Thinking about making the ultimate switch from a desk job to a remote one? Whether you’re looking for freelance work or employment opportunities that offer flexible work arrangements, here are some of the reasons why remote work via video conferencing is catching on in many industries:
1. Less Stress
This is tied directly to the reduced travel time. With video conferencing technologies doing away with the need to travel, employees no longer have to brave the daily commute—and the stress that comes along with it. In fact, the office for National Statistics in the UK said that commuters were generally burdened with less satisfaction: they were less satisfied with their lives and suffered from the belief that their day-to-day activities weren’t important. Low happiness quotient with high anxiety also described most commuters. With remote work through, employees are able to avoid commuting woes all together, leading to higher satisfaction levels in work and life.
2. Less Missed Meetings
Remote technologies allow you to attend meetings, wherever and whenever. For instance, The Guardian talks about how an employee for a digital marketing based out of Edinburgh is able to live with her family in Florida and still be able to attend to her tasks and duties for the company. That’s the power of remote work. Another employee who travels six hours away is able to work remotely and visit her family, hitting two birds with one stone. Instead of cutting short their holidays or staying tied to their desks, these employees are able to integrate their work into their life, allowing for both to flourish.
3. More engagement
Video conferencing is also a better tool to encourage engagement among onsite and offsite employees. The face to face contact adds more to the encounter, improving camaraderie and teamwork. In fact, 87 percent of remote staff felt they had a deeper connection with their teams, says Cisco, whenever they used video conferencing. By putting a face to the voice or email contact they’ve been communicating with, employees get the sense that they ‘know’ the person. That changes team dynamics in a major way. People, after all, tend to listen and be more engaged with someone they know, someone they feel close to.
4. Less delays
A good thing about face to face interactions via video conferencing is that they eliminate a lot of the delays in the pipeline. Imagine working with an offsite team to create a marketing campaign. If you use email to exclusively communicate with the team, as well as review revisions, and updates, there’s going to be a lot of going back and forth, one that could slow down production. However, by setting up a video conference, teams are able to talk through the issues and come to decisions that much faster.
It’s also easier to clarify instructions and make sure you’re all on the same page. In non-visual communication—emails, chats, calls—a lot of social nudges could be lost as well. With video, it’s easy to say hello, discuss the matter at hand, and interpret expressions and non-verbal cues to get a handle on what’s going on.
5. Convenient access
If you’ve got a video conference room and you want to connect to another room or device—whether it’s a phone or another pc or laptop—you can. Services like Blue Jeans offer video conference equipment that allows you to bridge the gap between room and remote devices. So if you need to check in on one of your employees, you can do that by using your video conferencing room to send an invite and connect to his device.
This feature especially comes in handy in case your employees don’t have access to their work units, aren’t at their home offices or stuck on the road, with only their mobile phone with them. With a smart device, attending meetings is easy for everyone, regardless of whether they’re in the same room or not.
6. Global hiring
Video conferencing makes it easy to find, hire, and manage remote global talent. If the industry you work in has a limited talent pool, going global can do wonders for your recruitment. This way, you can fulfil your hiring goals without settling for talents that might not have all the qualifications you need. Using video conferencing to interview remote candidates also helps your HR team decide which ones will suit and which ones don’t that much faster—all while cutting down on travel costs, both by the interviewer and applicants. As companies vie and compete for talent, offering remote work opportunities is one way to get ahead in the recruitment industry.
Finally when videoconferencing is done right it can offer significant benefits when it comes to travel including associated savings made from not travelling…and of course very importantly is the environment. By getting rid of the need to send employees to on-site meetings, companies can cut both the cost and the nasty carbon emissions bill associated with such journeys.
So if you want to have more time for life outside of work whilst doing your bit to save the planet then perhaps going remote might just be one of the best decisions you’ll make in your work/life balance.
