In recent years, the global economy has seen sustained levels of high unemployment. So that means it’s easier than ever to find and hold on to great employees, right? Wrong!
Finding and retaining the really effective employee remains a major challenge, particularly because today’s work force is so diverse. That’s why “one-size-fits-all” strategies for keeping good people simply don’t work any longer. And because turnover among valued employees is costly, disruptive, and negatively impacts customer satisfaction, it remains a major challenge. That’s why more and more companies are taking advantage of their communications systems to support teleworking options.
An insurance company of approximately 40 people headquartered did a comprehensive study on their homeworker program and found that 64% of employees said they would turn down a 20% salary increase to continue working from home. In addition, 57% of homeworker employees reported improved job satisfaction/morale.
Working from home is not for every employee. But by implementing a homeworker plan, employers get more options for addressing the needs of employees they simply don’t want to give up:
- The valued employee who wants to stay, but whose spouse or significant other needs to relocate.
- The employee who needs a better work life balance—to be more available to children, an aging parent, etc.
- Members of Generations X (born after 1961) and Y (born after 1981) who have grown up on technology and expect to make it part of their everyday lives.
With petrol and public transportation costs rising, the five-day-a-week commute is becoming an expensive approach to workplace management. It’s estimated that a full-time homeworker receives a £5000 indirect pay raise, regardless of his or her salary rate, due to the reduced expenses in petrol consumption, wear and tear on the vehicle, insurance, parking, etc.
With two-earner households commonplace, there is a greater push to find ways to put personal and family obligations ahead of corporate needs—without making it an either or tradeoff. Homeworking provides that option and its one that more and more businesses are going to have to look at.
With new telecoms technology home workers can easily be setup with the tools they have availble in the office, providing them with a telephone that connects back to the office telephone system via the Internet. This means your office phone can be duplicated at home and you can make and receive calls in exactly the same way you would if you were in the office.
If you would like to know more about the home worker services we have available please contact us on 0800 50 533 50 or email us today at enquiries@tech-ip.co.uk
