For the past three years – since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic – countless employers across the US have allowed their employees to work from home. Now, as many businesses are asking their workers to return to the office, they’re finding out that those remote workers are resisting. And that’s putting it mildly. The fact is that many employees are simply refusing to return to the office, opting instead for leaving their companies and finding work elsewhere. That option may have seemed outrageous just a few years ago, but in today’s work environment – with record low unemployment and a seemingly endless number of companies actively seeking and recruiting new employees – it’s easier than ever for workers to find jobs elsewhere. So if you’re requiring your employees to return to the office, you might want to rethink that. The truth is that remote work is here to stay, and most of us know all the benefits working from home brings to the employee. But now is a great time to remember that it’s not just workers who benefit from remote work – employers do as well. In case you’ve forgotten, here are some of the advantages of allowing your staff members to continue working from home.

• Employing a remote work force costs you less money. It’s that simple. Allowing your employees to work from home means you spend less on rents and/or mortgages, not to mention the associated maintenance and insurance costs. And think of the money you save when you don’t have to pay for employee travel expenses and relocation costs. You may not have taken the time to tally up all the money you save by employing an at-home staff, but according to Global Workplace Analytics, businesses that allow their employees to work from home even just part-time save approximately $11,000 per year per employee!
• It will be easier to recruit new employees, and you’ll have a large selection of potential employees to choose from when you’re ready to hire. There’s no doubt about it: people who are currently working from home want to continue to do so. And that will make your remote job openings much more appealing to that workforce than another company’s in-office openings. You also won’t be restricted to hiring strictly local people. Your remote employees can live and work virtually anywhere, and that means the pool of best applicants for your open positions won’t be restricted by their physical location.
• It will be easier to retain your employees after you’ve brought them onboard. Because remote workers place such a high value on working from home, it means they are also generally more satisfied with and have an increased loyalty toward the employer that allows them to do just that. Business owners and managers know all too well the challenges and costs involved in recruiting and hiring new employees. But when you give your staff members what they want – namely, the ability to work from home – statistics show that you’ll have a much lower turnover rate than businesses that require employees to work in the office.
• There are tools available to enable you to measure your remote workers’ productivity levels. MySammy is one example. Our cloud-based software was developed specifically for business owners and managers that allow their employees to work from home. We provide you with all the information you need to give you peace of mind knowing that your at-home work staff is engaged in productive activity throughout the course of each workday. And we accomplish this without using “spyware” or other software that blocks access to certain websites. MySammy is intended to be used in a fully transparent manner. In fact, many employees use MySammy as a means of challenging themselves to become more productive over time!

If you’re thinking about requiring your workers to return to the office, think again! And if you’re not already using MySammy, sign up for your FREE trial today.