Thanks to the Pandemic, we have all witnessed an event that will surely go down the lanes of History. Probably, these hard times will turn into fond learnings and stories that will proudly pass down to our future generations. Societies have adopted new ways of living, due to the pandemic; businesses too have switched to the concept of remote working that was otherwise considered less effective. A lot of traditional business institutions that were always against the idea of ‘Work from Home’ had to follow the practice due to the Coronavirus. Fortunately, this switch of work culture has taught us many new lessons, it has proved that if the foundation of work and the tools used for connecting are strong, then the place of work just does not matter.
Remote working has indeed become the talk of the town. Even the World Economic Forum seemed interested in the topic of workplace flexibility. In fact, most organizations have included the WFH concept in their policy.
So, Is the concept suitable for all types of business? What are the benefits of Distance Working for Small businesses? Have employees benefitted from WFH? These are a few areas we will discuss in this article.
Let’s first understand the tools that helped in conducting WFH:
1. Strong Wi-Fi
You can connect with anyone from anywhere in the world with the help of the internet. Thus, by providing Wi-Fi connections to employees, companies can equip them to connect, co-ordinate and share information with their teams from anywhere and at any time. With the help of High-speed internet, employees can connect via video call and bridge the distance virtually.
2. Cloud Computing and Storage
Getting access to the main server even while working from home is essential. It serves as a common space where your team can securely share and upload documents. Thus, having a cloud can solve this problem and allow you to share files easily and securely.
3. Project Management Software
IT companies run on projects and tracking every project meticulously is an important process towards ensuring its completion. Thus, project management software plays an important role in assigning, tracking and managing the status of the project on a day to day basis.
4. Chat tools
Tools like skype or Microsoft teams are very beneficial for the entire organization. You can instantly create a meeting group, chat individually, establish a video call or share big files in a jiffy, through these professional chat tools.
Now that we are clear about the tools that are required to deliver a seamless WFH experience, let’s look at the benefits of WFH for Small Businesses:
1. Enhanced Productivity
It has been observed that businesses like telesales have seen more productivity at home compared to the office. This is due to fewer distractions at home. Additionally, the quality of calls has also become better, compared to what it was in office.
2. Building an international network
This is one of the most attractive benefits of distance working. During this pandemic, companies across the globe have gone out of their normal recruiting processes and have chosen to work with professional belonging to different countries, this has resulted in creating a better talent pool and the scope of innovation and expertise has also widened. Off late a lot of Small companies across the globe have hired professionals from India as consultants or freelancers and have equipped them with all the required IT infrastructure. However, paying these employees can be a costly affair for small companies, money transfer to India from another country can come to additional transfer fees. However, you can use methods like PayPal to process payments with a minimum expense.
The Bottom Line
Employees too have found WFH more productive and comfortable. It saves them from long hours of travelling, gives them the flexibility to work from anywhere and at any time. Additionally, it has been globally observed that projects have been completed in a less TAT, compared to completion time in office. Probably, now with WFH, all the energy is diverted towards work rather than on travelling, unnecessary meeting and office politics.