There’s been an ongoing trend toward people working from home in various industries throughout the world. Just in the past ten years or so, the figure has gone up almost 60% when it comes to those who are working remotely part-time or full-time.
source: https://pixabay.com/en/secretary-office-sales-telephony-544180/
Technology can be attributed to the vast majority of this factor. Employees have often wanted to have flexible working conditions and to set up a virtual private network, but the technology wasn’t there to allow them to do so.
For it to happen, they had to have a second telephone line, or they just had to rely on inferior quality technology to get the job done.
This has changed drastically, and now that the technology has caught up to the desire to work from home, it is happening for many more people. Some companies still don’t allow remote workers because they feel it is not as productive but that is typically the sign of an unhealthy company.
According to research, remote workers show more in the way of productivity than those who are bound to an office.
The Research behind Remote Working
According to a study by researchers at Stanford, employees who are working from home tend to be happier about their work and are more likely to stick with their position and be productive in doing so.
The study focused on call center employees who were able to spend nine months working from home. Not only were they able to save money because they didn’t have to have the office space for those individuals, but they also found the following benefits to be available:
- 13.5% more calls
- Stayed on the Job 50% Longer
- Working Longer Days
- Less Sick Time
The Business Strategy behind Flexible Working is Sound
When you consider all of these factors, it’s a good strategy to allow workers to stay at home and do their job. It doesn’t need to be a full-time venture, and there are benefits to having employees come to the office a few days every week. They may miss something by working at home full-time, so it helps to offset that possibility. It also allows them to get involved with team meetings and adds a social aspect to the mix.
To ensure that remote workers are successful, good organization and using the proper tools is vital. You may already have those tools available within the office network, or there may be a need to invest in newer technology.
Remote Workers and Hosted PBX
Hosted PBX provides a sound solution that is affordable to help individuals work from home and experience all of these benefits. It provides the functionality in a way that can’t be matched by a wired telephony system. Additional benefits are also available, including the following:
Call forwarding – it is beneficial if customers can reach remote employees on the same business number, regardless of where they are.
Lower cost – both the installation and maintenance are lower-cost with a cloud PBX phone system. This helps to save money in the long run because you are not allocating funds for workstations and office desks. Since you’re using a hosted solution, you will not need to pay for hardware. It tends to be a monthly model, so there is not any capital necessary up front.
Easy to Deploy – It is quite easy to both remove or add users once a hosted PBX system is in place. It requires adding the user details, and from that point, an automatically generated provisioning link is provided, and it can be copied to the handset.
Conferencing – when it comes to telephoning solutions, conferencing is vital. It allows more than one person to participate in a phone call simultaneously.
Voicemail – this can be personalized according to the needs of the employee and can even be sent through text messaging.
These are just some of the many benefits that a high quality hosted PBX system will provide. If you are considering using remote workers, this is a simple system to put in place, but it offers a very powerful solution that can be utilized outside of the office.
Considering Downtime Costs
Downtime is a concern for many companies. When it is a problem, it can quickly cost thousands of dollars, so ways are considered for minimizing that cost whenever possible. The hosted PBX is remotely hosted and uses VoIP technology for communication, so all of the hardware is in the vendor’s data centre. They are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance. They also tend to be more robust and provide additional security compared to most offices. When a piece of equipment fails, it is just a matter of rerouting the data to a different part of the network.
If you’re considering going with a hosted PBX solution, that vendor should be looked at carefully. According to the service level agreement (SLA), the terms of hosting and similar items are often within the small print. The majority of providers have an uptime guarantee, but it should be as close to 100% as it can be. When employees are working from home, downtime needs to be minimized.
Company Culture and Socialization
To make remote and flexible working successful, a focus on company culture must take place. Some trust needs to be put in the employees because they will be working independently and it will allow them to be happy when doing so. Since happiness in the workforce is on par with increased productivity, they will be more likely to stick with your company rather than heading over to the competition.
Keeping all of these things in mind, it’s important to consider how to improve the culture within your company and allow employees who want to work remotely to do so productively and with the right tools using a hosted PBX.
Author Bio:
Meghan Huerta is a technology blogger who currently is dedicated to writing for BroadConnect Telecom USA. When Meghan is not writing, she likes to try different variety of coffee, and photography.
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