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Why Millennials Prefer Remote Working and How to Make it Happen
The outbreak of COVID made the corporate world undergo a drastic shift. The most significant workplace upheavals prior to the pandemic were caused by emerging technologies and expanding trade connections. Since then, COVID-19 has increased the significance of the physical aspect of labor, making remote working a new normal.
The foundation of “work from home” is the idea that tasks don't have to be completed in a specific location to be successful. In fact, the work can be completed anywhere if the employee is dedicated and supported. What society considers to be an appropriate workplace has undergone a cultural paradigm change, and remote employment has benefited from this greater independence.
Benefits of remote working
Remote working has made life a lot easier in many ways. Among the many advantages are the following:
1. No more dropping out
Remote working is probably the best thing ever for the people who are working and running their homes. Many individuals had to leave their studies in the middle merely because they were working for their living and could not skip office to attend a class. But thanks to remote working, students can now work and study simultaneously without fearing losing the class or office work. Since working from home gives you a free hand to adjust your time accordingly, be sure to meet your work deadlines.
2. Flexibility
Taking care of your children, mainly when you are a toddler's parent, can be quite challenging. Life often puts us in the scenario in which we ought to take care of a loved one, which drastically interferes with the common 9-to-5 work schedule. In this case, remote working can give you valuable relief.
Remote working is also the answer for people with complex health situations, as you can live a ‘normal’ professional life whilst also caring about your personal health, and giving room to any treatment required.
3. Lack of commuting time and expenses
No commuting time. Is there a more beautiful concept than that?. On average, users spend over 90 minutes each day travelling between their workplace and home, often enduring harsh climate conditions or potential traffic hazards. Thanks to remote working, you can execute any task and achieve your goals without stepping out of your home. There’s an instant ‘increase’ to your salary as you save on transportation expenses; but also consider the added value of eating healthier food at home, reducing your monthly meal budget, and so on.
4. Balance in life
With remote working, people have the freedom to plan their days in a way that allows their work and personal life to coexist harmoniously and to the fullest extent possible.
When working from home, you are not distracted by phone calls, talks with coworkers, or any other noise distracting you. Having a separate room at home may let you work nonstop in solitude, quiet, and, most importantly, complete focus. According to Catalyst's most recent research, remote working has boosted employees' productivity while also increasing job innovation and engagement by up to 63 percent, 75 percent, and 68 percent, respectively.
5. More opportunities
It's possible that your ideal employment offers weren't available nearby, and the ones that best fit you have been located hundreds of miles away. Hence, remote working can help you find jobs in businesses all over the world, worldwide.
Disadvantages of remote working
Every story has two sides, and so does remote working. On the one hand, we may find loads of benefits of remote working, but on the other, we also have a list of possible disadvantages:
1. Not ‘unplugging’ from work
Since the work can now easily be done sitting at home, there is no unplugging from work. That means there is no specific time to work now, as the corporate environment has a fixed time like offices usually operate from 9 to 5. Remote working is a disadvantage in this case as you may be called for work any time of the day, and you may feel obliged to respond since you now have all the convenience of remote working.
As a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments are seeking to regulate the “right of unplugging from work” to prevent abuse in work relationships.
2. Health issues
According to a study, it is claimed that remote working has "decreased overall physical and mental well-being." As workers get less physical activity, lack of a “meal time”, less interaction with coworkers, no exposure means no growth, and working around children and other distractions at home is not healthy. In addition, increased screen time results in exhaustion, headaches, tiredness, and eye-related health issues.
3. Extra expense to set up a home office
You must set up a remote workspace to work attentively, but making that space functional would require you to invest extra money. To work effectively, you need to be focused, and for that, a home office is a necessity. Otherwise it might be challenging and exhausting if you can’t find a room for yourself without distractions.
Corporations respond to remote working
Now, we know the benefits of remote working and the disadvantages for the employee. Let's see how corporations feel about remote working and how have they responded to this new trend:
More remote job postings
The skill stream you can draw from when employing staff is constrained by conventional office employment arrangements. You may not be able to hire the ideal employee if they can’t travel to your workplace or are unwilling to move. Hence, thanks to remote working, many companies have opened up their offering opportunities to remote workers, expanding their talent pool dramatically. Now even talent living in other territories can work effectively for the company.
Saving expenses on office rental
The benefit of remote working for employers is that onboarding new remote employees won't call for extra space in the workplace. Hence, saving on office rent. Other considerations include energy costs, travel compensation, insurance and office furniture and equipment.
Boost in productivity
According to one study, remote workers made up to 40% fewer errors. For an employer, this is excellent since quality work needs less or no time for fixing mistakes. This means more time to concentrate on initiatives that will grow your company.
Online training sessions reduced the necessity for spacious locations and delivered the same quality results as in-person training in terms of productivity, if not better. In the case of online events, webinars, and similar situations, employees also drove interest in reducing the time gaps for concise, straightforward presentations.
Business strategies such as the elevator pitch gave a clear insight into which aspects to improve, how to make an impact in 30 seconds or less for a first impression, and how to drive customers into effective conversions.
With the flexibility of work and time, employees are now getting more comfortable with remote working, but that doesn't seem to work for the employers. Hence, to keep a balance, big corporations like Google, Microsoft, and Apple introduced hybrid working policies. These require that the employees must be at the office physically at least three days a week while the rest of the time they can continue with remote working.
How to land a remote work position?
Consider the following suggestions to get a good remote job:
- To improve your CV for remote jobs, try to be remote-specific. You can use the STAR method when writing your resume, mentioning the previous challenges faced and how you resolved them by benefiting the company. Also, emphasize your communication skills, as that is the skill employers look for when searching for remote working talent.
- To ace the online interview, remove all the distractions so that you focus on the screen. Secondly, you must practice your talking points prior to the interview. You need to be more emphatic and passionate as the online conduction would lower the impact on the interviewer. Also, of course, ensure that you have a reliable internet connection to avoid any inconvenience.
- You can look up online sites, like LinkedIn, Remote.co, FlexJobs, and much more. Google it, and you'll have a long list of websites sharing remote job offerings.
- A hybrid workplace is a steal deal. Since in a hybrid work arrangement, employees have the flexibility to switch between the workplace and their homes without experiencing any productivity loss at their comfort.
Final word
In conclusion, remote working has opened up new opportunities for many people worldwide, potentially reducing unemployment. Even if you feel working from home is not your thing, the possibility of hybrid working can be an amenable solution.
As technology keeps improving daily, this won’t likely be the endgame of remote working. For Millennials and others, this new paradigm translates into freedom, making it possible to have the best personal/professional life balance. That’s something that Boomers struggled with for years, often sticking to jobs they dreaded.
