Reading a recent article about how people in Leeds alone lose on average 5 days a year stuck in gridlock on the roads, makes me wonder why we still don’t seem to fully embrace the idea of working from home.

Long chastised as a mask for, let’s face it, essentially, skiving! The rapid improvement in mobile technologies and eventual improvement in our broadband capacity means there is no reason at all why more companies shouldn’t at least investigate this option.

Mobile Technologies & Better Broadband Help Us Work From Home

At MTech we have in place an environment which is completely mobile. At the core of our business is our busy help desk, answering calls from 8-6 every weekday. With our cloud based telephone solution from our partners Yoozoom, our desk phones can work from anywhere and, as part of our business continuity plan, our entire phone system can be diverted anywhere we want, meaning our customers calls can still be answered, even if our office has been shut down for whatever reason.

We use a cloud based call logging system, Autotask, so logging calls can be done from anywhere with internet access and we have, naturally as a Microsoft Gold Partner in Cloud Based Solutions, embraced Office 365 with all the benefits it brings.

Skype for business; allows messaging, voice and video conferencing facilities as well as the ability to share screens and work on proposals and documents from totally separate locations. SharePoint; allows cloud based document storage, shared calendars, notice boards, a HR system and so much more and, of course, a mail system that is accessible from anywhere on any device.

A comprehensive study by ACAS shows employees report “A higher level of job satisfaction” and that, maybe surprisingly to most, “performance is slightly higher for partial homeworkers” when allowed to work from home. If we can set suitable targets and monitor performance correctly, then why not allow any workforce to maybe spend a day a week at home?

We can monitor the number of problem tickets closed, the call volumes for our help desk staff and set deadlines for project plans and client proposals so, as long as that report is finished and of the quality required, what does it matter if some of that work has been done out of the office?

Personally, I find I work in fits and starts when at home. Smaller, but more intense, periods of work interspersed with putting that wash in, emptying the dishwasher and, yes occasionally, 10 minutes of glazing over watching god forsaken daytime TV. Then, back into work mode for a solid couple of hours’ of intense work.

The end result is the work gets done, possibly to a higher standard as there are less obtrusive interruptions, the work/life balance meter is balanced due to chores and home related jobs getting done and out of the way before the evening and I spend at least 1 hour less sat in my car, cursing the traffic … which I’m part of. It leads to gridlock you know!!!!

Fancy finding out if the right IT and technology could help you avoid the city gridlock? Speak to one of our team today.