In spite of the fact that more employees are working remotely than ever before, the idea of managing a remote staff while trying to keep productivity high can still be overwhelming to even the savviest of business owners.
While it does present its own unique challenges, most businesses find that the benefits of enabling a remote workforce far outweigh the initial challenges that come with getting started. Telecommuting can limit absences, increase productivity, and even help your business save money. It may even score you a better team of employees.
Enabling a remote office eliminates geography as a challenge when recruiting the best candidates for an available position. Smallbiztechnology.com writes, “Small, midsize and large businesses are realizing that their options for hiring talented employees expand enormously when they remove location requirements.”
Going remote can also improve outputs from the team you already have. A study by Stanford professor, Nick Bloom, found that remote workers were more productive, got more done, worked longer hours, took less breaks, and used less sick time than their in-office counterparts.
These employees also demonstrated better retention, and higher levels of job satisfaction. The study estimated that, on average, companies saved an estimated $2,000 per every employee who worked from home.
Getting Started
Enabling a remote workforce for your business isn’t as complicated as it sounds. It simply requires the right mix of technological tools and basic communications skills. Most businesses find that the following tools and strategies give their employees a full office experience with all the benefits and flexibility of working remotely.
- Videoconferencing.
- Instant messaging.
- Cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM).
- Regularly schedule site visits or team meetings.
- Web-based project management.
- These solutions ensure secure printing from anywhere, and enable remote employees to seamlessly access your MFP while on site visits.
- Remote document management. The Xerox® Mobile Link App lets you scan, fax and store contracts, purchase orders, expense receipts, business cards and other documents from anywhere, making them easier to store, find, and most importantly for remote workers, share.
Capture the power of a Xerox MFP with your mobile devices with the Xerox® Mobile Link App.
Whether you were a remote office pioneer or you’re just getting started, Xerox® has products, services and solutions that can help you save both time and money, and make whichever office you’re working from a happier and less stressful place to be.
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[…] In spite of the fact that more employees are working remotely than ever before, the idea of managing a remote staff while trying to keep productivity high can still be overwhelming to even the savviest of business owners. While it does present its own unique challenges, most businesses find that the benefits of enabling a remote workforce far outweigh the initial challenges that come with getting started. Telecommuting can limit absences, increase productivity, and even help your business save m…More at https://smallbusinesssolutions.blogs.xerox.com […]
Good article. I have many employees that work remotely. I often help with reminders of how to stay productive as there are many distractions. Right now as a group we are reading Create More Flow by Camille Preston. It’s things like this book that keep the focus and also they can learn to optimize their work space to keep the productivity level up.