Advantages and disadvantages of teleworking

Have you ever dreamed of being able to work lying in a hammock, under a palm tree on a Caribbean beach, while an attractive man or a woman, depending on your tastes, serves you a Mojito?

Normally, life is not like an advertisement for a travel agency, yet teleworking is still the dream of many people who would love to work in their pyjamas and slippers.

Teleworking has spread rapidly in recent years. It has been commonly adopted in some countries and not so much in others; it offers advantages and disadvantages for both the employee and the company. Let’s have a look at some advantages and disadvantages of teleworking.

Advantages of teleworking:

– Autonomy.

Autonomy is probably the most obvious advantage of teleworking (even more than the pyjamas and slippers advantage). The freedom to organize the working time increases, which means having more time to enjoy other things in life – specially the important ones – such as hobbies or friendships.

For many people, teleworking can be a unique opportunity to balance the professional and the family life, which would be of great value.

Such autonomy may also allow the use of mixed forms of teleworking, such as starting the workday at home and moving to the workplace at times when traffic is less congested; Or establish your workplace in different places (an airport, a park, or even the nicest beach).

Moreover, thanks to the autonomy that teleworking offers you “presenteeism” – that thing that is so widespread, which means being at the work place, but without working – is reduced to the minimum expression.

– Savings on travel costs

In those large cities – and even the small ones- getting to the workplace can consume several hours each day. If you do not need to get to your workplace, it means saving a great deal of time that can be spent on other tasks. In addition, you get to save on travel costs, as you know, both the private vehicle and public transport cost money, so if you avoid this, you get to reduce the stress and the world is less contaminated. Your bank account, your health and the planet will thank you.

– The employee’s opinion of the company will definitely improve.

Since remote work has a number of important advantages, it is very common that this will influence the employee’s assessment of both the company and his job. A worker who knows that he will be able to take care of his family if there is an unforeseen event (for example: the child gets sick), he will take this into account when assessing his working conditions.

– Productivity can be increased.

The advantages that teleworking offer should improve the worker’s mood, which could generate an increase of productivity if the remote work is well structured. Although it is not a strict rule, teleworking will often find its best performance when working by objectives, so finding out these objectives can mean a significant increase in performance. If your work or your business can be organized based on projects, have a look at Integria IMS. Integria IMS is a tool developed by Ártica Technological Solutions, creator of Pandora RC, which includes, among other functionalities, a project management tool. You can find out more about Integria IMS here.

– It reduces infrastructure costs, which is something very good in the long-term.

Both the money spent on the workplace at the company and other expenses associated with the daily work – consumption of electricity, heating, computer equipment, etc. – will be reduced. The place formerly occupied by Mr.Smith could be used for a fridge full of tasty little things (do not worry Mr Smith, it is just an idea).

– It allows the integration of people with disabilities.

This is another advantage that deserves to be taken into account. People who have difficulty getting to the workplace may see teleworking as an opportunity they might not have had available just a few years ago. In many cases, these people will be a great contribution for the company.

– It attracts more talent.

Teleworking will make the workplace more valued in general, and people would hardly work in the company, for example people who live very far away from the city centre, would be able to do so. Yes! Finally you will be able to hire that famous programmer from the Vatican that everyone was talking about.

Disadvantages of teleworking:

– Sometimes it is not easy to disconnect, it might be a problem.

Bringing work and personal life together can make it difficult to separate the one from the other. Therefore, it is better to dedicate a specific place inside the house for work – a “mini-office” – so that you do not end up spilling the soup on the keyboard of your computer and set schedules (and respect them!).

– Work performance may drop, sometimes.

Depending on the features of your job, the control of the quantity and quality of the work can be difficult to carry out, so this way productivity, might rise, or might also decrease.

– The worker could feel less identified with the company.

By working from home, the employee may feel left out from the team, which leads to less performance and more difficulties in order to meet the business goals. However, there are good methods to fight this problem in order to feel as part of the group. Be imaginative.

– Some extra expenses are generated for the worker.

Part of the expenses that the company saves – not necessarily all – can be moved towards the worker. For example, you may spend more money on heating or electricity. This should be taken into account.

So this is it guys, here we have seen some of the advantages and disadvantages that teleworking can offer you. If you are determined about teleworking or keen to promote teleworking in your company, there are some computer tools that can help you. Do you know Pandora RC? What are you waiting for?.