The business case for remote working in Hertford

The business case for allowing employees to work remotely in Hertford is compelling. With the right IT provision, staff can spend less time travelling to work or meetings and spend more time working, whether they choose to work from home, or a local co-working space.

Reduction in overheads

If your employees are all based in the office, you will need to provide one desk per employee regardless of whether or not those desks are fully utilised – how much is an empty desk costing your company? If some of your staff work remotely, the need for desk provision is less, leaving you with either plenty of space you can usefully utilise, or giving you the opportunity to move to smaller and cheaper offices. A good example of how introducing a policy of flexible working can reduce costs is telecoms giant BT which was able to slash accommodation needs by nearly half, resulting in global savings of over £100m a year.

Higher productivity

Staff who work remotely are more likely to work harder and do longer hours than their office-based counterparts. And if they are based in a co-working space, they will be surrounded and influenced by ‘solopreneurs’ who are motivated to work hardest of all.

Access to larger talent pools

Companies that offer flexible and remote working are opening their doors to people from a wider geographical area, meaning someone who is unable or unwilling to move to be closer to the workplace will not be precluded from applying for a vacancy. Remote working also opens up jobs to a different demographic as it is very attractive to working mums, people with disabilities and people with caring responsibilities. By not offering remote working opportunities, an employer could be discouraging very talented and experienced people from applying for work with them: BT’s flexible working policy resulted in 97% of women returning to work after maternity leave, with consequent savings to recruitment and training of around £5m a year.

Motivation and staff retention

When staff members have a good work/life balance, they are more motivated to do well and tend to be more loyal to their employer. When the global consultancy firm EY (Ernst & Young) invested in technology to enable employees to work flexibly, they found that productivity improved by 4% and staff retention rose by 15%.

Remote working is popular with staff members who find their daily commute a bit too much for them. Having invested a lot of time and money training good staff, it makes more sense to keep your experienced employees happy by allowing them to work at home or in a co-working space closer to home. A much better solution than losing them to another company, with all the cost implications that come with filling vacancies.

No more snow days

Long gone are the days when the country grinds to a halt whenever external circumstances are wrong, e.g. when it snows, floods or there are roadworks or rail strikes. If your business is already set up to enable staff to work remotely, having too many leaves on the line will no longer impact the amount of work that gets done.

Less work will be lost because of sickness

There are instances where it is possible for someone to work despite illness or injury. If someone has a cold, they’re usually OK to work but no-one wants them in the office spreading germs. If someone has injured themselves, e.g. an ankle sprain, their lack of mobility makes it impractical for them to travel to the office, but they are perfectly well enough to work remotely.

Co-working spaces are becoming increasingly popular for remote workers as they give people the opportunity to work in an office environment that’s close to home. If you’re looking for flexible office space to rent in Hertford town centre, click here to book a FREE day pass at the UOE Business Hub located above Hertford Post Office in the centre of Hertford.