Contrary to popular belief, remote work existed before the pandemic. The pandemic only made it popular. Remote work started as early as the early 2000s when employees had personal computers and were connected to the internet from home. They worked from home, saved time commuting to work, or worked overtime at home.

Since the pandemic, more and more businesses have adopted remote working. Asides from the fact that these businesses have figured that it saves them costs, they have found that their employees are more productive. Enough numbers to make experts assert that remote work has come to stay.

It is important to note that some businesses adopted a hybrid work model as opposed to remote. This means employees get to work a few days of the week remotely and show up physically a few times. Whether hybrid or remote work, it’s glaring that remote work has come to stay.

This resource seeks to understand how remote work impacts companies’ costs. Keep reading to discover the future of remote work and how it will affect company costs.

What’s the future of remote work

The future of remote work will be affected by a likely recession and the declining grip of pandemic restrictions. The work environment can never become fully remote. It will remain shared between hybrid and remote work conditions. The reason is far-fetched–some roles can never be remote.

Although experts think hybrid work has the potential to dominate completely-remote work, the technological advancement to support work from home suggests that remote work will thrive irrespectively.

The management of businesses will be a core driver of remote work. Their willingness to accept remote work and change age-long systems that support on-site work will increase the already favourable odds of remote work prevailing in our societies.

There’s a worry that promotion, ease of replacement, and networking for career growth are at a disadvantage to remote workers. Experts argue that remote workers are less visible, which makes them replaceable. Nonetheless, if career growth opportunities are served on value as opposed to nepotism, bias, and favouritism, then networking will not affect career growth opportunities, promotions, and replacements.

In the face of a recession, remote work will flourish as it helps companies save costs and make remote workers more productive. Remote work will not make office spaces redundant. Office spaces will still be relevant because of hybrid work. But there will be a significant reduction in office real estate with increased adoption of remote work.

Completely remote work presents some challenges despite having its pros. For completely remote work to become more popular or dominant in work communities, there must be an opportunity for growth and promotion. Also, the ease of switching across businesses in your industry offering remote positions must be guaranteed.

How remote work is impacting company cost

Remote work is impacting the cost of companies. Office utility bills have drastically reduced since people began working from home. This results from reduced pressure on office supplies since people work from home.

Office supplies that have experienced reduced cost range from taxes, cleaning, food, rent and utilities. A report shows that 60% of employers consider reduced company costs a key benefit of remote work. One company reported saving $68 million on its real estate cost, and another saved up to 30% on non-real estate costs.

Statistics show that employees prefer being rewarded with hybrid/remote work opportunities instead of a pay rise. Companies can further avoid increasing salaries by rewarding employees with a hybrid or remote work offer. Some companies have also invaded the cost of procuring a physical office since remote work became possible.

Remote work has afforded businesses the luxury of offshore outsourcing. They save costs by hiring talents from developing countries at more cost-effective rates. For example, Omnicontact, a leading African brand, has attracted many foreign clients trying to hire African talents.

The case for saving cost through outsourcing

First, it is important to note that businesses should only outsource tasks to remote employees or team members that are not core to the business. The logical ground for hiring is to improve customer experience, optimize business processes, or get the best talents within your budget to execute your task.

Africa has very educated youths who are multilingual and close to being native speakers of English because of early colonization. Also, before now, many projects have been targeted at teaching Africans tech skills. A very popular example is Google Africa’s project to teach digital and tech skills for free to Africans.

Despite the potential of the African populace, it’s easier to scout through outsourcing agencies that hire the best talents and train and retrain them for global standards. Outside these outsourcing agencies, you’d be taking on the risk of hiring people individually.

In conclusion

Whether as a hybrid or completely remote work, remote work has come to stay. Even better, it is helping companies save costs and helping remote workers live more fulfilled lives. Many remote workers have experienced increased productivity working at their peak hours. They now enjoy the luxury of relocating to places with lower living costs as long as they are gainfully employed.