About a decade ago, telecommuting was touted as the trend of the future. Now that future is here and telecommuting has become the reality for numerous companies and employees. According to recent studies, 70% of employees across the world work remotely at least once per week, and approximately 53% work remotely for at least three days of the week. Several recent surveys of employees’ attitudes towards telecommuting further note that employees report that they are more productive when they are allowed the flexibility to work remotely, while close to 90% of the U.S. workforce reported that they would prefer to telecommute at least half of the week.
Important Considerations before Adopting Telecommuting in your Company
These statistics imply that the ability to do work from remote locations and the advent of digital office services has prompted a change in attitudes concerning where people can work from. While the trend has become increasingly pervasive, it is important for businesses to consider a number of things before allowing the practice. Here are some important factors to consider.
- Will your employees benefit from working remotely?
- Can your company attract more skilled employees by allowing telecommuting?
- How will you strike a balance between collaborative and concentrative work?
- Does your It infrastructure and set up permit mobility of employees while ensuring the security of your data?
It is important to understand the implication of using a remote workforce as it offers you the opportunity to reexamine your operations, including your IT systems and infrastructure. In case your company’s IT support service lacks a clear mobile path, you may want to consider IT Support Utah for managed IT support services to permit your business to enjoy the benefits of remote access to data and applications.
Additional Tech Tips for Supporting your Telecommuting Employees
- Video chat and Video Conferencing: As the demand for video conferencing continues to increase, there will be increasing competition. This implies that your company can benefit from more user-friendly and effective conferencing features at substantially lower costs compared with what was available in the past.
- Mobile Twinning: in case you are away from the office for meetings, it might be important to consider setting up a system that allows mobile twinning for workers who may need it. Such a system will ring your work desk and cell phone simultaneously and allow you to choose which phone you want to answer.
- Ensure the compatibility of software-to-device: This will not only help you to save some money but also provide your workforce with the tools they require to securely and efficiently accomplish their duties remotely.
In summary, these are some of the few things you need to consider to ensure your business has the IT infrastructure to take advantage of the benefits of having a telecommuting workforce. But more importantly, these are the basic issues you need to consider to ensure that your telecommuting infrastructure and environment is not only effective and efficient, but also safe and secure against IT security threats and vulnerabilities.
