By “It is estimated that, by 2025, roughly 70% of the American workforce will be working remotely more than five days per month,” Julita Marshall stated. “This increase has been sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic and the productivity that has been recognized because of it.”
Julita Marshall emphasized that productivity is one reason we will see an increase in remote work in the coming years. A study performed by Enterprise Technology Research showed that productivity numbers were up during this period of remote work. Another study stated that 74% of surveyed CFO’s said they plan to shift to remote work permanently.
Julita Marshall of Aurora explained that major companies are making this shift, and that’s expected to prompt smaller companies to follow. Companies like Square, Twitter, and Facebook are planning to offer employees the opportunity to work from home indefinitely.
“Productivity boosts profits,” Marshall said. “But remote work saves businesses substantial amounts of money.”
Fewer employees in the office mean less office space is required. This also means fewer supplies, equipment, and other items are needed to keep employees comfortable and productive while at work. Julita Marshall of Aurora added that office space is a significant overhead expense for many major companies, often located in expensive cities. Reducing this cost can free up finances to be used in other areas.
“It’s easy to believe that remote work makes communication amongst employees more difficult, but it increases employee engagement,” Julita Marshall said. “Employees must contribute to online meetings and other virtual events. In many ways, these events connect employees together more than sitting in their cubicles writing emails back and forth.”
There are certainly some drawbacks of the new remote work trend. Highlighting the achievements of individual employees can be difficult, and cybersecurity becomes a much more significant issue. However, with the productivity many major companies have been seeing throughout the pandemic, it appears the pros will continue to outweigh the cons.
2020 was a year of innovation in the workplace. Employees went from operating in an office setting to working from home in a matter of days when the coronavirus pandemic took hold. Working from home has become the norm, and Julita Marshall of Aurora recently discussed how this trend might stick around 2021 and beyond.
