How to Work Remotely Safely and Cost Effectively

With a new increase in Covid numbers throughout the Midwest more companies are again turning to remote working. Keeping your employees and community healthy and safe is a top priority. Keeping your business safe should be as well. Their are many different things you can do to help ensure your remote employees are staying safe. Employees using a Firewall and VPN is a great start.

One of the biggest fears many business owners have about allowing people to work from home is the loss of control they have over that person. They believe that without someone standing over them, employees will goof off during work hours and become less productive.

But the hard results prove very different…

Telecommuting has grown at a steady 3% per year for more than 15 years. Currently, more than 23 million people are working from home at least one day a week.  The increase in teleworking programs is no accident – it really is working.

Admittedly, original telecommuting experiments were “do-gooder” projects focused on being earth friendly and generating business savings by reducing use of high priced big city office space.  However, when businesses started seeing how it drastically improved turnover and productivity, this “fad” became a hot trend.

Let’s see some examples

For example Los Angles Bank decided to test telecommuting to see if it would help their 33% turnover rate. Here were the results…

The experiment worked and within a year the turnover rate was cut to nearly zero and to everyone’s surprise productivity went up 18% saving the regional bank more than $3 million dollars per year.

Since then there have been numerous, well documented, program studies reflecting promising results.  For instance AT&T allowed employees to telecommute on a regular basis from home in a New Jersey office of 600 people. Over a 5 year period a region of AT&T saved more than $11 million annually.  Half the savings came from real estate savings while the other came from a measured increase in incremental work hours from employees who were able to have a higher level of concentration with fewer interruptions.

You’re probably thinking, “But I don’t have 600 employees…how does this apply to me?”  No matter how small your business or your real estate situation, you can save money.  It’ll just be a bit smaller than AT&T.  For instance:

On average, small businesses report saving $85,000 to $93,000 per year in lower turnover, reduced operating costs (gas, utilities, office space) and increased productivity after implementing teleworking programs. Telecommuting might not be right for every employee on staff, but it is a great option for key managers or employees who are self-motivated and measured by results rather than hours worked.

Setting up a remote network can be a difficult task but we would be happy to help.

Note: These number are before Covid.