If you are a business owner that is thinking about implementing a “work from home” program for your employees – DON’T – until you read this article.
With the rapid adoption of Cloud computing and ever increasing internet speeds, there are less and less reasons for your employees to meet at your brick and mortar office every day.
Throw in video conferencing for meetings and you’ll never even miss a hint of sarcasm. So you’re probably thinking, is telecommuting right for my business?
Well, here are a couple reasons it might not be:
- Large Files: Do you work with and share very large files frequently? If you work with things like blueprints or x-rays, working remotely may slow you down.
- Rural Area: If your office or your remote workers are located in a rural area with a slow internet connection, you may want to keep everyone in the office.
If the above conditions don’t apply to you, here are the benefits you could experience with a work from home program:
- Make long hours easier to swallow: For managers and key salaried employees, long hours are sometimes a way of life. How much happier would they be if they could eat dinner with their family, let the dog out, then finish up their long day in the comfort of their own home?
- Grow your company while shrinking your overhead: It may feel like you can only afford to move into a new office or hire 5 new employees. Usually, it’s not a one or the other scenario– it’s all or nothing. Allowing certain employees to work from home may be the money saving solution you’ve been looking for.
- Increase productivity: Studies have shown telecommuting increases employee productivity, lowers stress levels, and improves information retention. For those employees that can self motivate, this is a great way to get them away from office distractions and up their output.
- Keep great employees: Ever lost an awesome employee because they had to follow their spouse to Texas? We almost did. Instead, Ben transitioned to an ISG position working from his new home. Now, we get to see his lovely face every day on a big TV in both MI and TN.
Recommendation: Having all your critical services (email, CRM, phones, proprietary software) in the Cloud is the best, most secure way to allow employees to seamlessly work from home. That’s what we do at DE. The other option is to set up a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to let employees safely access servers that are stored in your office. The big disadvantage of a non-cloud solution is; if the main office loses power or internet, no one can work.
However you choose to wield the power of the home office, it can bring a world of benefits to your business!
~Bruce
