employee, and they do exist.
- saves on commuting time
- more flexibility to manage personal appointments (eg deliveries)
- fewer interruptions which boosts productivity
- some report a boost to morale, or in HR terms, high engagement
There are also significant benefits to the employer,
- a productivity boost
- shrinking office space – for example companies calculate desk space at 0.7 desks per FTE
But work is social, and we’ve learnt how to work and manage teams in a social context, so what happens when some of that social context is removed? Is this whole hot desking thing really good for everyone? Not necessarily.
Anyone who has worked in a flex-desk office will recognise some of those issues, but smart design and good tools solves at least some of them. In my current company we tend to sit in teams of colleagues so finding each other isn’t hard.
So what about the real costs? Well there’s a financial saving for companies but are there extra costs for employees?
In a recent Buffer survey of people working remotely around the world employees bear the cost for internet connection and workspace if a co-working space is needed. So the financial burden of office space has been passed to employees, given that 28% of the respondents report earning less than $25,000 per annum this seems exploitative.
If we’re all working remotely when will companies recognise this cost to employees and start finding ways to compensate? Perhaps that will become the deciding factor for remote workers looking for a new job. After all if location isn’t a factor in a job search we can be hired by anyone, anywhere.
Image : money via pixabay
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