The number of marketers that prefer working from home has increased over the years, and the figure grew by 8% since last year. The upward trend seems like it will continue to keep growing in the years to come.
What is the reason behind this recent boom that does not seem like it will stop any time soon? In our Marketing Salary Survey 2019, we requested a third of the respondents currently working from home to state the primary reasons for opting for this. Let us look at the reasons they gave in more detail.
1. Avoiding the Hassles of Commuting
Having to travel to and from work can be such a hassle for most marketers as well as other working professionals. That is why they will not think twice about working from home if such an option eliminates one of the headaches they face in their professional lives. Majority of the respondents were residing in cities such as Essex, Cambridge, Oxford, London, and Hertfordshire, with most digital marketing jobs in London. As such, they had to commute to and from the capital. Working from home gave them the chances to avoid the delays of the busy traffic.
They enjoy flexible working options by working from the comforts of their homes. And since employee comfort is an essential part of staff retention, city-based companies can manage to maintain their workforce numbers by allowing those that do not need to be physically in the office for work to do their task while they are at home. Overall, it is all about achieving a desirable work/life balance.
2. Increased Productivity
The participants then said that having an opportunity to work from home at least once a week made them feel and be more productive. Most marketers say that they can be more creative if they are allowed to have a flexible working culture where they can work remotely with little distractions. Given the demands of their jobs, working from home makes a lot of sense.
With most companies having an open-plan office setup, such an environment does not help to facilitate creativity or foster higher productivity among the employees. Everything from loud workmates to spontaneous meetings, and the ever-present workplace gossip, all these things are distractions that marketers will avoid when they work from home.
3. Childcare and other responsibilities
Having to juggle between the responsibilities at home and those of work can be overwhelming. The marketers with little ones to care for and other household responsibilities stated that this was the third reason for opting to work from home. With such a work formula, the parents can be present for their children and cater to their needs such as looking after them when sick, dropping at school and picking them up after, all the while finding time in-between to put in some work time.
The professionals with care responsibilities for their aged parents, sick or disabled spouses so found that working from home was a flexible arrangement. It is a fact supported by statistics from Carers Trusts that show that one in eight workers that prefer working from home are also primary caregivers to their loved ones.
4. Mental health and overall well-being
Fourth on the list of reasons that the respondents gave was the need to focus on their mental health and general well-being. According to research done by OnePoll.com, 54% of the participants stated they were far happier when working from their homes than when at their respective places of work. Two-thirds of the respondents further stated that having to work remotely was less stressful.
In a survey done by Personnel Today, many of the workers that prefer the WFH arrangement reference it using terms such as ‘calm’, ‘free’, and ‘control’. But such an option is not something that works for all professionals. For some, it has the opposite effect on their mental health where they feel lonely or isolated. That is probably why some marketers approach to WFH is one where they can do one or two days a week working from home.
5. Catering to personal commitments
Marketers mentioned that having no time to attend to their personal commitments, such as being around for deliveries, attending various appointments, fitness and health commitments, among other things were why they prefer working from home.
It is evident from the reasons stated above, that working from home is an arrangement with numerous benefits for most marketers and other professionals. With more and more employers appreciating the need to retain their top talent while also attracting new staff, they are warming up to the work from home craze. The marketing industry is perhaps the one professional sector that can be said to be championing this trend.
