Five years ago, if someone told me that remote work was an option, I probably wouldn’t have believed it; it wasn’t something remotely on my radar. So if they told me that I’d be working a remote job, I definitely would have thought they were joking. And yes, remote work has been around for some time, but it was not as available as it is today nor was anyone telling me when I graduated from college that that could even be a reality.
As I currently write this article from a train (because remote work really does mean you can work from anywhere) I’m still in awe at just how incredible of a perk it is. Of course, not everyone can work remotely (nor do all people want remote work), but as someone who used to work 12 hour days and spend around 3 hours a day just commuting, it’s a nice change.
There are so many perks to working remotely—no commuting any more (and for anyone who has had to sit in 2 hours of traffic, you know exactly how taxing that can be), no spending time figuring out what to wear to work (because let’s face it, going into a place of work requires some effort and you don’t want to wear the same clothes two days in a row even accidentally), and no struggle figuring out what you will eat for lunch (or will you buy lunch? is the cafeteria opened Thursdays or Tuesdays?). But of course, those are just a few of the perks.
Given our entire organization here at Double is remote (though some go into our office on occasion in a hybrid style fashion), I figured it was time to ask our staff just what they thought the top 3 benefits of working remotely were.
After surveying our Double HQ team, the top 3 benefits of working remotely in their experience were:
According to our HQ team, benefits of working remotely ranged from increasing productivity to saving time and even reducing commuting time. When surveyed, 55% of Double HQ employees said that the top benefit of working remotely was increased flexibility/freedom/autonomy while 20% of them shared that better work/life balance was also achieved with remote work. 15% of Double HQ employees also said that they viewed working remotely to benefit them by allowing them to work from anywhere.
Given the research out there on remote work, it was not surprising to hear that our own Double team found increased flexibility and freedom to be one of the top benefits of working remotely. According to Steve Glavenski in an article for Harvard Business Review, one of the benefits of remote work is that it has helped us learn that “it’s okay not to respond to things in real-time…and that it’s okay not to be online all day.” That’s the beauty of working remotely and having the flexibility to work more asynchronously. People are able to work at times that they are naturally more productive instead of just during traditional hours. Of course, there are times that people can end up working more or longer hours since work is home and home is work in some ways. However, with the right systems in place, remote work can be sustainable and offer better work/life balance in the long run.
If you haven’t tried remote work out yet, now is your chance! Check out our open positions at: https://withdouble.com/careers.