The IT department of companies, key to facilitate telecommuting to their employees

Nowadays, we all are, to a greater or lesser extent familiar with the idea of telecommuting. The truth is that its popularity has grown by 37% over the past decade. If telecommuting is so popular, how is it possible that some companies still oppose him? How can companies facilitate telecommuting to their employees?

The benefits of telework for companies and workers

Numerous surveys, reports and studies, prove that telework brings many benefits for both the company and its employees. These benefits could include three dimensions:

• Cost savings and increased profits. Clearly a company with telecommuters reduces their investment in real estate and all expenses behave. Costs are also reduced in the private consumption as light or water, among others. In addition, the nonexistence of displacement commuting reduces the possibility of accidents and consequently it means lower expenses that time off work of a worker could involve.

• Improving environmental care. Teleworking helps reduce carbon footprint by reducing energy consumption, paper products, and cars on the road. This also favors the cost savings mentioned above.

• Increase of productivity and worker commitment. Teleworking facilitates the reconciliation of work-life balance, and leads to healthier and less stressful lifestyles. Thus, the worker feels happier, increases their commitment to the company and enhances its performance and productivity, which results in greater benefit for the organization. In fact, 86% of teleworkers say they are more productive when working from home.

“2015 World Telework Survey” revealed that more than half of workers surveyed want to work more from home; and many of them would leave their current position for a similar one where they can work more days at home. Based on this attitude, and the benefits listed above, we return to the original question: why are there still companies that reject telework and how it can be facilitated by the company itself?

A policy of effective telecommuting starts at the IT department of the company

The workers want to work more from home. And studies show that telecommuting, even partial, saves time and money, and increases happiness, productivity and employee engagement. But many companies are still reluctant to implement a telecommuting policy. The starting point for a successful telecommuting policy starts at the IT department of a company, being it the one that should provide the tools employees need to work from home.

The IT department must find out what are the most appropriate tools to ensure that their employees remain connected with each other and with the company, and must also undertake the process that makes these tools work properly.

Multiconference services, or solutions that allow a worker to use their own mobile device for personal and work tasks without one interfering with the other, facilitate telecommuting and allow the workers of the same company to connect by phone even if they are located in different geographical locations.

These tools differ between countries and companies, so it is the IT department the one that has to evaluate, select and implement them. Laptops, VPN, Internet and smartphones are the most used technologies globally. In conclusion, if workers want to work more from home, if studies show that telework brings significant benefits to company and employees, and if the necessary tools are available, what are you waiting for?