CEO Shares Benefits of Having Work-at-Home Employees
After talking with Philip Artt, President and CEO of HomeCity Real Estate, a residential real estate company based in Austin and Dallas, Texas with 95% of its employees off-site, I learned there are many benefits of having employees work from home.
What are the advantages of having your team work-at-home?
1. There is very little to no overhead. We can lease a smaller office, buy fewer desks, and reduce the amount of office supplies needed and in turn, use that money to grow our business.
2. Most are 1099 or independent contractors, which reduce many expenses such as employer taxes, health insurance coverage, and other types of insurance.
3. Many of our employees work harder and put in longer hours because they are not drained from sitting in a car for 45 minutes fighting traffic to and from work. Instead of driving, they are working.
4. We can offer our clients extended hour coverage, not just the standard 8 AM to 5 PM. This is a win-win for us and our customer service reps (CSR), who work entirely from home. Those CSRs who cannot work the normal 8 AM-5 PM Central Standard Time shift have the flexibility to cover the phones early in the morning or after hours to support our East or West Coast clients. We offer our clients the extended business hours they need while providing our CSRs a flexible schedule.
5. Because we are not limiting ourselves to just those who can work in the office, we get to work with people we wouldn’t normally. Most of our staff is local, but we’ve had others on board who live in Colorado and California.
6. The best advantage is having happy employees because they can stay with their kids and make money all at once.
What are the disadvantages of having team members work-at-home?
1. The advantages for the employee and employer far outweigh the disadvantages, but sometimes employees can be hard to reach. I am sure the employee feels the same way at times. Due to their flexible hours, it can sometimes be difficult for our schedules to sync up for live discussions. This is why being responsive to email and voicemail is an important factor for success.
2. It is hard to find good employees who are self-motivated. Once we hire one, we do what we can to keep them.
3. It is difficult to coordinate team meetings with these remote employees, therefore we have to make a conscious effort to keep the individuals apprised of new ideas, best of practices and policies by leveraging email and conference calls.
The internet, broadband, and teleconferencing have created a new candidate pool for employers — the stay-at-home segment. HomeCity succesfully tapped into this market and found themselves and their employees in a situation that benefits all.
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