Many companies now offer their employees the opportunity to work from home one or more days a week. Why? It prevents traffic jams, reduces travel and accommodation costs, reduces absenteeism and is said to increase productivity. The home worker has no travel time and, whether or not he is wearing sweatpants, opens the laptop with VPN connection and can get to work in peace. Everyone wins! But, are home workers really more productive? And, in addition to the advantages, what are the disadvantages of working from home? How do you, as a company, create a clear framework within which the homeworker can really perform optimally? We discuss it in this week's blog.
Yes, working from home is productive and working from home is productive
Highly educated employees and entrepreneurs, in particular, are increasingly working from home one or more days a week. Often this is to escape the hustle and bustle of the office, where everyone is walking in and out all day asking questions and the phone is ringing off the hook. According to research by Intermedian among 11, working from home productively is essential in this regard.
Research by highly educated employees shows that working from home is beneficial for concentration, effectiveness, and productivity. But that is not all. Working from home also leads to a better work-life balance.
For example, because commuting time to work is reduced, giving parents a little more time to care for their children and take them to school. The Netherlands Institute for Social Research (SCP) already concluded in a 2012 study that working from home significantly reduces absenteeism.
Finally, working from home would also reduce traffic jams, although this is contradicted in the 2015 dissertation by Sergejs Gubins (VU Amsterdam).
What is certain, however, is that working from home on a structural basis results in lower travel and accommodation costs.
In short, by allowing employees to decide for themselves where, when and how they work, employee job satisfaction and motivation increase, which leads to increased productivity and a reduction in certain costs.
The disadvantages of working from home
Despite the many benefits that working from home seems to offer, it is important to realize that there can be a number of disadvantages associated with working from home.
For example, at the office, an employer has greater control over its employees than when they carry out their work at home, out of sight of the employer.
However, in our opinion, this should never be a decisive reason not to start at all.
After all, the bond between employee and employer is largely a relationship of trust. In our opinion, drawing up a set of agreements and protocols to ensure working from home runs smoothly is a good idea. First, let us briefly list a number of potential disadvantages and pitfalls.
Less suitable for 'consultation functions'
Working from home is not suitable for every type of job. Naturally, it is particularly suitable for highly educated office staff, but even then, working from home is not always ideal.
If you work as a project manager or another type of manager and your daily tasks largely consist of meetings, then working from home days should be carefully considered in advance.
Private and work merge
The greatest danger of working from home is that work and private life become intertwined. For the employer, this means that the employee can be distracted by personal matters, such as the children. For employees, this means the risk of increased stress, because the boundary between private life and work blurs.
Working from home should therefore never be a disguised day off, which unfortunately does happen often. Parents with young children, in particular, often choose a work-from-home day instead of a four-day work week so that they can be there for their children while retaining their salary.
Not everyone has the right motivation or self-discipline
Even highly educated people are not always suited to working from home. A day away from the office does not mean that day has to be less effective and less intensive. In fact, working from home should even increase productivity.
Some people know that they cannot muster the discipline to work from home. Others lack that self-knowledge and therefore need to be protected by their manager or colleagues.
Invisibility
A danger lurking for remote workers is that their work is less visible and tangible. In many traditional manufacturing companies, working from home is still viewed somewhat strangely and with reproach.
So make sure that your company's culture is ready for the introduction of working from home.
Create a clear framework of agreements and protocols for working from home
The benefits of working from home speak for themselves, but there are also a number of pitfalls for employees and employers. As an employer, it is therefore wise to develop and implement a structural approach for home workers. What should you think about?
Working from home protocol
Clearly document agreements, expectations, and rights in a remote work protocol. Monitoring your remote workers is pointless and demotivating, but putting the agreements properly in writing ensures much clarity.
In the protocol you can make agreements about ergonomic work, working hours, guidelines and many other matters.
Also include the protocol in your employees' contracts (or collective labor agreement). Recently, a judge ruled against the employer in a teleworking case because the agreements were not in writing.
Agreement about children
It is important to agree that a work-from-home day should not be a disguised mommy/daddy day. Unfortunately, this happens too often. Instead of working 4 days and receiving less salary as a result, employees choose to work from home when the children are at home.
This has major consequences for the effectiveness of the workday. Therefore, make clear agreements with your employees regarding how a work-from-home day will be structured, and include these agreements in the protocol.
Supervise planning and tasks
Although it says little about productivity, you can easily keep track of your employee's working hours in the office. This is more difficult when working from home. However, there are of course still ways to ensure that work is carried out effectively.
Think, for example, of time tracking, concrete targets, task lists, and reports. Ultimately, for you as an employer, it is primarily about ensuring that tasks are completed well. One person needs 6 hours a day for this, another 10.
Get technology right
What also contributes enormously to the success of working from home are the technological conditions you create as an employer. As crazy as it sounds, remote workers are often fobbed off with slow, old laptops and poorly functioning connections.
As a company, invest in a good technical network to save home workers the frustration and keep the effectiveness of the working day as high as possible.
What is your experience with homeworkers? Do you notice that it has a positive effect on your employees and the performance of your team? Or do you have negative experiences? Let us know!
Read also
You can find more background information on working productively from home at working from home productive (Wikipedia).