Is work from home making loss?

Attending a Company conference call while making white sauce pasta for your spouse or getting a head massage while you send an email updating your supervisor? Sounds appealing right? Let's not get too excited already. While work from home has its own perks, the cost we pay inadvertently always outruns the perks.

A study done by Swiss company revealed that 70 per cent of professionals work from home at least once a week while 53 per cent work remotely for half of the week. It's becoming increasingly popular. After all, it has fair advantages for both employers and employees. But let's look at the flip side for the employers first.

The positive side

A Scottish bank in Gurgaon spends between 2-3 lakhs per workstation. Possibly twice or thrice of the salary of the employee occupying that workstation. That 'a significant amount of saving if that employee is working remotely and it doesn't end here. Transportation, administration, energy and other cost associated with that one workstation contributes significantly to the company's cost reduction program.

Social gain

We all know the amount of pollution we do by work-related travel. No matter what position do we have in our companies, we are equally liable to take responsibility for protecting our environment. In the past few days since lockdown, satellite images have shown significant improvement in AQI(Air Quality Index). Air is again breathable.

The impact

Bigger organisations run with their core values and their embedded culture. The technology revolution allows employees to virtually work from anywhere in the world but also scatters its workforce making it difficult for the employees to honor the core values of the organisation. Productivity is derived from teamwork, motivation, and collaboration. It doesn't really work well when we all are working from different parts of the world virtually connected. Another aspect is when we are remotely connected, we talk when we need to. That leaves an immense void for ideas to prosper because you are no longer talking during lunch, you no longer share pop-up ideas you get while in the lift or crossing someone in the hallway. It's a huge aspect that may get overlooked while choosing financial gains. But let's focus on you, companies will eventually choose what's good for them.