What is the one thing about their job that most people don’t like? Barring the boss, of course; there’s no easy solution to avoiding what people do not like about their workplace.
For many, the answer would be the commute. Unless they are one of the lucky few who has found a job that they love within a few kilometers of home, chances are they are struggling to get to work on time and hoping to do the reverse journey just as quickly.
While on this topic, there is another interesting phenomenon that everyone seems to be talking about nowadays: work-life balance.
Are these two connected? Most certainly, they are.
Have you heard of ‘commute time happiness’? This states that a person’s overall health and happiness is directly linked to the amount of time the individual spends in commute. The more people find themselves stuck in traffic, the more they begin to think about what they could be doing instead; the meetings they will be late for; the work that is piling up; the time away from their spouse, their kids, their friends. The sheer waste of time plays on the mind; it would play on anyone’s mind.
Is it any wonder that more and more people are opting for jobs closer to home? These jobs might bring home less bacon, but they get more time to actually enjoy the flavors of life. Closer to home means coming closer to the dream of leading a healthy, meaningful life beyond work. And that is what work-life balance is all about, isn’t it?
For a potential employer, this could be a bit of a problem, especially if they are still holding on to the old ways of working and compromising with your time by accepting an offer for an office 25 kms away!
However, consider this for a moment. With technology on our side it is so much easier, and also so much more efficient, to give employees the flexibility to work from home, or nearer to home, than make the long journey to the office. Stress levels are low, there is tremendous saving, both of time and money, and overall satisfaction levels are much higher.
Suddenly, everyone is a winner. A happy employee means a better employee. And which organization would pass up that opportunity?
On those rare occasions when people do need to get together physically, beyond video conferencing and con-calls, you can quickly turn to shared office spaces. You can book an office, a meeting room or just a desk for your employee(s). It can be for a fixed time every week or just for the required duration of the meeting.
The running cost of maintenance, rent, and utilities is drastically reduced, without compromising on performance and productivity.It makes complete sense from the point-of-view of business and resources to consider allowing employees to work from locations nearer to home. All you need is to place a team within a network of shared office spaces.
So, how far would you be willing to go to hire the right employee? If you have the right infrastructural support, you will never again have to miss out on a potential employee because of the geographical distance.
