Working from home is no longer exceptional thanks to the corona crisis. At the height of the crisis, 58 percent of the Dutch population from home. As a result, companies are now more positive about working from home than before. Therefore, there are certainly advantages to working from home. Twitter and Facebook have already announced that employees may continue to work from home forever if they wish.
But is it desirable? What are the advantages of working from home? And are there any disadvantages? Commissioned by Sharp and Smart Recruitment we looked into it for you (and because we were curious ourselves). The results speak for themselves!
There are many gains to be made right now
Even before working from home became the norm, much research has been done on it. Such as by the American company Owl Labs which even conducts annual research on the subject. One of the findings from the most recent version of the survey is the negative attitude of managers toward working from home. Although, since the corona crisis, this attitude generally seems to be somewhat adjusted to be.
Still, many executives worry about decreased productivity and focus (in 82 percent of cases, according to the research) and decreased engagement (81 percent). Managers, however, seem less concerned about overwork (67 percent) and loneliness (59 percent).
Therefore, managers would do well to take training in managing home-based workers, in which they are given concrete tools to assess performance and manage expectations. Managers who have received such training also have significantly less concern about the risks of working from home than managers who have not received training (a difference of some 10 percent).
R.S. Gajandranprofessor of business psychology "It's time for organizations to move beyond seeing telecommuting as a family-friendly work arrangement. When done well, remote work has the potential to improve performance, increase employee satisfaction and benefit a business."
5 Benefits of working from home
What skeptical managers don't know is that there are many gains to be made in the very areas they are concerned about. Several studies have now shown that employees who are allowed to work from home are more productive and feel more engaged with the organization than their colleagues who never work from home!
List the main benefits of working from home:
1. Home workers are more productive and perform better
From the 2019 survey by Owl Labs shows that 79 percent of those surveyed consider productivity to be reason sees to want to work from home. This puts this reason in second place, after better work/life balance (which is a reason for 91 percent of those surveyed). In the same survey a year earlier, productivity even ranked at the first place in the list of reasons for employees to want to work from home.
This is not surprising considering how many people today work in an office garden. It is now known that working in an office garden causes employees to more quickly distracted are, less productive are and less good interaction with each other. Thus, employees who normally work in an open-plan office will be even better off working from home than employees who have more space to themselves in the office.
That employees actually more productive are when they work from home, according to a 2014 employee survey by Chinese travel website Ctrip. This study compared the productivity of employees working from home with those working only in the office. The result: home-based employees had 13.5 percent more sales calls than their colleagues!
Research from 2007 further showed that there is an association between working from home and higher reviews. This suggests that home workers perform better than colleagues who always work in the office.
It should be kept in mind that the opportunity to work from home is often granted to high-performing employees and home workers generally put extra effort into maintaining the relationship with the supervisor.
2. Home workers feel more commitment to the organization
Employees who have the option to work flexibly feel more involvement with the organization than employees who always work in the office. What is important here is that the employee in question enough social contacts has and stays connected with colleagues through means of communication.
Research from 2013 by the U.S. consulting firm Gallup shows that this high involvement is particularly true in situations where the employee is 20-50 percent of the time working from home. When employees work from home more than 50 percent of the time, they feel as committed to the organization as employees who always work in the office (but not less).
Note that the above numbers apply in the case where employees are given the opportunity to work from home and not when it is an obligation. Thus, as long as it is not possible for employees to come to the office, extra attention will have to be paid to engagement.
3. Home workers experience less work stress
Having the option to work from home reduces work-related stress among employees. The 2007 study mentioned earlier links this to the high rate of autonomy and control generally associated with working from home.
These findings are confirmed in the study of Owl Labs, in which 82 percent of participants reported feeling more confident when offered the opportunity to work from home.
4. Home workers are more driven
Employees who work from home feel a higher degree of drive and are often still available outside working hours. Home workers on average even work four hours more per week than colleagues who work in the office.
An additional (detrimental) effect of this high level of drive is that these employees are more risk run the risk of overtiredness and burnout. This is precisely where one of the major risks of working from home lies, about which more later.
5. Home workers are more satisfied and stay longer
Working from home has a positive effect on the satisfaction of employees. In a 2016 survey of American home-based workers, home-based workers gave 8.10 on average in response to the question "How happy are you at work?" versus an overall average of 7.42.
It should be mentioned that employees scored higher when they worked from home because it gave them a sense of freedom and flexibility, and lower when it was an obligation from the organization. This is of course a difficult issue at the moment but does offer positive prospects for the near future.
One explanation for the high level of satisfaction may be that people who work from home are less likely to be interrupted while working. Also, the feeling of productivity has a positive impact on the level of satisfaction and home-based workers feel more freedom to arrange their work as they wish.
In the study of Owl Labs gave 80 percent of the participants indicated that working from home made them feel that their vitality was a priority for their employer. That too, of course, contributes to satisfaction. That satisfaction, in turn, translates into a benefit for the employer: home workers were found to be 13 percent less likely to quit within five years than office-based employees.
