Since the COVID-19 pandemic first began, a lot of people have been working from home. Many companies asked their employees to work from home, in order to prevent viral transmission from occurring in the office. In some places, governments also introduced nationwide lockdowns, which forced companies to implement remote working.
However, now people are beginning to return to their offices, some business owners are now wondering whether or not it’s sensible to keep people at home purely so they can save money.
Remote Working
Shortly after the pandemic began, governments around the world started introducing nationwide lockdowns. These lockdowns were introduced in order to prevent people from catching and then spreading the virus in public places. In order to keep their companies running, business owners had to ask their staff to work from home. The introduction of remote working was a godsend for many people, as it meant they no longer had to travel to the office, spend a fortune on fuel, and could spend more time with their families.
However, with people being asked to return to work (much to the annoyance of workers), some companies, in response to employees enjoying working from home, are a balance of WFH days.
WFH Days
A WFH day, or a work-from-home day, is a day in which employees are allowed to work from home. Many companies are now offering these, with some actually offering more WFH days than in-office days. It’s common to find companies requesting employees to come in two days a week and offering that they can work from home for the remaining three. The introduction of WFH days has eased many people’s lives and made work more tolerable for them. WFH days also allow companies and employees to save money.
Company Savings
Business owners can save a lot of money by asking their employees to work from home. At the moment, there is a cost of living crisis, which is also affecting businesses in addition to people’s individual lives. If it’s expensive to power your home these days, imagine how expensive it is to power an entire office building. By asking employees to work from home, business owners can save themselves money on energy bills, as well as heating and air conditioning. The savings made can then be reinvested into other, more important things.
Employee Benefits
Business owners aren’t the only ones that save money when employees work from home. As can be seen in the Comparethemarket energy comparison website chart below, working from home can cost as little as $41 a month in some places. While it’s certainly true that energy costs are rising and therefore employees working from home could have to pay more to power their homes, the amount saved on fuel alone can make up for this. At the moment, fuel prices are through the roof. By working from home, employees don’t have to put petrol in their vehicles (or use them) as often.
Energy Efficiency
For individuals working from home, a highly effective way of saving even more money is to switch energy providers. A lot of people never even consider switching energy providers and assume that no matter who they switch to, they will have to pay the same amount. This is not true, however. You can make huge savings by changing energy providers. You may also want to consider installing solar panels or some other kind of renewable energy, which can potentially help save an absolute fortune on energy bills. You can use a comparison site to find good deals on energy.
Motivating Staff
One problem that a lot of businesses face when it comes to allowing staff to work from home is motivating them. It can be difficult to motivate one’s staff when they are not physically present, since people tend to be more relaxed at home, and perhaps don’t work as hard. If you’re a business owner whose workforce are working remotely, it’s essential that you motivate them and keep them engaged, which you can do by holding daily meetings, creating a digital office space, and monitoring their performance on a weekly basis.
All in all, it can be considerably cheaper for both companies and employees when people work from home. Businesses can save money on energy costs, and employees can save money on travel costs. It’s for this and many other reasons that so many companies are now offering WFH days.
