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Remote Work

10 Research-Based Facts That Prove Distributed Teams Are The Future of Work

17.04.2023

Distributed teams consist of employees who work remotely instead of working from a physical company office. The number of distributed teams around the world is now increasing at a steady pace due to the many benefits that they offer to both employees and organizations.

The gradual move to fully and partially distributed teams is driven by numerous factors, including:

  • The growing competition to retain and attract top talent
  • The increasing number of employees now looking for remote working perks
  • The need to find new ways to save on infrastructure costs
  • The drive to provide better work-life balance to employees in order to improve engagement

Still not sold on the idea of distributed teams? Here are 10 research-based facts to prove distributed teams are truly the future of work.

1. 74 percent of employees expect remote work to become a standard everywhere

Over 74 percent[1] of employees now readily believe that remote work will become the new normal everywhere. Enterprises like Twitter, Squarespace, and Slack have already announced that they will be giving their employees the option to work from home indefinitely. Other companies like Facebook, Salesforce, Google, and Amazon will be following the hybrid work model where employees will have the option to choose whether they want to work remotely or from the office.

2. Remote work leads to higher job satisfaction

According to another study[2], employees who work remotely and have a flexible schedule report higher levels of job satisfaction. Moreover, they become less susceptible to psychological work stress and burnouts, as compared to their non-remote counterparts.

The study also revealed that when employees have to attend fewer meetings, it makes them feel more in control of their lives which also leads to better performance at work.

3. Distributed employees are more engaged

According to a Gallup report, remote employees are more engaged than office employees. As the engagement levels of distributed employees increase, it leads to better work performance and makes team management easier.

The report also revealed that remote employees have a stronger sense of belonging and they feel like their opinions are valued within the team, even though they don’t get to meet their coworkers every day.

4. Remote work increases talent retention

Remote employees are 13 percent more likely to stay in their current job for the next five years, as compared to office-going employees. Even though it may seem like a very small difference, but not offering remote working perks to employees can quickly snowball into bigger issues and make it challenging for the company to retain its top talent.

It is also important to note that over 55 percent of remote employees would look for a job change if they were no longer given remote working perks. Moreover, 61 percent of remote employees would expect a pay raise if they were asked to come to the office every day instead of working remotely.

5. Remote work leads to higher productivity

A Stanford study[6] states that remote work is the key to increase productivity. Companies that transition to remote work see an increase in work performance by over 13 percent. Remote employees also take shorter breaks than employees that work in the office and they also report having a less distracting work environment.

6. Remote employees work for longer hours (and still feel better)

Another report reveals that remote employees work more than 40 hours a day, which is actually 43 percent more than office-going employees. Though both remote employees and in-office counterparts overwork from time to time, their reasons are very different for doing so. Employees stay in the office for longer hours because their managers often ask them to. On the other hand, remote employees choose to work longer than usual because they want to.

7. Remote employees focus better at work

With fewer distractions than the office, remote employees are also able to focus better on their work at hand and accomplish more in less time. 77 percent[8] of employees have reported that they are more productive when they are working from home (WFH Meaning) since there aren’t any usual office distractions to take their focus off the task at hand.

8. 80 percent of remote employees report less work-related stress

The majority of remote employees (80 percent) report[9] less work-related stress when they are able to work remotely and choose their own working environment. This doesn’t mean that they don’t feel stress at all, but there is a huge reduction in the amount of stress, especially when compared to office employees who are required to commute to the office every day.

9. Most remote employees have traveled and worked all at the same time

Over 99% said they would like to work remotely at least some of the time for the rest of their careers. The flexibility in choosing their own working environment gives remote employees the opportunity to travel, all the while working which also leads to lesser official leaves. Over 44 percent[10] of remote employees have traveled between one week to one month in a year, while still working full-time. Over 25 percent of employees have traveled for more than a month while working remotely. Only 7 percent of remote employees have never worked and traveled at the same time.

10. Employees would take a pay cut just to work remotely

Even though remote employees have the potential to earn more, statistics[11] show that employees would readily take a pay cut just to get an opportunity to work remotely. Over 25 percent of employees would take up to a 10 percent pay cut just to get remote working perks. This is possibly fueled by the need for employees to have more control over their work schedules and have a better work-life balance.

When employees work remotely, they don’t have to live close to the office and they can choose a better, more affordable house away from the usual bustle of the city which directly leads to more savings. Moreover, avoiding the daily office commute also leads to both cost and time savings.

Choosing the right tool can make all the difference

There is no doubt that distributed teams are the future of work. Organizations that want to stay relevant and continue to attract talent need to start offering remote working perks in order to pave the way for distributed teams.

Though just allowing employees to work remotely is not enough, you need the right remote work strategies and tools to support your distributed teams successfully.

But introducing too many tools to support the remote workforce can eventually overwhelm employees and increase the chances of burnout. Instead, you can introduce a unified digital workplace platform to allow remote employees to access all the work-related data, tools, and information from a centralized dashboard. A digital workplace can streamline projects, processes, and communication in your organization. More importantly, it can make collaboration between remote employees and in-office employees seamless.