17 March 2017

Advantages and disadvantages of teleworking

Teleworking, as the name suggests, involves working in a location other than the office; either from home or from a hotel on the other side of the world.

This model is beginning to spread in Spain, albeit timidly as yet. According to the Adecco Employment Opportunities and Satisfaction Monitor report, 6.6% of workers (approximately 1,200,000) practice teleworking.

The figures are still very small compared to other EU countries, especially if we take into account how the internet and the cloud have made this modality accessible to many more people today. However, companies suffer from a strong attachment to the culture of face-to-face work. Only 22% of national companies have telework programmes in place, a figure of National Statistics Institute (INE).

If you are thinking of implementing this model, you will do well to read this analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of teleworking from a business point of view.

Advantages of teleworking

Increasing the number of employees working remotely has a number of benefits such as:

Retaining talent of employees who, for personal reasons, need to better balance their personal and professional lives. For example, parents who need to care for their young children.
Access a greater number of collaborators who are, for example, freelancers and are working from their homes in another part of the world.
Increasing productivity, as the employee is at home more focused and has fewer distractions (phone calls, meetings...).
Increase motivation The team's flexibility of being able to work from home when they need to.
Saving costs office as light, water...
Improving the balance between personal and working life of employees.

Disadvantages of teleworking

No model is perfect, and this one also has its drawbacks. For example:

Difficulty controlling how the team is working and what they are doing.
Deterioration of work quality due to less supervision.
Problems in the development of employee skills, due to a lack of access to training programmes.
Less security when handling sensitive information.
Increase in the cost of communication; for example, on phone bills.
A drop in team spirit, which can be difficult to maintain when members are separated.

Having analysed the advantages and disadvantages, you can decide to implement this model by 50%. You don't need to send all your employees home; you can offer remote working to those who are interested or when they need it occasionally.

Flexibility and autonomy are a significant motivator for employees. Having the freedom to work from home when they need to, as long as the job allows, can make a real difference.