Advantages of telework for the company
Teleworking or working away from the office involves a number of benefits for the company such as:
- Retaining talent of workers who, for personal reasons, need to better reconcile their personal and working lives.
- Access a larger pool of freelance collaborators who work from anywhere in the world. The reach of remote working allows employers to access a larger pool of potential workers.
- Increasing productivity, as the employee is at home, more focused and with fewer distractions.
- Saving costs office as light, water...
- Helping to improving work-life balance of employees, which will result in increased motivation and productivity for them.
- Offering teleworking as a benefit can help employers to bear the cost of hiring a highly skilled labour force and keep these workers connected to the office and to each other, no matter where they are.
- To locate in a high-cost and high-demand urban area. It is more affordable for an employer when remote working allows them to use fewer square metres per worker, which reduces expenditure on space and energy.
- To increase respect for others. Digital presence creates a different atmosphere and, unlike what happens in a physical environment, tends to make a colleague's time much more valued.
Advantages of telework for the worker
The remote working also offers a series of employee benefits, with some of the most significant ones being the following:
- Helping each individual to think at his or her own pace. Remote work allows the team something that is sometimes complicated in the office. In this work arrangement, everyone has their own physical and mental space, and an improvement in the quality of ideas that emerge is noticeable.
- Flexibility and autonomy. Working from home allows the employee to organise their time as they need and wish. Usually, the company requires the fulfilment of a certain number of hours or the achievement of specific objectives, without concern for how we organise ourselves to carry them out.
- Saving time. By not having to commute to the workplace, the worker achieves significant time savings, as well as improving their stress levels by not having to deal with traffic, transport delays, etc. All of this results in an improvement in their quality of life.
- Cost savings. Especially for workers whose travel expenses, meals, etc. are not covered by the company.
- Improve motivation and productivity. Remote working offers greater convenience to the worker as it allows them to deal with all sorts of everyday unforeseen events that may arise. This makes the employee value the advantages of their job situation more, increasing their motivation and commitment to the company.
- Better work-life balance. One of the most valued advantages by employees. Saving time and the freedom to organise the working day are two key factors for achieving a better balance between personal and family life and professional life.
- Allows integration. Telework is an important opportunity for people with reduced mobility, who find it very difficult to travel, to access employment.
- Allows living in areas where it was previously unthinkable., The rural areas are far away from the big cities.
Disadvantages of telework for the company
However, it's not all advantages and this working model also has its downsides for the company. Let's look at some of them below: The most significant disadvantages of remote working for the company are:
- Difficulty in controlling How is the team working and what are they doing?.
- Deterioration of the quality of work due to less oversight.
- Problems in employee skills development, as they do not have access to training programmes.
- Reduced security When handling sensitive information.
- Increase in the cost of communication; for example, on phone and internet bills.
- Team spirit decline, that can be difficult to maintain when members are separated.
Disadvantages of telework for the worker
Even if it seems that this is not possible, Teleworking also brings with it a series of disadvantages or drawbacks for the worker. Let's look at some of the most important ones below:
- Difficulty in organising. Very often, working from home makes it difficult to separate personal or family life from work, especially if there are children at home. For this reason, remote working demands a lot of organisation and discipline, which are essential to maintain, learning to manage time effectively.
- Lower worker identification with the company. As there is no shared physical space with colleagues and no workplace atmosphere, remote working can sometimes lead to the employee becoming emotionally detached from the company.
- Isolation. A lack of workplace atmosphere and relationships with colleagues can also lead to isolation and reduced employee engagement with the company.
- Difficulty in teamwork. Virtual contact can never replace in-person meetings. In these circumstances, maintaining a team working environment is more complicated among remote workers.
- It makes promotion difficult. Remote working practically eliminates hierarchies within the company, meaning an employee usually only has direct contact with one boss. This makes it more difficult for the employee to get promoted within the company.
- Makes it difficult to disconnect from work. Living and working in the same setting can make it difficult to switch off mentally and to separate the two.
