The growth of telecommuting : perspectives Tutorial

Explore the transformative journey of telecommuting in 'The Growth of Telecommuting: Perspectives'. Uncover how the COVID-19 pandemic propelled remote work into the spotlight, revealing its benefits for both employees and employers. With insights and stats from renowned studies, discover why agility and flexibility in work are now crucial for success. Dive in to learn how this shift is reshaping the future of work and offering new opportunities across the globe.

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telecommuting increased by 140%.

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The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated the process by

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highlighting the advantages and challenges of telecommuting.

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Taking into account what this period of

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isolation and social distancing has revealed,

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our focus in this video is on underlying reasons for the increase in telecommuting

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and the available resources that will drive its development in the coming decade.

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Let us first discuss the benefits of telecommuting to employees.

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To do so,

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we have to partly overlook the conditions

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of telecommuting in the current health crisis,

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as they are not fully representative of

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what constitutes organized and purposeful telecommuting.

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An international study of 3500 telecommuters carried out

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by Buffer in February 2020 before the crisis

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showed that 98% of them wanted to continue working from home.

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With 97% recommending it for others.

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What were some of the benefits acknowledged by these early telecommuters?

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32% acknowledged the possibility of flexible working hours.

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26% the flexibility to work from anywhere.

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21% no transportation to the workplace,

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which saves time and money.

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11% spending more time with their family,

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7% being able to work from home,

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which also saves on meal expenses.

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These early telecommuters also admitted feeling less stress as a

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result of working from home and feeling more respected.

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Within the younger generation,

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68% of young graduates want the opportunity to work from home.

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Hybrid working is currently the most popular mode of work,

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allowing the telecommuter and the company to alternate

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at the convenience of the telecommuter and the company

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working hours between the office and home.

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According to a Workopolis 2020 study,

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90% of employees believe that telecommuting makes them more productive.

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In addition,

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33% of full-time telecommuters say they work over 40 hours a week because they

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love what they do.

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Once they spend 3 or more days a week telecommuting,

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employees begin considering changing where they live.

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Telecommuting provides an opportunity for them to move to the suburbs

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of the countryside for a more balanced and less expensive lifestyle.

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Younger generations,

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for their part,

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aspire to the so-called nomadic work.

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To be a digital nomad is to be able to work from anywhere

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in the world as long as you have access to sufficient wireless connection.

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Now let's discuss the benefits of telecommuting from an employer's perspective.

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Zappi is a company founded in 2011,

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enabling users to interconnect multiple applications.

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The company is in California with staff spread

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throughout the United States and 13 countries abroad.

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In 2017,

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it offered its employees the option of a

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$10,000 grant to leave the San Francisco area.

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Companies like Trello,

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MoveOn,

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GitHub,

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Buffer and Basecamp

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do not have to undergo change in structure to adopt telecommuting,

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as they were already into full-time telecommuting long before the crisis.

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So what are the advantages for companies?

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A US study of October 2020 analyzed the shared emails and

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business calendars of over 3 million employees in the United States,

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Europe,

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and the Middle East over a 16 week period,

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including the period of confinement.

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The finding shows that employees working from home were

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more productive than their counterparts in the office.

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They worked an average of 48.5 minutes more per

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day compared to the data of typical periods.

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That's more than 4 hours of overtime per week.

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We had already seen that 90% of telecommuters

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felt they were more productive at home.

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In short,

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there's a strong financial advantage for companies to have employees

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who work more,

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are more productive,

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without having to pay for office space.

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There are indeed significant savings to be made by businesses on real estate space.

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This often represents the 2nd largest cost item for companies.

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These savings can be channeled into financing better equipment

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for working from home.

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Companies like Automatic,

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with its 930 employees in 70 countries,

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decided to completely vacate their offices.

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They prefer paying for the equipment that employees need to work from home

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and plane tickets for physical meetings.

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To conclude on the benefits of teleworking,

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let's talk about the younger generations in the workplace,

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generations Y and Z,

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who are so keen on flexibility.

