The demand for flexibility in ‘where’ and ‘how’ people work has been building for years. Prior to Covid-19, surveys repeatedly showed 80% of employees want to work from home at least some of the time. Over a third would take a pay cut in exchange for the option. While the experience of working at home during this crisis may not have been ideal as whole families were in one location, it gave people a taste of what could be.

One of the biggest holdbacks of Work At Home is trust—managers simply don’t trust their people to work unsupervised. They are used to managing by counting butts-in-seats, rather than by results. That’s not managing! What’s more, seeing the back of someone’s head tells a manager nothing about whether that person is actually working. If you don’t trust an employee, why are they employed within your business at all?

If employees are given a genuine Work- Life Balance, you will see just how much happier and engaged they are without the stress of commuting, being away from loved ones, workplace interruptions, etc.

Work-at-home opportunities in the past have been for the attraction and retention of employees, but during Covid-19 it was purely about saving money. Organizational leaders desperate to shed costs, found they could do more with less real estate. Studies have shown employees are not at their desk 50% to 60% of the time! That’s a huge waste of money.

One of the reasons climate change experts have a hard time getting people to change their habits is that the impact is hard to see. But even in the early days of Covid-19 we saw a dramatic reduction in traffic, congestion, and pollution. While sadly sustainability has not been a primary driver of remote work in recent years, being able to see the effects may finally flick the switch for employers and employees. The fact is, there is no easier, quicker and cheaper way to reduce your carbon footprint than by reducing commuter travel.