What Are the 5 Greatest Benefits of Working Remotely?

Remote work (working remotely or also work from home) has become more or less a buzzword recently. Not surprisingly, the coronavirus situation has turned the way of working habits upside down. Many companies were forced to let their employees work from home (or any other place than the shared office). There are dozens of tips and tricks on how to work remotely out there, so let's focus on another aspect of working remotely. How can you actually benefit from remote work?

If you are working remotely for some time, you've probably realized that it brings you a much better work-life balance. Let's discuss the five greatest advantages of working remotely from the employee's point of view. (Learn more about the 5 biggest remote work challenges in this blog post).

1. Remote Working Saves You Time.

How long does it take you to get to the office? For some people, it might be up to minutes, for commuters up to an hour. If you belong to the latter group, you can save at least two hours a day which you usually spend bored and angry in a traffic jam (or on a train crowding with other passengers). Imagine you can invest these two totally unproductive hours (unless you can find a secluded spot in the train and calmly read your favourite book or news) into anything else that you enjoy - time with your family, sport, gardening... More pleasantly spent time, right? 

2. Remote Work Saves You Money.

The regular expenses you have when commuting to work, are the gas bills, train or bus tickets, just to name a few (learn more about further expenditures). However, there are also some more hidden costs you don't see at first sight. How about going for lunch to a restaurant? Or fetching a snack from the nearest store? When working from home (or any other remote place), you can prepare dishes from your supplies which are of course much affordable (and in many cases much healthier).

3. You Have Time to Deal with Ad hoc Issues.

Need a plumber to come and check your dripping faucet in the middle of the day? Well, if not working from home, you would probably have to take a half-day off or somehow negotiate it with your manager. When you're all day at home, it's much easier to squeeze these home-related and individual-related issues into your day.  No more need to take your precious days off. You just finish your working day a little bit later to compensate for the time you spent on dealing with the issue. And that's it.

4. You Can Create Working Space You Really Want.

Customizing your home office space mainly depends on your apartment (house) disposition and the generosity of your manager to contribute financially to your home office equipment. Anyway, being able to adapt and create your own working space can have a positive impact on your productivity and satisfaction. Don't enjoy open space with 30 colleagues due to the unceasing noise and interruptions? Well, it won't happen to you when working remotely. 

5. You Schedule Your Day.

If you don't have to work strictly from 9 to 5 (it's not usually the case for companies running remotely), you gain more freedom to organize your entire day. An early bird or a night owl? Doesn't matter, start working when you are most productive. Need a refreshing nap in the middle of the day or feel like jogging to get some fresh air? Not a problem at all. Briefly inform your colleagues about your plans, and enjoy your time. 

Tip: Any real examples of companies working remotely and how they benefit from it? Sure, learn more about Hubstaff or Toggl.

And how is it with overall productivity? Some argue that working from home enables them to work more effectively and with a deeper concentration, others don't hold the same view. And what's your opinion on that?  Leave us a comment!