Companies, such as in information and tech sector, that still allow work from home, remote, telecommuting or hybrid setup have started requiring their employees to return to the office. Many employers are getting blowback. While management may argue productivity and socialization as few of the factors for this decision, employees may highlight the following advantages of work from home setup.

Save on Rent

Renting (or leasing) makes the highest expenses for companies who don’t own office spaces. For example, office space on one of the towers located in the central business district might cost you tens to hundreds of thousands. Just imagine if you could just use those huge savings from rentals to the following: 

• Advertisement to improve your market reach
• Buy stocks
• Buy your own office space
• Employee skill development such as education and training
• Healthcare insurance for your employees
• Invest in another business
• Software for business
• Tools for productivity

Utilities

Utilities comprise electricity, gas for heating, internet and water. All of these can cost you thousands of pesos if you compel or require employees to return to the office. Telecommuting means saying goodbye to monthly bills that can add to your stress. Remember you need one of your staff to process bills and that can take away precious effort, money and time.

Cleaning Services

Renting an office can add an additional cost - cleaning services. Since your staff occupies your office, you’ll need to keep the floor, ceiling, workstations and windows clean. And that calls for janitorial or cleaning services. Now that’s another bill.

Improved Employee Retention

Resigning employees can hamper your production. Although you can always hire another employee, remember that retraining a new staff doesn’t mean you can always get the same quality of service. On top of that, think about the cost and time of retraining new employees. Promoting work from home can help you retain talents who need more time with their family, and take care of their babies or ailing relatives.

Reduced Absenteeism

Flexible schedules can give more time to your employees who have personal obligations that could demand taking days off. Returning employees from sick leave can bounce back to work easier compared to commuting employees.

Reduced Tardiness

Traffic jams can hamper your staff’s ability to arrive on time. Even though they can adjust their time or wake up early, it’s very taxing and tiresome for you to deal with bumper to bumper traffic. By the time you and your staff arrive on-site, you’re already wasting precious time and energy. The solution to traffic? Make work from home a permanent work setup.

Reduced Payroll Costs
Although it’s likely you can’t get employees who like reduced salary in exchange for a flexible workplace, a research shows that almost ⅓ of employees will want remote work over a pay rise. So, instead of a pay raise, why not reward your employees with work from home.