Productivity & Working From Home
Accepting the inevitable
Is the work from home life for you? It is no secret there has been a significant rise of interest and opportunities to work from home. The last few years have been difficult for employers, and employees, especially for those who needed to revise their work environments to be remote. But is remote work really all it is hyped up to be? Working from home comes with the best perk of all: freedom. Many workers see this as a positive, however, many struggle with managing their time, loneliness, and organization. We looked into the statistics, benefits, and tips for better insight for working remotely and staying productive while doing it.
Many companies now offer a work from home option (COVID related or not) as an extra bonus or work perk. There are employers who help you get your home office set up, or fund an annual work from home upgrades budget per employee. If you are interviewing for a position and unsure about any company benefits for working from home, be sure to ask. It may end up benefiting you more than you expect.
In Statistics Canada’s recent Economic and Social report, “Working from home in Canada: What have we learned so far?”, they found approximately 40% of jobs in Canada can be accomplished at home. For some workspaces and career types, working from home is simply not an option such as hospitality or cultivation. There are also higher possibilities of having the option to work at home depending on your work sector, for example, “85% of workers in finance and insurance, or in professional, scientific and technical services [have a higher potential to] work from home.”
As seen above, Canada holds the second-largest amount of jobs which could possibly be worked from home at 39%. The other top countries Statistics Canada found that supported remote working in 2021 were the United Kingdom taking first place (44%), USA and Germany followed (38%), and finally France (35%). Countries under 30% work from home qualifying careers were Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. As we begin to see regulations being lifted for COVID-19 across the globe, it looks like remote work interest is on the rise and here to stay.
Employers & Employees
The “FlexJobs Survey: Productivity, Work-Life Balance Improves During Pandemic” surveyed over 4,000 remote employees and found 65% of them wish to work remotely full time, 31% prefer a hybrid remote/office arrangement and 4% would like to be full-time office workers. Here are some of the key elements they found where the top considerations when opting for remote work:
Save time & money on transit (72%)
Work-life balance (73%)
More time is available for children, partners & pets
Fewer interruptions (68%)
Less involvement with office politics (55%)
Quieter working space (68%)
More focused time (63%)
More comfortable workplace (66%)
Avoiding office politics (55%)
The FlexJobs 10th Annual Survey also found people who are interested in going full-time remote are so dedicated to doing so that up to 20% would take a salary cut and 21% would give up vacation time. Furthermore, up to 40% of employees found they are more productive when working from home. As an added bonus, this could save billions a year on workplace costs. FlexJobs shows USA businesses lose upward of 600 billion dollars annually on office spaces and workplace distractions.
Where do these statistics leave us as we continue in a post-COVID world? Upwork's “Future Workforce Report 2021: How Remote Work is Changing Businesses Forever” by Dr. Adam Ozimek found pre-pandemic predictions for remote work would increase 38% in the next five years in the USA. In contrast to pre-COVID statistics, as the world begins to slowly reopen, it is now expected 58% of jobs will be fully remote by 2027; making 40.7 million Americans remote workers by 2027. In addition to this, 80% of hiring managers in the USA began to expand their job listings to support remote work.
Our tips on how to tackle the work from home question
1. Get organized.
First and foremost, if you want to work from home, you have to get organized. Separate your personal and work schedules to define your stop and start times. Utilizing apps like Google calendar or written planners can make a significant difference in balancing your new working environment. Next, you will want to refine your routine. Prioritize what you need to do before beginning your workday, then align the rest of your routine with any pre-established work obligation like meetings or daily tasks. Establishing a place to track your time and your daily duties can also ease the work-from-home life. You may want to dedicate the beginning of your day to confirming your schedule and prioritizing your to-do lists. If you ever become concerned about your time management or ability to meet deadlines, speaking with your management team can go a long way. Ask for regular check-ins on your work efficiency and expectation- you never know what tricks your teammates may have up their sleeve to shave that can help improve your ability to work remotely.
2. Create a space to fit your needs
Setting a structured place and space for yourself goes a long way. Take time to coordinate your calendar, to your at-home office or working space. When it comes to your start and stop times, make sure to remove yourself from the room you’re working in. Get up, go outside and make sure you give your brain a break. Enjoy the freedom of working from home, take a moment to stretch, and enjoy the possibilities.
3. Use supporting apps
We have officially entered the age of digitalization and for remote workers, it's a blessing. There are countless apps available at our fingertips to help save time, become more organized, and most importantly, make working from home easier. Our top recommendations for team organization and project management are Asana and Notion. Both of these programs include customizable applications to layout your project timelines, team responsibilities, how-to manuals, and additional features to help track goals and stay on task. Asana and Notion are both available for free trials.
If you or your team members are in need of training in areas from goal setting to e-commerce skills, SEO for beginners, etc, try using LinkedIn Learning or Shopify Learn. Both platforms offer a wide variety of subjects to choose from, however, LinkedIn Learning offers a certificate upon course completion, whereas Shopify does not. LinkedIn Learning has a one-month free trial with over 16,000 expert-led courses and Shopify Learn has over 90 expert teachers and is free for all Shopify account holders.
Any remote worker knows the overflowing tab life is real. It’s digital clutter that can cause confusion and anxiety if you don’t stay organized. Thankfully, the internet blessed us with chrome extensions. Google Chrome was the top used web browser in 2021 with over 60% of all users choosing it as their go-to option. As always, Google holds endless possibilities to customize your digital arrangements. We recommend optimizing free Chrome extensions like Momentum and Clockify. Momentum is an app that adds a personalized page to replace your new tab. You can personalize a dashboard to include notes, photos, weather & more. Freelance workers are the top category of workers who choose the remote lifestyle but many struggle with time management or tracking. Our recommended app for assisting in timekeeping for billable hours is the Clockify Chrome extension. You simply enter in your task and begin your timer, afterward, you can enter into the Clockify app to manage your projects and view work efficiency reports.
Resources:
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/210804/dq210804b-eng.htm
https://www.upwork.com/research/future-workforce-report
https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/remote-work-statistics/
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/momentum/laookkfknpbbblfpciffpaejjkokdgca?hl=en
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/clockify-time-tracker/pmjeegjhjdlccodhacdgbgfagbpmccpe