Onsite Vs Offsite Working – To Commute or not to Commute…

According to a recent study conducted by Buffer, 99% of people would like to work at least some of the time remotely for the rest of their careers. The main drivers for this perk include; having a flexible schedule, being able to work from any location, and spend time with family. But what’s in it for the employers? In this blog, we’ll be taking you through our top pros and cons for onsite and offsite work.

Advantages of onsite work

Some of the benefits include:

• Motivation & Morale When working onsite, employees can motivate one another, which in turn boosts their morale. Teammates can help each other at times when one is stuck and can’t find out the solution to a certain problem. This is hard to replicate when working remotely.
• Control When employees work onsite and there’s a problem you can speak with the relevant people immediately. Need an impromptu meeting? It takes seconds to gain an office full of people’s attention, whereas, as convenient as video calling is, connecting with multiple people when unarranged can be time-consuming.
• Peace of mind If you can see employees head down at their desk chances are, they’re getting on with their work. Unless you see Facebook or WhatsApp messenger open on their desktop. When you can physically see people working, it reassures employers that tasks are being completed efficiently and effectively.

Disadvantages of onsite work

Some negatives of onsite working include:

• Expensive office locations Having a furnished space where every employee can work isn’t cheap. From electricity bills to refreshment expenses, stationery, support staff, and more, there is a great deal of investment in running an office. And this expense increases every time you hire.
• Limits your options By only hiring candidates that can work onsite, you’re reducing your talent pool to those who can physically get to your place of work. This not only has an impact on the number of candidates available to you, but also the quality.
• Distractions Skilled employees, such as developers, engineers, and programmers, need to pay careful attention to detail in their work and require long hours of uninterrupted focus. Open plan office environments in there very nature are not set up for the level of deep work these roles demand and can lead to a decrease in productivity.

Advantages of offsite work

Some of the benefits include:

• Saves time 30% of employees said that telecommuting allowed them to achieve more in less time, and 24% said they could accomplish more in about the same amount of time. This is backed up by over 60% of office managers who reported that employees who work remotely increased their productivity.
• Dedicated employees A research study by CoSo Cloud found that offsite working benefits both employees and employers as it leads to higher efficiency. Their research suggests that employees with the option to work offsite were motivated to work harder and more efficiently to protect their benefit of working remotely. One reason for this could be that employees feel as though they have to prove something for being rewarded with this benefit. “Workers tend to be happier and less stressed out and healthier, thereby bringing down the costs of turnover, absenteeism, lower productivity, and other issues.” according to Michael Fitzpatrick, CEO of CoSo.
• Increased talent pool When you enable employees to work remotely, your pool of candidates significantly increases. Looking for a hotshot data scientist? Hire one who is based on the other side of the country instead of taking the average candidate just because they live locally.

Disadvantages of offsite work

Some negatives of offsite working include:

• Less chance to collaborate Thanks to digital advances, there are now great tools that make collaborating with people in different locations lightyears easier than 20 years ago. Take the instant messaging platform Slack, which allows users to split their conversations into specific channels, and Google Hangouts, which has taken the hassle out of video calling. These tools are great – but nothing beats face to face for an impromptu ideas session.
• Culture While not impossible, having employees in different locations can make instilling your company values difficult. As well as this, team activities take more organising than when working onsite as there’s no chance for a spontaneous drink after work.
• Harder to spot issues Noticing potential issues, both personal and professional can take longer when employees work from home. Even with constant lines of communication open, it can be challenging for employers to understand how their employees are feeling. So, problems that could have been prevented if caught early can sometimes only be spotted when it’s too late.

There are pros and cons for employees to work onsite and offsite. The preferred option depends on how your business operates. It is fair to say that opportunities to work from home have increased over the last few years, and companies are hiring more contractors to do the work for them. We believe this way of working is only going to amplify in the future. However, be sure that this isn’t goodbye to conventional onsite work. No matter how many technological advancements we continue to have, the traditional way of working is here to stay for the foreseeable future.