Are you thinking about allowing your employees to work from home post the COVID-19 pandemic? If yes, then you are among more than half of small business owners who are planning to do the same.
According to the latest survey from Intermedia, 57% of SMB owners said they are likely to continue increased remote working options for employees in the long term. What’s more, SMB owners have observed that employee availability has increased by 19% by shifting to remote work.
Remote Work After Pandemic
Needless to say, remote working policies benefit small businesses in many ways, but not all small businesses have tried remote working policies before the coronavirus pandemic.
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most small businesses had to voluntarily or mandatorily allow their employees to work from home. As a result, more small business owners have realized the advantages of remote working and planned to implement it post the pandemic.
Key Findings of the Survey
Early findings of the survey indicate that small businesses are getting benefits from remote working. And more than half (57%) of SMBs plan to adopt remote working options for employees in the long term.
Being a small business owner yourself, you should also offer your employees an option to work remotely if it is feasible. Doing so can make your employees happier.
SMB owners have found that, after shifting to remote working, employee availability has gone up by 19% and life satisfaction by 7%, the survey states. What’s more, SMB owners have also witnessed falling in overhead costs.
According to the survey, business owners said that workers’ attitudes have improved, and employees are happier while working remotely.
However, most small businesses (94%) said that in-person meetings played an important role in growing business in the last two years.
The survey also indicates that SMBs are turning to technology for face-to-face interactions amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Only 57% of SMBs relied on video conferencing pre-pandemic time, while 84% of business owners are using video conferencing now to offer face-to-face interactions in COVID-19 world, the survey points out.
Intermedia said in its prepared statement, “embracing remote work has been a love-hate relationship for many SMB owners. With new technology allowing workers to work from wherever and whenever more than ever before, employers have had to balance this reality against having the peace of mind that frequently comes from being in the same physical space as your employees.
“COVID-19 has certainly made us reexamine the entire concept of work, illustrating that many jobs can be done remotely without sacrificing productively. More business owners realize that employee availability and job satisfaction can remain high, if not increase, within a remote working environment…even after the pandemic passes,” the company’s statement concluded.
How to Make Your Remote Team Feel Connected
My friend, remote working is not just a temporary fix. Owing to multiple benefits remote working offers, more and more small business owners are going to implement remote working policies.
However, remote employees can sometimes feel lonely and left out, which can affect their productivity. So you should go extra miles to make your remote team feel connected to boost productivity.
Following are some tips that can help:
- Start using state-of-art communication tools
- Hold weekly video meetings
- Implement fun activities virtually
- Plan half-yearly or annually company retreat
- Organize online video games for remote players
- Encourage video calls as much as possible
Remote working doesn’t have to be isolating. Give your remote workers tools and resources to connect. This will eventually increase the productivity of your remote team.
About the Survey
The survey included 250 business owners or senior decision-makers from organizations having between 5 to 250 employees. The survey was conducted online.
The organizations included in the survey had at least 50% of their staff on-site before Covid-19. But now these organizations have reduced office-based working due to the coronavirus pandemic. You can click here to know more about the survey.
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This article, "57% of Small Business Owners Believe Remote Work Will Continue After Stay-at-Home Orders Lifted" was first published on Small Business Trends
Originally posted on 57% of Small Business Owners Believe Remote Work Will Continue After Stay-at-Home Orders Lifted via Small Business and Franchises
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