Mobility is trending in the workplace, but is it right for your business? For some, a desk is a home away from home, which presents difficulty for businesses looking to loosen up in-office requirements. Workplace mobility can be defined as giving employees the option to work from home, or another place they feel is convenient to them, other than the office.
The transition into workplace mobility would need to include finding the right employees, setting guidelines, and ensuring mobile employees have everything they need, including remote access and the right technology. In order to keep existing culture practices tightly in place, it is imperative that mobile employees still feel that they are part of the team with regular meeting times and increased communication between employees. Businesses can save an average of $13,000 a year for every employee who works remotely, given freed up office space. If 100 staff members give up their desks and work remotely, an organization can save more than one million dollars a year. As mobility becomes more popular, “status will be defined less and less by the number of windows a person’s office has and more and more by his or her ability to collaborate,” according to Kay Sargent. There are also the additional environmental benefits, including decreased fuel emissions from less travel and diminishes use of central heating and air in the office. Forty-nine percent of employers believe that having opportunities to work remotely improves their employees’ work-life balance.According to a recent Gallup survey, 86 percent of companies now offer alternative work strategies and mobile work.
Although the millennial generation is credited as those that initially drove the movement towards mobility, older generations are subscribing to it the most. Working remotely tends to make sense for those with more responsibility, like children. On the other hand, many workers may believe ‘out of sight, out of mind’ and worry they may fall behind with relationships with their colleagues or fall off their bosses’ radar once they begin working from home. In many cases, the upsides of mobility can outweigh the drawbacks: increased productivity, increased concentration from decreased distractions, employees can control work hours, increased flexibility, and maximized office space. Would increased mobility work in your workplace?
