Would Your Business Benefit from “Remote-Enabling?”

Who This Blog is Meant For

I’ll start off by saying: This blog is not targeted to remote workers.

Don’t get me wrong; you’re all very welcome! But my target audience is slightly different.

On this blog, I want to speak with the people who hire workers of all stripes. Business owners. Managers & VPs. Startup Founders. Government Department Heads (yes, even government can gain from remote work!).

Those types of people. Welcome.

Why? Because this blog is about how remote work benefits YOU.

Remote Work (or telecommuting; I’ll use them interchangeably) has clear benefits to many workers out there…millions, by my estimate. But it also has great benefits for your workday, your hiring, and your success.

As such, the blog will spend time talking about the philosophy behind working remotely. The intricacies of production while telecommuting. And of course, tactics to build remote work into just about any business out there. New or old. Modern or traditional.

Why Should You Read about Remote Work?

Because you’re after productivity.

productivity photo

Photo by sachac

It never truly leaves your mind. “Is there a way we can do this better/faster/more efficiently?” If one exists, you want to test it out. If one doesn’t exist, well, time to invent it!

Maybe you knew about Remote Work already. Maybe not. Either way, this blog is meant to help your business become better by using it.

How so? Well, think about this…

  1. Business Owners – Taking advantage of higher productivity with minimal costs
  2. Managers & VPs – Paying well for good work, no matter where the worker is
  3. Startups – Your talent pool is as big as you want it to be
  4. Government – Even if your hiring is jurisdiction-based, you can push the limits without sacrificing quality of work

They all seem like advantages to me. How about you?

Where This All Started – a Remote Work Reversal

The Remote Worker Office. Everyone's at home.

My career has lasted 20 years now. I’ve spent 13 of those years telecommuting, either full-time or part-time. Early on, I found working remotely a great boon to my work. I had quiet, focus, and no trouble communicating when needed.

Recently, my employer decided that working remotely was no longer acceptable. (Except for himself and his VP.) Why? When I asked, he pointed to recent news of companies canceling their telecommuting policies: Yahoo, IBM, Reddit.

I reminded him that my most productive days are spent working remotely. (This was also true of co-workers, but I could only speak for myself at the time.) He dismissed that with a wave of his hand. I reminded him that his business model is totally different from those companies. Another hand-wave.

Since then, my productivity has waned. Not by choice…I don’t like it at all! I’d say I average 20% higher productivity when working remotely.

Why did that happen? A few of the reasons:

  • I’m an introvert. I can tolerate social settings for a while, but then I start to shrink inward.
  • Constant distraction. People shouting out requests to others, walking around…I’m a content professional. I need focus to create good content!
  • On-the-spot task assignment. Hey, since you just walked into my field of vision, I remembered 3 other things you’ll need to do today! That’s not a problem, right?

I want to do my best work. I know the conditions in which my best work comes out. You probably do too. Wouldn’t you agree that, if everyone had the ability to work in their best conditions, productivity would soar to (and stay at) Maximum?

Feedback Always Welcome

Final point: I want to learn too. I’ve spoken with many businesses owners, VPs, and the like over the years. Each had their own story to tell…their own circumstances governing productivity.

I want to hear from you. What you think of remote work, your experiences with telecommuting, which jobs do you think you could remote-enable and which you could not.

Is there something about telecommuting that bugs you? Do you use it now, but find it’s not working too well?

The more I hear, the more I can tackle these problems. The more value businesses—ALL businesses—can get out of Remote Work.

That’s what this blog is meant for.

Want to send in feedback? Please leave a comment on any post. (Don’t forget to subscribe too.)

You’re also welcome to email me, at chris@remotework.works.

Welcome to the journey!

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