Why Remote Work is a blessing

Remote work was extremely rare prior to the 2020 Covid-19 crisis. It was only available to consultants or people with sufficient experience to be accepted as remote workers. In 2022, it may be the most sought-after perk when it comes to choosing a job, alongside salary and work culture. There are several reasons for this, which I will discuss in this article. After reading this, you will understand why working remotely benefits employees, employers, and society as a whole.

Life's too short, work Remote

"Life is too short," you hear everywhere, especially from your elders. Well, if you don't work remotely, your life is significantly shorter. People do not waste 8 hours a day at work; they waste much more due to transportation.

Every day, some of my friends spend nearly three hours in traffic on their way to work. Whether it's summer, winter, or the end of the world, they have to take the train or drive to work.

I realize this is an extreme example, but it is a real-world example. Let's do some math to see how much time a person wastes in transit each day. Working 5 days a week for 15 hours. Working 20 days in a month equals 60 hours. Let's say you work 220 days a year - that means 660 hours. When you do the math, it really adds up to a lot, doesn't it?

But, to be less extreme, suppose you waste one hour per day in transit… that's at least 220 hours. That's if you don't count getting up for work and all the other things that need to be done in the morning.

In 220 hours, you could learn a new skill that will help your career. You could work on starting your own business. You could also spend quality time with your friends, spouse, or children. There's so much you could do with that time.

And let's not forget that driving or being in transit by any means is tiresome. When you get home after driving for 1 or 2 hours, you wouldn't really think about doing anything else but crash on the couch.

Oh, did I mention that the transit time is not ever paid for?

Working Remote saves money

When you need to get to work every day, there are a variety of monetary costs to consider. So not only is time wasted, but also money.

Firstly, you waste money on gas (and prices are terrible nowadays) for using your car to get to work. You are also wasting money on car maintenance, which is also a pain. And you know what is also a huge pain? Finding a parking spot (especially in Bucharest).

Almost all countries do not provide free public transportation. So, taking public transportation means paying for something every day. And, because there may not be a direct route to your workplace, you may have to change modes of transportation to get there. And let's not even get started on having to interact socially with people from all walks of life, shall we?

Humans have to eat too, sadly… That means you also need to spend money ordering food and drinks which are heavily overpriced compared to the cost of homemade food. Unless you are waking out every day to make food for work, you will have to buy food and drinks from the workplace or nearby.

Psychological advantages

There are also some advantages that are not physical in nature. One of them is how you feel psychologically once you get used to remote work.

One of the greatest advantages is that you can have a work-life balance that will make you much happier in your life. You will have hundreds more hours to spend with your loved ones and with friends every year. You will be able to get closer to people who you may not have had time to previously. You will be able to actually not feel too tired at the end of the day, so you can even go visit your elders more often.

Remote work does not only improve your life, but it also improves the lives of the people around you!

Your spouse, children, elders, and friends will thank you on the inside for finding a remote job! How about having the energy and time to actually go and play soccer or other sports with your children, every evening? Or going to play some chess or checkers with your grandpa. Or even giving your spouse a… very good time. That is all possible if you choose to find a remote job.

What's in it for the employer?

Why you should strive to create a remote work environment as an employer?

First off, your real estate costs will go way down. You will have to rent out much smaller offices, which are used only for important meetings with team members and clients. You will also have a much smaller initial investment when you need to open a new office in another city or country. Basically, you will only need a meeting room in each place you want an office.

Secondly, the maintenance costs will basically die out. You won't need to pay such high electricity bills or hire 2 janitors to take care of the building.

Thirdly and most importantly, you will have access to the global talent pool instead of only the local one. You will be able to hire the most skilled people from all over the world. You will most likely be able to hire talented people that are from countries where living is cheaper - which means that the salary they will ask for is lower.

There are plenty of reasons why an employer would consider moving his operations remotely, if possible. Only the 3 mentioned above should have made up your mind about how advantageous remote work is. So go Remote!

The disadvantages

One of the greatest disadvantages is social interaction. If you work remotely you won't spend so much physical time with your colleagues and maybe have a laugh while working. You will just work and interact with people on video calls or other digital means.

Of course, this is advantageous for the employer, since you will be much more focused on actually getting the work done. There are various studies that attest that the productivity of remote workers is greater than that of those who work on-site.

This separation may lead to loneliness in remote workers unless they have their family or friends close by (which I highly recommend for your general well-being, remote work or not). But hey, you can always organize a party or go out for drinks with your colleagues. You can even invite them to your place, so they can see your new workspace.

Another disadvantage is the collaboration and innovation of teams, where that is the case. Physical interaction, especially when having a whiteboard nearby is extremely useful for breeding new ideas. With remote work, this may be harder to do, since you would have to arrange a meeting and call your team members whenever you got an idea. Before you finish doing all that, you may even forget why you called in the first place. This is a big impediment, but maybe some solutions will be found.

Conclusion

Remote work, when able to be implemented, is a blessing for everyone involved. Employees can have more personal time, spend less money each month and be happier. Employers can reduce costs in pretty much every aspect of their business, from office space to utilities and personnel. And for society as a whole, this will make traffic less intense, reduce the usage and maintenance of infrastructure and make their population happier in the general sense.

Remote work is maybe the only blessing that came from the terrible period of the last 2 years. Be sure to be one of the people who use this blessing.

Go Remote!