- Reduced ergonomics. Remote workers tend to neglect important aspects of their health, such as ergonomics and Occupational Risk Prevention measures.
Keys to being more efficient when working remotely
For Making the most of a remote working day we must take into account a number of aspects such as:
- Timetabling. The working day should always start at the same time and, if possible, also finish at the same time every day.
- Task management. It is essential to keep a meticulous and exhaustive record of tasks. This is the most practical way to have an effective system and to manage time correctly. Daily or weekly objectives must be established, prioritising tasks by order of importance and monitoring their completion.
- Personal image. Every day before work, one must get dressed and spruce oneself up, even if one feels lazy. It's not advisable to work in pyjamas as, mentally, being dressed helps us focus on the fact that we are working, and our attitude will be much more proactive.
- Reserve a space. It is fundamental to always have the same place to work where we can forget about the domestic environment and focus on our tasks.
- Take breaks. Just as if we were in the office, we need to set some working hours and take breaks.
- Staying connected. Since we don't have direct contact with our colleagues, it's very important that we maintain constant communication with them and our superiors. Productivity also depends on our team, so we must try to always be connected and available to avoid slowing down our own pace or that of our colleagues.
New Telework Law
La new Telework Law was published in the BOE on 23 September 2020 and came into force 20 days after its publication. This law allowed for the finalisation of a regulation that the crisis caused by the pandemic made clear was obsolete. With effect from 11 July 2021, the Law 10/2021 of 9 July, teleworking replaced Royal Decree-Law 28/2020, of 22 September, after its validation by Congress.
Law 10/2021 includes multiple aspects, from the limits of remote working, flexible working hours, who should cover the costs, and which workers will be able to benefit from teleworking.
What situations are considered remote working?
Workers who occasionally work from home will not be subject to these rules. It will therefore be necessary to determine what is considered occasional and what constitutes a regular teleworking arrangement.
The rule states that remote working or teleworking is work that is performed for a minimum of 30% of the working day, over a reference period of 3 months. That is, in a contract of 40 hours and 5 days a week, working from home is considered when it is carried out for at least one and a half days a week. This allows companies to offer one day of remote work without needing to comply with the other obligations established for working from home.
Voluntariness
The telework should be voluntary An agreement must be formalised in writing between the company and the worker to reflect this. Equivalently, it is also possible for either party to terminate remote working and return to the previous situation. The worker cannot be forced to telework, but nor can they demand to do so.
Furthermore, the law states that all individuals undertaking remote work will have the same rights as if they were in the physical workplace and shall not suffer any detriment, including in terms of salary, stability, hours, promotion or professional training.
What must be included in the remote working agreement?
All the Details of remote working must be recorded in writing. These are the points the company will need to agree with the employee:
- Inventory of the media, equipment, and tools required for agreed-upon remote working, including consumables and movable items, as well as their useful lifespan or maximum renewal period.
- Expenses that the remote worker may incur and how (how and when) the company should compensate them.
- Working hours and availability rules.
- The percentage and distribution between in-office and remote work.
- The location chosen by the employee to telework.
- The means of business control of the activity.
- The duration of the agreement and the notice periods for returning to on-site working.
- Instructions on data protection and information security.
Costs of teleworking
La The company is responsible for the provision and maintenance of all means, equipment and tools that the worker needs to carry out its activity remotely, as defined in the signed agreement.
Time flexibility
The worker who is developing remote work can be flexible with the established service provision schedule., respecting the mandatory availability times and regulations on working time and rest periods.
The The teleworker's schedule will be agreed by agreement. and the current limitations on working and rest time must be complied with. A time log must be kept, which must include the start and end times of the working day and of the activity periods.
Like Conclusion we can say that Flexibility and autonomy are a major motivation for employees who opt for remote working. Having the freedom to work from anywhere when they need it, work permitting, can make a significant difference in the level of productivity of a company.
By detaching ourselves from the place and time of work, i.e. from rigidity, the concept of “obligation” is replaced by that of “responsibility”, We have more freedom to adapt our work to our life and not our life to our work.
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