In the business world, Unified Communications is all the rage these days, with companies understanding how the tools can drastically increase productivity and efficiency, all while helping save money on operating costs.
Whether you’re in a large office, a small office or offices located on other sides of the country, Unified Communications solutions—which provide web conferencing, video conferencing, instant messaging, email and presence features, among others, on a single interface—help connect employees while saving time in the process. Rather than having to walk across the office to see if your coworker is at her desk, for example, you can simply check that person’s presence status and, if she’s away, shoot her a quick message that she can respond to when she has time. With this in mind, it becomes evident how business efficiency increases after adopting the communications platform.
But Unified Communications tools also lend themselves to allowing remote workers to remain an integral part of your team. Thanks to these advances in technology, you’re able to grant your employees the ability to work remotely without having to worry about productivity suffering as a result.
If you’re a decision maker wondering whether enabling employees to work remotely is the right move for your business, consider the following reasons why it might be beneficial:
Keep your good employees and attract new ones.
If you’ve got a great employee who needs to move to another state because of his spouse’s new job, you don’t have to lose that employee. Instead, he can set up shop at his new home and remain connected. At the same time, the pool from which you can draw new employees expands dramatically. In addition to the usual qualifications, the only requirement a prospective employee must absolutely possess is the ability to connect to the Internet.
Increase productivity and collaboration.
Your employees all have meetings with different clients, have different projects and have different schedules. But they also have to work on projects together. Unified Communications solutions enable employees to collaborate when it’s convenient. Rather than having to travel long distances to work together at the same table, employees can hop on a quick video conference and save time traveling.
Prove to your employees that you trust them.
Giving your employees the privilege of working from home is an outward expression of trust. You’re giving them the freedom to not have to be bound to an office, and you’re showing them you know they will still get the work done. Your workers are your biggest assets; they are intelligent and industrious and do not need to be monitored when their output itself proves their worth.
Provide flexibility necessary in today’s world.
Recent research indicates as many as 86 percent of employees want to work from home. Maybe they prefer a quiet environment to a noisy office, don’t want to commute or just don’t want to spend money on a babysitter. Whatever the reason, employees want the flexibility to work from home and, according to that same research, are 25 percent more productive there.