The pitfalls of working from home
So are productivity, focus and engagement really the right topics of concern? Or does the danger lie in an entirely different corner? There are two major risks associated with constant working from home that deserve more attention than they often receive.
The first aspect, in particular, is one that has emerged throughout the coronacrisis has already been frequently discussed.
Home workers more likely to experience social isolation and loneliness
Social (and professional) isolation is one of the greatest dangers of working from home. By definition, when an employee works a lot from home, they are less in contact with colleagues.
In a 2012 questionnaire of 11,383 workers in 24 countries, 62% of those surveyed indicated that working from home made them feel isolated felt. Workers also indicated especially the chatting in the corridor and miss the informal conversations (which can lead to knowledge sharing and personal development).
Employees who work primarily in the office seem to feel more than home workers that they are part of a inclusive organization. However, the study showing this does date back to 2010 - quite a bit has changed since then in terms of technology.
In 2014, for example, it was already apparent that technology in which workers face-to-face contact is very valuable for connection in the workplace. And we can hardly escape digital face-to-face contact anno 2020 with platforms like Zoom and Skype! So it is worthwhile as an organization to invest time and attention in optimizing the digital contact of your employees.
Home workers suffer from lack of boundaries
You've already seen it come up briefly. Home workers tend to work longer hours than their office counterparts. When boundaries are not set and employees' working hours are not clearly monitored, home-based workers are more likely to overshoot themselves.
This is mainly due to the lack of (physical and emotional) boundaries between work and private life. An employee who works from home is generally easily accessible, and is used to doing private chores during work and work chores during ''family time''. In addition, an employee who works from home spends a relatively large amount of time behind screens (because meetings also take place digitally). The risk of all this is that this employee always has the feeling of being at work, and is always ''on''.
Someone who is always ''on'' is, has more difficulty relaxing and is mentally less resilient. When this situation persists for a long time, the risk for overtiredness or even burnout lurking. As company physician Willem van Rheenen also says, "we don't work too much but we undercharge." This is especially true for home-based workers.
It is therefore important to make clear arrangements with the employee about work and home and the hours to be worked. The home-based employee further benefits from establishing a tight routine with adequate time to rechargen, posing priorities and sufficient motion.
Want to learn more about how you as a manager can take an active role in preventing burnout in employees (including those who work from home)? The Recharge Company organizes trainings to give managers concrete tools and handles for this.
Home workers suffer from lack of boundaries
You've already seen it come up briefly. Home workers tend to work longer hours than their office counterparts. When boundaries are not set and employees' working hours are not clearly monitored, home-based workers are more likely to overshoot themselves.
This is mainly due to the lack of (physical and emotional) boundaries between work and private life. An employee who works from home is generally easily accessible, and is used to doing private chores during work and work chores during ''family time''. In addition, an employee who works from home spends a relatively large amount of time behind screens (because meetings also take place digitally). The risk of all this is that this employee always has the feeling of being at work, and is always ''on''.
Someone who is always "to" state, has more difficulty relaxing and is mentally less resilient. When this situation persists for a long time, the risk for overtiredness or even burnout lurking. As company physician Willem van Rheenen also says, "we don't work too much but we undercharge." This is especially true for home-based workers.
It is therefore important to make clear arrangements with the employee about work and home and the hours to be worked. The home-based employee further benefits from establishing a tight routine with adequate time to rechargen, posing priorities and sufficient motion.
Want to learn more about how you as a manager can take an active role in preventing burnout in employees (including those who work from home)? The Recharge Company organizes trainings to give managers concrete tools and handles for this.
Working from home or working flexibly?
So is the approach of Twitter and Facebook one that every organization should emulate? In essence, yes, as long as it takes shape the way Twitter does before your eyes has. Namely: giving employees who benefit from it the ability to work from home whenever they want.
Let employees (when they can again) make the decision themselves. That way the employee is involved and satisfied, and you as an organization benefit the most.
In doing so, it is good to remember the research from the London School of Economics, showing that the benefits of working from home, among individuals who work entirely from home, diminish over time. Participants in this study no longer saw working from home as a privilege after a while, which reduced their performance. However, this is not the case for employees who only partially work from home.
- Therefore, make clear agreements and monitor homeworkers.
- Make sure your colleagues still come to the office from time to time.
- Arrange for good means of communication to be available and use them as efficiently as possible (to zoom-fatigue prevent).
- Keep an eye that home workers do not become isolated.
- As a manager, take training to be well-versed in working from home (make no mistake, it really is a different way of managing).
- Make it clear that working from home is something you grant and entrust to your employees.
This way, as an organization, you take advantage of all the benefits that working from home has to offer, and limit the drawbacks!
Want more tips and tricks about working from home to share with your employees? Check out the full Home Work Guide From The Recharge Company.
