The pandemic has had a huge effect on all of our lives — particularly on our work lives. The technology and infrastructure necessary for effective remote work have been around for ages, especially in software development careers. However, companies had no incentive to take the leap of faith needed for such a major transition.
All of that changed at the start of 2020, practically overnight, as social distancing measures forced everyone to stay away from traditionally crowded science and technology parks and office spaces.
To the huge surprise of engineering team leaders and tech executives across the world — there was no significant drop in productivity once people shifted to working from home. In fact, many developers were more productive than ever — which is why remote work is here to stay, at least in a hybrid capacity with occasional in-office work.
There are plenty of benefits of working from home for the remote developers themselves — and we’ll explore some of them right here.
1. A Better Work-Life Balance
A huge percentage of remote developer jobs have flexible schedules — allowing devs to choose when they’re working, as long as their tasks are complete and the process leads to the desired outcome. And while plenty of companies have been loath to give their employees such a degree of control over their schedule, it has turned out to be invaluable for achieving a desirable work-life balance.
Whether you need to run a couple of errands, squeeze in some time for a workout, drop your kids off at school — all of these tasks, and others, are far easier to balance if you’re already working from home with a flexible schedule.
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2. No Commute Stress
According to government statistics, the average commute time (one-way) in the United States is around 26 minutes. And depending on where you live, it might be even worse. That means you might be spending almost an hour every day just going to work and returning home. On a weekly basis, that adds up to almost an entire workday!
Obviously, no one wants to spend all of that time stuck in traffic. And not having to deal with your daily commute is just one of the many advantages of working remotely. Forget about having to get up an hour or two early each day just to prepare for work — if you’re working from home, all you need is a shower and a cup of coffee, and you’re good to go.
Seeing as studies have shown that an overly long commute has direct negative implications for your mental and physical wellbeing, ditching it is a great perk for any software developer. It gives you just enough extra time to make a healthier breakfast, spend some time with your friends or family, or just get some much-needed extra sleep. That alone is enough for most people to stay motivated throughout the day.
3. Location Independence
One of the biggest advantages of working from home is having access to a much broader scope of job opportunities, because you’re no longer limited by your geographic location. In the past couple of years, remote collaboration in the software development industry has really taken off — with huge globally dispersed teams working on joint projects.
This is particularly helpful to people who want to stay in more rural areas and small towns while still having plenty of job opportunities in software development. Also, the lack of a set job location allows fully remote workers to travel the world and spend some time working as digital nomads without sacrificing their careers.
Naturally, that kind of lifestyle is on hold right now due to the pandemic — but as travel restrictions are slowly being lifted, it’s becoming increasingly viable once more. And from a practical standpoint, remote work is great for tech positions because it allows developers to avoid urban areas with high living costs that are traditionally clustered for tech communities.
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4. Saving Money
Speaking of the practical benefits of working remotely, we’d be remiss not covering the most obvious one — the tons of money you save by working from home. Even people who work remotely half the time save thousands of dollars each year. Eating out, parking fees, transportation, car maintenance, gas — all of those things and more can easily be eliminated by switching to a remote developer position. All of those savings can amount to a nice nest egg over time.
And remote work doesn’t just save money for individual developers either. Companies like Shopify, Facebook, and Twitter have all realized the significant cost savings they will be able to achieve by switching a huge part of their workforce to indefinite remote work. The average company can save tens of thousands of dollars annually on employees who work from home — which is the major reason why employers have become more amicable to the idea as well.
5. Lower Environmental Impact
When millions of people switch to working remotely at least half the time, global greenhouse gas emissions become significantly lower. It means billions of vehicles not constantly being on the road, resulting in savings in oil and greenhouse gas emissions. A remote work position also benefits the environment in other ways — it means using less paper and less energy spent on company lighting, heating, and air conditioning.
Generally, remote work is an excellent conduit for a wide range of sustainability initiatives — from reduced inequality and economic growth to lowering climate change and increasing sustainable consumption.
Tech companies that are constantly looking for ways to reduce their employees’ carbon footprint have found remote work to be the cheapest, fastest way to achieve that.
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6. More Customizable Office Space
When people were suddenly thrust into the world of remote work due to the pandemic, most of us had to contend with suboptimal working conditions. After all, not everyone has an ergonomic desk and chair and a dual monitor setup at home. However, in the long run, working remotely allows you to reshape your “office space” according to your exact needs.
If you’re going to switch to remote work full time or even half time, you’ve got the perfect excuse to set up the comfortable home office of your dreams. Whether you’ll just be switching out your old desk chair for a more ergonomic one or completely revamping your setup is up to you — but the important part is, you get to choose everything, including the aesthetics.
7. Better Work Performance
When you switch to working from home, you’ll soon notice something — you’ve got way fewer interruptions and distractions (sometimes, at least), less noise, and no office chatter to deal with. And seeing as virtual meetings don’t exactly lend themselves to a laid-back conversation, they’re way more efficient as well. When you factor in the absence of a commute, you get a huge amount of free time you get to spend on whatever you like.
As a result, the efficiency and productivity of remote workers are noticeably better over time. In a remote work environment, people have all the incentive to get things done — when they do, all of their free time is right there for the taking.
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8. Happier Work Life
Unsurprisingly, remote workers tend to be more loyal and happier employees on average. The flexible nature of working from home means less stress and more free time for interests and hobbies, as well as better personal relationships.
And on top of personal wellbeing, relations between individual developers and their managers are far better when all potential for office drama is taken away. Noticeably, employers are seeing that remote work has a huge positive impact on employee retention. Quite simply, people like having the option of working remotely. And after the pandemic, everyone has seen that it is indeed a viable option.
It allows people to spend more time on their physical fitness, eating healthier, recovering from illnesses, and creating a more comfortable workspace — pretty much the dream of every developer. There are myriad benefits of working remotely for both employees and employers, and they decidedly outweigh the costs.
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