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5 Reasons That Led Us to Adopt a “Work from Anywhere” Policy
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This year, Talkspirit moved to "Work from Anywhere", a new way of working that lets our employees work remotely from anywhere in France for up to three consecutive weeks.
While hybrid work isn't new at Talkspirit (it's been the norm since the Covid-19 crisis), "Work from Anywhere", for its part, was adopted more recently at our team's request, in August 2022.
What reasons led us to adopt this "Work from Anywhere" policy? And how can it benefit your organization? Here's a closer look at the key takeaways.
1. Offering more flexibility
Flexibility is THE new expectation of post-Covid employees. Case in point: 93% of them would like more flexible hours, and 76% would like more flexibility in terms of where they work.
It's to meet this need that we decided to set up "Work from Anywhere". More than a simple remote work policy, "Work from Anywhere" lets everyone choose where they want to work remotely, rather than being confined to home.
The upside? It makes it easy to combine vacation and remote work (what's also known as a "workation"), but also to occasionally change your work setting, for example by going to work for a few days in another part of the country.
2. Improving well-being at work
According to a study by Cisco, nearly three-quarters of French employees believe that remote work helps improve their well-being at work and their work-life balance.
Just like remote work, the "Work from Anywhere" policy also helps improve quality of life at work, because it lets employees:
- choose the days and places where they want to work remotely,
- devote more time to their hobbies and to their social and family life,
- plan their work more easily,
- manage their stress better and improve their focus (according to 60% of French workers).
Read also: [Cisco 2022 Study] Remote work: what impact on productivity and well-being at work?
Benefits that our employees feel directly:
"With 'Work from Anywhere', I can be more mobile and stay focused on my work matters, without cutting myself off from my personal life. Which lets me combine family and work more easily. For example, I can choose to spend two weeks with my family during the end-of-year holidays, without necessarily needing to take two weeks of leave. This lets me be more present with my loved ones, but also free up time for people on the team who want to take leave during that period." Adèle Hosek, Customer Success, Talkspirit
"It's a way of working that opens up the realm of possibilities. It helps keep a good work-life balance, without sacrificing the in-person interactions with colleagues that I particularly enjoy. And it also helps build relationships of trust within the team, which helps avoid the phenomenon of digital presenteeism." Ludovic Montel, Front-end Tech Lead at Talkspirit
3. Boosting productivity and creativity
Over the next 20 years, remote work could boost French workers' productivity by around 5 to 9%, estimates the French National Productivity Council.
Indeed, remote work often means fewer distractions and less noise compared to days spent at the office (especially if your employees work in an open space). However, it has to be said: not everyone can work from home in optimal conditions, particularly if you have children, or even a slightly too noisy neighbor. A problem that can be solved by setting up "Work from Anywhere".
Thanks to this policy, employees aren't required to always work remotely from home. They can go to a coworking space, a café, a friend's or family member's place, or even their second home. The possibilities are endless!
Read also: The workspace, a lever for productivity and employee engagement
The result: they can more easily find an environment that meets their need of the moment, allowing them to be both productive and creative.
"The advantage of Work from Anywhere is that it helps break the routine. You can change your work setting whenever you want, and even work alongside people other than your colleagues. So it's an opportunity to discover new ways of working, but also to boost your creativity." Yousra Meziani, Growth Marketing Manager at Talkspirit
"Work from Anywhere is a real time and productivity boost day to day. It saves me an hour of commuting in my day, which lets me organize my work more easily and reduce my mental load. As a salesperson, I often have to make calls, which is more convenient to do remotely, because I have fewer distractions and a quieter work environment." Lawry Deroche, Sales Team Lead at Talkspirit
4. Reducing your carbon footprint
We saw it clearly with the repeated lockdowns tied to the Covid crisis: remote work helps limit our daily commutes, and as a result reduce our carbon footprint.
According to a survey by ADEME (the French Agency for Ecological Transition), a remote employee reportedly cuts their travel by 69%, and the distances they cover by 39%. Counting only home-to-work car commutes, this would represent an environmental benefit of 271 kg of CO2 equivalent per week!
In addition, "Work from Anywhere" can also help:
- limit food waste (instead of buying your meal, you can simply cook it yourself),
- cut down our paper use (because to work from anywhere, it's essential to digitize processes such as signing documents),
- encourage the adoption of modern collaborative tools (like Talkspirit) that consume less energy than emails (in France, emails generate 410 million tonnes of CO2 per year!).
Of course, it's also important to adopt a responsible approach at the individual level, for example by favoring the train over the plane as much as possible, or the bike over the car.
5. Building your employer brand
Finally, a last argument not to be overlooked: adopting a "Work from Anywhere" policy can help you attract more talent, and retain your existing employees who are looking for more flexibility. So it's an undeniable asset for building your employer brand and facing the Great Resignation that is gradually reaching France.
"The goal of Work from Anywhere is above all to improve the employee's well-being at work, by giving them more flexibility and helping them better combine their personal and professional lives. A perk that benefits current employees, and that helps make it easier to recruit new talent", Silja Druo, HR Consultant for Talkspirit
Of course, you shouldn't just set up "Work from Anywhere" to improve your employer brand. We also recommend that you:
- launch more initiatives to improve well-being at work and the employee experience,
- create a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy,
- communicate about your values, your commitments and your initiatives,
- take care of the onboarding of new employees,
- turn your employees into ambassadors, for example by encouraging them to speak up on social media,
- set up an internal communication tool to make information flow more easily and grow employee engagement.
Read also: The 9 essential internal communication tools
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Adopting a "Work from Anywhere" policy offers many benefits, both for your organization and for your employees. So if, like us, you want to take the plunge, go for it! But don't forget: setting up such a way of working means rolling out the right digital tools, which will let your teams communicate and collaborate easily, wherever they are.
At Talkspirit, we use our own eponymous solution: Talkspirit. 100% designed and hosted in France, it offers a wealth of social and collaborative features (chat, video conferencing, news feed, welcome portal, office suite, library, project management, etc.). The icing on the cake: you can customize it so it adapts to YOUR needs. So, convinced? 😉
Already have all the tools you need to move to an ATAWAD way of working (that is, one that lets you work AnyTime, AnyWhere, on AnyDevice)? Read our white paper "The future of work: make way for hybrid work!" to get our best advice for a successful rollout:
Access the White Paper
In our white paper « The future of work: make way for hybrid work! », you'll discover: the challenges and benefits of hybrid work; the best practices to adopt on the side of managers, HR, internal communication, the IT department and employees; along with the tools to put in place to boost the efficiency of your hybrid teams.
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Author: Emmanuelle Abensur
