Tuesday, 19 Mar 2024
Technology

Should You Make Working from Home a Permanent Thing?

Many companies introduced working from home during the COVID pandemic. After all, in a lot of countries, it was a legal requirement for employees to work from home if they could. But now COVID numbers are declining in many countries, should working from home still be a thing? Once the pandemic is over, should you still let your employees work from home?

Working from Home

Working from home presents IT challenges

Having people work remotely presents many challenges, and the main one is around technology. If you’ve got people accessing the system from home or doing video meetings, they’ll be relying heavily on technology to do their job. You will need to hire experts to provide IT services such as setting up remote workstations, upgrading technology, and providing technical support. If you’re planning on creating opportunities for long-term remote work, make sure the proper tech is in place.

IT security is key too

Another aspect of your IT that’s hugely important when people work remotely is security. There are lots of tips out there on how to boost your businesses’ online security, but this can be especially challenging when you have people working in lots of different locations. You should make sure that remote workers follow best practice such as:

  • Making sure they run updates as they pop up
  • Ensuring they use a secure WiFi connection – workers should avoid connecting to free networks at airports and coffee shops when handling sensitive data
  • Only using work devices for work-related purposes
  • Undertaking training so that they understand IT security and how it works

We’ve all seen the consequences of poor IT security for businesses. Even some big websites have suffered hacks due to small errors, so make sure your company isn’t headed for disaster.

Open up your talent pool

In many areas, there are more vacancies than jobseekers, which means it can be hard to fill gaps in your team. If you’ve only got people within driving distance as potential candidates, then you may miss out on some great employees. Hiring people to work remotely means you can get applications from people across the country, opening up your pool of talent.

There are many options for remote working

Letting your employees work from home doesn’t mean you’ll have an empty office forever. In fact, a lot of companies are embracing options such as hybrid working, which means people are in the office half the time and working remotely for the rest. This can help you strike a balance and keep your team together. At the moment around 83% of telework employees work exclusively from home, but more and more job listings are offering different ways of working.

If you’ve had employees working from home out of necessity, and the arrangement has worked well, then it may be time to embrace remote working in the long-term. Remote working has benefits for both employers and employees, helping boost productivity and work/life balance without you needing to do much. Once people work remotely, you’ll no doubt see the benefits to your team.

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