Working on remote is becoming increasingly popular among developers. Some of us choose to work remotely every day; some of us are happy with a few days per week. However, some still need to go into the office every single day. The issue could be that the company is not familiar with the concept of working remotely. It could also be that they fear losing control of their employees daily contributions. There is extensive research conducted on the subject of remote work. This article looks at three of the most compelling finds that make great arguments for why your company should consider the possibility of you working on remote.

Reason 1 — You will be more productive

According to a study published by IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, being able to work remotely is one of the main factors that contribute to software developers’ productivity. The study even found that the opportunity to work on remote impacts software developers more than other categories of knowledge workers.

A survey conducted by CoSo Cloud also points to the productivity gains that stem from the ability to work on remote. According to the results, 77% of remote workers reported increased productivity, which suggests that companies could benefit significantly from creating the proper conditions for employees to work remotely. Both Cisco and AT&T can attest to the pros of allowing and encouraging remote work. According to themselves, their efforts to establish great programs to help employees work remotely has resulted in productivity gains of $277 million and $150 million, respectively.

Reason 2 — You and your company will save money

There are many expenses associated with hiring someone. The company will need to take on overhead costs related to having an office, like rent, bills, office coffee, etc. By hiring remote workers, these costs could be minimized and save the company thousands, or even millions, of dollars.

Global Workplace Analytics, who have studied over 4,000 reports and articles, estimates the average real estate savings for a full-time remote worker to be $10,000 per year. These savings can add up to enormous amounts if more employees catch on. AT&T boasts real estate savings of $30 million annually from their remote work program, and Dell reportedly saves about $12 million.

It’s not only the companies that save money on remote work, though. Taking a job incurs expenses on the employee as well, mostly related to commutes and childcare. The CoSo Cloud survey mentioned above found that 30% of the responses reported savings of up to $5,240 per year, which indicates a significant reduction in day to day expenses.

Reason 3 — You are more likely to stay with the company

Software developers do not grow on trees, at least not at the moment. At the time of writing, Code.org states that there are almost half a million unfilled computing positions in the U.S. alone. At the same time, only about 60,000 computer science students graduated and entered the workforce last year. Companies are continually looking for talented programmers, and they want to keep the ones they find.

95% of employers say that remote work has a high impact on whether or not an employee stays with the company, according to Global Workplace Analytics. A study conducted by Gartner estimates the retention rate to increase by over 10 %, which could potentially save the company a lot of money.

CAP estimates the costs of replacing an employee to be somewhere in the range of 16–20% of the annual salary. For a software developer earning an average $71,000 a year (according to Payscale.com at the time of writing), this comes out to somewhere around $14,000 to find and train a new hire. A research study by Softchoice concludes that 74% of employees would quit their job if offered a position that allowed them to work remotely more often. By combining the numbers from these two studies, we quickly see how costly it could get for a company that does not allow the same flexibility as their competitors. If we look at it from another angle, companies that are quick to establish an environment that supports remote work are more likely to attract talent when hiring. Since we concluded above that software developers are a scarce resource, this is an edge they want to have.

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