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Offering them the possibility of telecommuting will make them

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more inclined to work for you in hiring,

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as well as making it easier for you to retain talents.

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Finally,

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a large number of companies or SMEs outside of cities will finally have

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access to a pool of young talents willing to work for them,

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whereas in the past,

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attracting young talents to the suburbs or countryside

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or even bringing them from other countries used to be a huge obstacle.

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Having seen the benefits for employees and employers,

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now let's talk about the tools available to facilitate remote work.

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More and more freelance platforms like Upwork,

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Fever,

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Graphics Online are springing up.

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The freelancers you hire for tasks are rated and you can test

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them with micro tasks and only request their services as needed.

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There are few chances of making the wrong hire and

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the fees of these remote workers are often unbeatable.

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But let us refocus on telecommuting,

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100% or hybrid for employees.

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Wi Fi coverage is key to the success of telecommuting.

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However,

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with fiber,

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5G and SpaceX satellites,

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this will soon no longer be a problem regardless of where they live or work.

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This should make it even easier for digital nomadism to flourish.

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In addition,

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the number of co-working spaces has risen tenfold in the last 5 years.

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These are hyper connected,

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user-friendly spaces for telecommuters wishing to not work from home.

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Choosing to be in an environment that removes the burden of loneliness,

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is without the familiar distractions of home,

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gives them access to facilities similar to those in the office,

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good Wi Fi,

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photocopier,

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coffee machine,

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etc.

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Some companies offer their employees access to these co-working spaces.

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Companies like Automatic,

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which runs entirely on telecommuting with its 930 employees,

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even offer coffee to employees in the cafes or co-working spaces where they work.

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Last but not least,

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the increase in the number of collaborative platforms

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and tools that make telecommuting more seamless.

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They offer communication tools,

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emails,

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instant messaging,

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survey tools,

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resource sharing tools,

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forums,

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shared documents with collaborative editing capabilities,

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synchronization tools.

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shared calendars,

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shared task managements,

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etc.

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Information tools,

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ESN enterprise social networks,

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specialist networks,

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dashboards.

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These collaborative platforms,

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regardless whether they are external or internal platforms,

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centralize in a highly protected way all

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of the tools necessary for remote collaboration.

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They constitute a virtual office.

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Let us in the last part of this video,

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discuss current and future trends in telecommuting in

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light of the recent experience of global confinement.

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Prior to the COVID crisis,

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42% of employees had never worked remotely.

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By April 2020,

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85% of them were telecommuting.

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This crisis has therefore transformed the remote work environment.

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As Bruno Meddling,

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former HR director at Orange explains,

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this crisis has shown us we can do more telecommuting than thought

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and for more tasks and functions than imagined.

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According to a Kantar study,

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88% of remote workers say they want to continue telecommuting after the lockdown.

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As Bruno meddling continues,

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the challenge now is to respond to this

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massive aspiration of employees who want to avoid

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long daily commutes and benefits from the flexibility in their personal lives.

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The presence of a manager proved to be a

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huge asset in the success of this forced telecommuting.

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Staff turned to the manager for support,

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solutions,

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and a link to the company.

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The most efficient managers understood the importance of

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focusing more on results than on processes,

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thus allowing more room for flexibility and accountability for all.

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According to a Terra Nova survey of April 30,

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2020,

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the widespread use of social distance in the workplace

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has reinforced confidence,

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76%,

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encouraged employees to take more initiative,

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65%,

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and enhanced delegation and autonomy,

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51%.

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The best managers have tasted the benefits of collaboration based on trust,

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benevolence,

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and empowerment.

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As a result of this experience,

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many agreements on telecommuting have been concluded

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or in the process of being established.

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They promote the idea of hybrid telecommuting

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and on-site presence of 2 to 3 days a week.

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Within the framework of this generalization of telecommuting,

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traditional management based on command and control via physical contact

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must inevitably give way to management based on trust.

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It is necessary to reinvent management by adapting

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it to this unavoidable trend of telecommuting.

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Managers must be supported and trained to make

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the transition to remote management a success.

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