Since 2020, many businesses in Canada have fundamentally changed the way they run their companies. With Coronavirus declared a pandemic in early 2020, businesses shut down their offices and employees were sent to work from home.
After two years of various municipalities going back and forth with different weakened and strengthened restrictions, the world looks very different than it did 2 short years ago. As things are finally getting back to “normal”, businesses need to create a new workplace strategy.
Many employees and businesses owners alike have realized they don’t need to be in the office to do their jobs. As a result, the future of work will go beyond traditional business models and shift to hybrid or fully remote workplaces. Now a hybrid or fully remote business may not work for everyone. But here are 3 reasons why a remote workplace could be the perfect fit for your business.
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Say goodbye to commuting
The amount of time spent getting to and from the office really adds up. On average one-way commute time for most employees is around 30 minutes, or almost an hour a day. And that’s only the average. In Toronto, plenty of people commute over an hour EACH WAY daily. Commuting to work can be stressful and this can affect your mental and physical health. When you work from home, you can focus on other priorities. This can include getting extra sleep, spending more time with your loved ones, hitting the gym/yoga, or having breakfast before you start your business day. -
Boost in productivity
A busy office environment can restrict productivity, which is a problem you won’t have when working remotely. When working from home you can control your work environment far more than when you are in the office. At the office, co-workers stop by to “ask a quick question”, or to chat about their weekends, you can hear other conversations going on across the office, and it can be a challenge to stay “on task”. When working from home you can really focus on your work. You can set your status to do not disturb and crank out your work. -
Save money
Working from home means either no office or a lot less office space. You also don’t have to pay for office supplies. Working from home can cut out a lot of these expenses. Also, money on gas, transportation, parking fees, wardrobe, lunches, etc. can all be reduced or eliminated when working remotely. This is money from your business and personal expenses going back into your pocket.
There are a lot more reasons why it is good practice for a business to consider allowing employees to work from home. Overall, working from home can improve work-life balance for you and your employees. Employees have had almost two years to perfect their work from home routine, so maybe there’s no hurry to change your current method of working.