A colleague recently shared an article regarding benefits of working from home. I felt I should share my view as well. I had the privilege to work from home in UK, US and India.
I have listed few challenges faced by companies in India.
Most of the businesses have evolved from families who traditionally used to run family businesses and work 7 days a week. The next generation reduced it to 6 days a week. So if you do not have a Saturday off in your company, bad luck. Wait for the next generation to take over the business so that you get 5 day culture.
Is your office paperless, if the answer is “No” then try to get your office to move towards paperless. Govt. of India is marching towards paperless policy. This is a basic step required in any office before an employer can consider and adopt company-wide work from home policy.
Is your office organized or unorganized? In other words are your tasks well defined in advanced or are reactive in nature. If your work environment is chaotic in nature like start-ups where everything had to be done yesterday. You might be able to achieve delivery to a customer on demand but would end up in office working overtime to get it done. For well-organized companies, it is a piece of cake to work from home.
Does your business involve human interaction, if human to human is still the theme of your business, then it is difficult to transition unless you are able to setup holograms and move away from physical meetings.
Companies think that they will save rent, electricity etc. and other bills if they allow people to work from home. You need to understand you are not reducing cost, as there are cost of MDM (Mobile Device Management), Software licenses and tools etc. But you are enabling people to work from home if required to ensure you have a competitive advantage. My recommendation is to spend those savings on employee satisfaction.
Now let’s see the challenges employees create for employers
Are you willing to bring your own mobile device (BYOD) to work and give away your office device. Do not expect employer to reimburse cost of using your device. Give confidence to employer that you are willing to go Digital, will use your own device and become independent worker. Alternatively, if the office has already provided for a device, then are you willing to share the cost of the device with the employer? Run a survey with your team and check if you have yes’s or no’s.
Will you be jealous if technology team and product team is allowed to work from home and not your team. If you are a true team player then it should not be problem. Employer may be able to roll-out the “Work from home” policy for specific roles.
Does your home facilities meet the minimum requirements such as setting up office without being disturbed by background noise from pets or family members.
Do you believe in 24/7 work culture, can you do everything on mobile? These are the questions you have to ask yourself. There is a give n take when you opt to work from home. You give away office hours and make yourself available 24/7 to finish your task.
I hope some of you are considering the option to work from home. Here are few initiatives you can take
- Start working for 5 days a week;
- Run a survey and ask “Could you work from home” and “Would you be willing to do this”;
- Run a trial for a week – Odd Even Experiment for 15 days;
- Work on a collaborative environment such as Google Apps, SharePoint, Basecamp among others;
- Opt for Pay as you Go office or Virtual Offices or Hot Desking;
- Offer Internet and phone upgrades to employees with unlimited packages;
- Continue holding weekly meetings but virtually.
Benefits
- You will save average 40 minutes travel time, money and carbon;
- You will be able to sit on your desk 10 to 15 minutes before time;
- You will be able to see off your children off to school;
- You will be able to take time out to go to the Gym.
I personally believe if you have a smart device, you can work from home, save expense and carbon.