Remote employees can help smash your sustainability goals

The shift to remote and hybrid working is now fully established. Accelerated by COVID-19 restrictions, these ways of working have touched every industry, and a staggering 89% of employees globally now expect their current job roles to be hybrid or fully remote in the next 12 months.¹

When we look at remote work through the lens of sustainability and environmental impact, the immediate benefits are twofold – the employee reduces the costs associated with commuting and eating out, and employers reduce the workplace footprint, in turn reducing the high costs associated with running the building.

So how do we build on these gains? Instead of replicating the benefits we once had from working on-site and in offices, we must enhance the unique benefits of working from home. That means using technologies to build on the efficiencies that remote employees bring to the workforce. Employees consider technology to support flexible and remote working as a critical element to their experience of work², and employers must supply these tools to demonstrate a commitment to their career growth.

Globally, remote work brought a shift in energy use, a rise in air quality and a reduction in waste. It allowed company leaders to rethink their operational setup and allowed employees to build a way of working that suited them better. Let’s dive deeper into these long-term benefits:

Reduced footprint
Across industries, remote working created a seismic shift in the efficiencies of building space. No longer requiring 100% of the team at the office meant savings gained from reductions in energy, waste and water usage. Furniture and hardware needs were also reduced as the office footprint shrank to that of a much smaller company.

Energy savings
Beyond the energy costs of running offices, remote work also brings efficiencies in hiring home workers. Where companies were previously limited to their local talent pool for employee choice, the limitless pool of remote workers allows companies to find employees with an exact skillset and quickly adapt if the company needs change. Having employees across time zones also provides for continuity of operations with somebody always online and available to resolve issues.

Mental well-being = better productivity
After two years of gathering research about these new ways of working, we know that remote and hybrid workers are more productive and work longer hours, with the remote worker clocking in almost an hour more than hybrid or office working colleagues.³

One theory is that by removing an arduous commute, employees are happier to spend time achieving their work goals. Another is that having smaller teams physically together to achieve collective goals and remote teams working on focused tasks brings a level of productivity that the open-plan office struggled to balance.

Attract and retain
Empowering employees with the tools needed to work efficiently no longer means mandating their return to the office and, in turn, can improve attraction and retention rates. Data shows that employees want to work from home 2.5 days a week on average, and 40% would start looking for another job or resign immediately if ordered to return to the office full time⁴

Remote and hybrid working also brings benefits that previously could not be achieved with face-to-face meetings. For example, switching between conversations with clients, customers and team members in one morning would have been impossible during a time when in-person conversations were required. Now, tools like Singtel Unified Communications (UC) offer a one-stop solution to manage connections by allowing you to seamlessly switch between devices, audio calls and conference calls, therefore reducing the costs associated with business travel.

The shift to remote and hybrid working has brought many benefits, but this change has not been without risk. Having employees on multiple networks accessing data from various cloud platforms allows for vulnerabilities that were easier to contain when teams were all under the same roof. Using secure gateways and encrypted data are just two ways of minimising risk, but these risks are ultimately unknowable without an educated and invested workforce. Singtel’s Cyber Education programmes upskill employees at all levels to empower them to work without compromising security. For C-Level executives, this is a growing trend; by 2026, it is predicted that 50% will have cybersecurity risk targets built into their employment contracts.⁵

Hybrid, remote and flexible employees add to our capabilities. Accommodating employees' needs and creating a feeling of connection is how employers will continue to benefit from the sustainable aspects of these workers.

Speak to us to understand the best tools to empower your hybrid workers.

References:

1. PWC, Asia Pacific Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2022
   
2. Accenture, Fjord Trends 2022
   
3. Forbes, In-Office Vs. Remote Vs. Hybrid Work Two Years Later: The Impact On Employee Efficiency
   
4. Global Workplace Analysis, Advantages of Agile Work Strategies For Companies
   
5. Gartner, Cybersecurity Leaders Are Losing Control in a Distributed Ecosystem