Why Millennials Love Remote Working (And Why It Loves Them)

Why Millennials Love Remote Working (And Why It Loves Them) There has been, in recent years, a huge surge in the amount of businesses of all shapes and sizes embracing remote working for their employees. From a business perspective, it’s easy to see why. Remote working affords businesses an opportunity to significantly reduce their overhead costs. When employees aren’t in the building they’re not using energy or water or paper. They’re not making coffee or flushing toilet. What’s more, they’re not driving into work every day and so they’re helping their employers to reduce their carbon footprint and increase their green credentials. Yet, the reasons for the widespread growth of remote working aren’t all down to benefits for employers. The factors behind the growth There’s obviously a technological component at play when it comes to the rise of remote working. In recent years, managed IT services have enabled even modestly sized business affordable access to robust and reliable cloud based solutions- read more about this here. This has made it easier for remote workers to do anything they could to from their desktop at work from their home PC or in some cases even through mobile devices. Yet, perhaps one of the lesser known factors is the way in which remote working is so closely aligned with the millennial generation’s ideals for workplace success. For clarification, by millennials we mean those born between 1977 and 1997. As you can see from this infographic we posted recently, there’s some pretty neat correlation between the two… Advocates for work life balance Many millennials were raised by baby boomer parents who worked long hours for their money and it likely did little to convince their young minds that good money trumps time spent with friends and family. Thus, millennial workers are every bit as diligent as their baby boomer parents but focus on working smart over working hard and strive for work / life balance. Remote work allows employees to be more productive while enjoying greater autonomy over how they use their time. Moreover, they save a great deal of time every day by not commuting to work. Digital pioneers ‘80s and ‘90s kids grew up in an era of colossal digital and technological expansion. While Generation Z are digital natives who have never known adult life without digital technology, millennials are still excited by it and don’t take it for granted. Thus, they’re more likely to be enthused by the cloud based technologies that allow them to be at work… At home. Team oriented and collaborative Millennials are inveterate team workers and embrace opportunities to combine this with their enthusiasm for digital technologies. New digital applications can facilitate innovative collaborations through digital communications technologies. Millennials enjoy using the tools that enable them to collaborate with others even while working remotely such as Slack, Asana, Zoom etc. As you can see, there are many reasons why millennials love remote working and why it loves them. While it will likely never take the place of the traditional office it nonetheless makes for happier and more productive employees as well as reduced overheads for their employers… So everybody wins!