Remote Working Policies Can Benefit Small Business
Remote working is a topic that’s been on my mind a lot lately. First, because of a project I’ve been working on with Microsoft to develop an e-book, “Work Without Walls,” that examines the best practices of small and midsized businesses with remote-working policies. A survey conducted by 7th Sense Research that we used in preparing the e-book had some interesting results.
Among the small businesses surveyed:
- 60 % of employees said they could do their jobs remotely, and 72 percent prefer to work at home;
- 73 % of companies surveyed didn’t have a formal policy allowing employees to work remotely;
- just 14 % of employees said their employers were “fully supportive” of remote working.
By comparison, more than 50 percent of big companies in the survey had formal remote-working policies in place.
Remote working has been on President Obama’s mind too. On March 31, the White House hosted a Forum on Workplace Flexibility where government officials, CEOs and others discussed ways technology can enable remote working. The Washington Post says the president used the example of the storms that closed down Washington this winter to show why remote working is so necessary.
A report by the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, released at the forum, highlighted benefits of remote working including “reducing absenteeism, lowering turnover, improving the health of workers, and increasing productivity.”
The same benefits are borne out by the results of a report by The Telework Coalition, “Wired Working as a Lifestyle,” that found:
- businesses save an average of $20,000 a year for each full-time employee who works remotely;
- employee productivity increased by an average of 22 % when remote working was allowed;
- remote working reduced employee turnover by 50 %.
One entrepreneur I talked to while working on the “Work Without Walls” project says his 64-person business went completely virtual a year ago. The move saved him $1 million on rent and overhead-and made his staff more motivated and productive.
My partners and I work virtually all the time. We couldn’t run our business without it. As I write this column, I’m working from home-and when my home’s Internet service went out temporarily, no worries because I was able to drive a few miles to one of my partners’ homes where she, too, was working remotely and hop on her wireless.
The world of work has changed with the recession, and chances are you’ve already made some adjustments to your work force. As you ramp up for the recovery, you may want to use more flexible work options – part-timers, outsourcing and flextime – to get the most from your employees. Enabling remote work is a necessity for this to happen, so if it’s at all possible for your business, I strongly suggest you investigate the options. Technological innovations have given us so many more solutions now, such as storing your company data “in the cloud”, which also protects your data in case of disaster and saves space, energy and storage costs.
About the Author
Rieva Lesonsky is CEO of GrowBiz Media, a media company that helps entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. Visit her blog, SmallBizDaily. Visit her website SmallBizTrendCast to get the scoop on business trends and sign up for Rieva’s free TrendCast reports. 
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Wow great numbers, didn’t know each remote employee could save 20K/yr AND increase productivity!
I am fascinated to see my feelings about working in a virtual office substantiated by facts. For a couple months I had a job where I worked from an office and my productivity was drastically reduced. Actually, I did not like anything about it (especially the office politics!).
Great article!
With the state of technology today, it is so easy for small business owners to implement successful remote-working policies. It’s a win-win–you’ll get more productive employees and they’ll be happier.
Rieva,
Is “Work Without Walls” published?
As a small company that’s highly supportive of working at home when you want, DMVG has been able to greatly reduce our operating costs while increasing our responsiveness and quality of work for our clients.
This model works and is greatly appreciated by all in our company.
It is Martin. You have to register here to get it (it’s free):
http://www.microsoft.com/business/mycenter/default.aspx?CR_CC=100362469
Thanks
[...] Rieva Lesonsky is President and Founder of GrowBiz Media, a content and consulting company that helps entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. A nationally known speaker and authority on entrepreneurship, Rieva has been covering America ’s entrepreneurs for nearly 30 years. She blogs at SmallBizDaily. http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/04/remote-working-policies-can-benefit-small-business.html [...]
Thanks for being such a fan of that which has been my passion for over 10 years (30+ years in telecommunications before that).
Another stat that is very relevant to small businesses, especially in hard economic times, is that the full time teleworker will save, on an average, over $8,000/year (gas, vehicle wear and tear, parking, car insurance, clothing, dry cleaning, meals and snacks, etc.) while having improved work/life balance.
We have seen that, for many, this has translated to an even greater amount as an indirect pay raise as these dollars saved, are after tax dollars. Some employers have found they can hire new employees to work from home for less than they would pay new office worker.
Chuck Wilsker
President & CEO
The Telework Coalition
America’s Leading Nonprofit Telework
Education and Advocacy Organization
http://www.TelCoa.org
Chuck@TelCoa.org
202-266-0046, Ext.101
Member: Broadband for America Adoption Advisory Board
Digital Energy Solutions Campaign
Set America Free Coalition
Our Energy Policy Foundation
Mobility Choice Coalition
Thank you Chuck for your comments and adding valuable information to the conversation. The facts that employees can save $8000 a year by working remotely is a conversation starter and changer. If applicable, business owners should consider instituting remote-worker policies.
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