Is working from home productive?

Kenneth Smit editorial | 09-02-2017

Many companies now offer their employees the opportunity to work from home one or more days a week. Besides the advantages, what are the disadvantages of working from home? How do you, as a company, create a clear framework within which the homeworker can really perform optimally? We discuss it in this week's blog.

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Many companies now offer their employees the opportunity to work from home one or more days a week. Why? It prevents traffic jams, reduces travel and accommodation costs, reduces absenteeism and is said to increase productivity. The home worker has no travel time and, whether or not he is wearing sweatpants, opens the laptop with VPN connection and can get to work in peace. Everyone wins! But, are home workers really more productive? And, in addition to the advantages, what are the disadvantages of working from home? How do you, as a company, create a clear framework within which the homeworker can really perform optimally? We discuss it in this week's blog.

Yes, working from home is productive

Highly educated employees and entrepreneurs in particular are increasingly working from home one or more days a week. Often to escape the hustle and bustle of the office, where everyone comes in and out all day long to ask questions and where the phone rings off the hook. Research by Intermedian among 11.000 highly educated employees shows that working from home is beneficial for concentration, effectiveness and productivity. But that is not everything. Working from home also ensures a better work/life balance. For example, because the travel time to work is limited, which gives parents more time to care for the children and take them to school. The Social and Cultural Planning Office concluded in a 2012 study that working from home significantly reduces absenteeism due to illness. Finally, working from home would also reduce traffic jams, although this is contradicted in Sergejs Gubins' 2015 dissertation (VU Amsterdam). What is certain, however, is that structurally working from home reduces travel and housing costs. In short, by allowing employees to decide for themselves where, when and how they work, employee job satisfaction and motivation increases, which leads to an increase in productivity and a decrease in certain costs.

The disadvantages of working from home

Despite the many benefits that working from home seems to provide, it is important to realize that there can be a number of disadvantages to working from home. For example, in the office, an employer has greater control over its employees than when they perform their work at home, hidden from the employer's view. However, as far as we are concerned, this should never be a decisive reason not to start at all. After all, the bond between employee and employer is largely a bond of trust. We think drawing up a set of agreements and protocols to manage working from home is a good idea. First we list a number of possible disadvantages and pitfalls.

Less suitable for 'consultation functions'

Working from home is not suitable for every type of position. Of course, it is especially suitable for office workers who are highly educated, but even then, working from home is not always ideal. If you have a position as a project manager, or another type of manager, and your day job largely consists of consultation, then working from home days should be carefully considered in advance.

Private and work merge

The biggest danger of working from home is that work and private life become mixed up. For the employer, this means that the employee can be distracted by private matters, such as the children. For employees, this means the risk of more stress, because the boundary between private and work becomes blurred. Working from home should therefore never be a disguised day off, which unfortunately often happens. Parents with young children in particular often opt for a home working day instead of a 4-day working week, so that they can be there for the children, but keep their salary.

Not everyone has the right motivation or self-discipline

Highly educated people are also not always suitable for working from home. A day away from the office does not mean that that day has to be less effective and less intensive. In fact, working from home should even increase productivity. Some people know that they cannot muster the discipline to work from home. Others do not have that self-knowledge and therefore need to be protected by their manager or colleagues.

Invisibility

A danger that lurks with remote workers is that their work is less visible and tangible. In many traditional production companies, working from home is still viewed somewhat strangely and reproachfully. So make sure that the culture of your company must be ready for the introduction of working from home.

Create a clear framework of agreements and protocols for working from home

The benefits of working from home speak for themselves, but there are also a number of pitfalls for employees and employers. As an employer, it is therefore wise to develop and implement a structural approach for home workers. What should you think about?

Working from home protocol

Put agreements, expectations and rights clearly on paper in a work-from-home protocol. Checking your home workers is of no use and is demotivating, but putting the agreements properly on paper provides a lot of clarity. In the protocol you can make agreements about ergonomic work, working hours, guidelines and many other matters. Also include the protocol in the contracts (or collective labor agreement) of your employees. A judge recently ruled against the employer in a work-from-home lawsuit, because the agreements were not in writing.

Agreement about children

It is important to agree that a working day from home should not be a disguised mom/dad day. Unfortunately this happens too often. Instead of working 4 days and therefore receiving less salary, employees choose to work from home when the children are at home. This has major consequences for the effectiveness of the working day. So make good agreements with your employees about how a home working day will be structured, and include these agreements in the protocol.

Supervise planning and tasks

Although it says little about productivity, you can easily keep control over your employee's working hours in the office. This is more difficult when working from home. However, there are of course still ways to manage that the work is carried out effectively. Consider, for example, time registration, concrete targets, task lists and reports. Ultimately, for you as an employer, what matters most is that the tasks are completed properly. Some people need 6 hours a day, others 10.

Get technology right

What also contributes enormously to the success of working from home are the technological conditions that you create as an employer. As strange as it sounds, remote workers are often left with slow old laptops and poorly functioning connections. As a company, invest in a good technical network to spare home workers the frustration and to keep the effectiveness of the working day as high as possible.

What is your experience with homeworkers? Do you notice that it has a positive effect on your employees and the performance of your team? Or do you have negative experiences? Let us know!

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