Remote Workers are Happier, More Loyal to Employers; New Report Claims

Working remotely—despite becoming increasingly popular due to technological advancement—remains an undervalued practice in the workplace. Even if you live in Ibafo, you still have to wake up every morning, beat the traffic and report for work in your office at Lekki by 9AM. The 9-to-5 structure continues to dominate, no matter the inconvenience it might seem to pose.

An argument for this could be that it is a tested and trusted culture designed to get the most productivity from employees. After all, how do you get an employee to work if they don’t actually report to work in the morning? A new report begs to differ. A recent study has found that working remotely, whether full-time of part-time, makes employees happy, productive and willing to stay in jobs longer.

For its 2019 “State of Remote Work” report, video-conferencing app, Owl Labs surveyed 1,200 workers between the ages of 22 and 65. Employees who work remotely were found to be 22% happier and more likely to want to stay in their jobs much longer than those who never work full-time. When the reasons for this were considered, it was found that a majority of remote workers particularly love their working arrangements due to work-life balance (91%), increased productivity (79%), less stress (78%), and transportation between their homes and the workplace (78%).

With regards to long-term commitment, remote workers also tend to prefer to stick with their employers for the rest of the foreseeable future since the arrangement allows them to organise their lives around their work. Of the employees surveyed, remote workers were more likely to stay in their current job 13% more than on-site workers.

The report got even more interesting when it revealed that workers who work from home actually tend to put in more hours in terms of overall productivity. Remote workers work over 40 hours per week 43% more than on-site workers. They are also twice as likely as on-site workers to earn up to $100,000 per year.

The report made clear that organisations which offer employees the opportunity to work remotely, at least some days of the week, often earn the loyalty of their workers and retain them for a longer period of time.