Wylie & Bisset says imposed homeworking helped businesses increase efficiency
Chartered Accountants Wylie & Bisset has said that the imposed need to work from home in response to the lockdown restrictions in response to the coronavirus pandemic has helped businesses increase efficiency while enabling employees to save money.
According to partner Andrew Cowling, it came as a pleasant surprise to many employers to discover that employees could at least be as productive and focused when working from home rather than an office – if not more so.
“As the lockdown showed, the greater flexibility around work scheduling that home working enables can lead to a better work life balance, which is enhanced by saving time and money on the twice daily morning and evening rush hour commutes to and from the office – and all the stress associated with that,” he said.
“And savings on fuel costs, parking fees, car maintenance, public transportation, a professional wardrobe and such like can all have a healthy impact on an employee’s wallet, while employers have opportunities to make savings on real estate costs and various business operational overheads.”
Cowling points out that working from home typically leads to fewer interruptions, fewer distractions, and a corresponding rise in productivity, which is why Wylie & Bisset has become one of the firms to embrace more flexible working arrangements on a more permanent basis.
Having adapted its working methodologies during lockdown to operate remotely via various digital platforms to deliver services to clients with minimum disruption, the firm has established its “new normal” with staff encouraged to build in working from home when they can into their routine.
“The crisis gave us the time to review our working processes and we have since embraced the need for flexibility and a better work/life balance,” said Cowling. “We are already hearing from the team the benefits to their own wellbeing as well as the savings on day-to-day expenses.”