What’s the most important reason for women to choose remote work?

Women are working remotely, says a new research by Microsoft and 85 Broads, a global women’s network.  Microsoft and 85 Broads (a global network of 30,000 trailblazing women) have partnered for a campaign called “Your Office, Your Terms” which seeks raise awareness among women on the benefits of remote working and on how to telecommute efficiently.

To launch the campaign a survey was made to understand how women perceived telecommuting and what was their biggest challenges when working remotely.

According to the research, which surveyed the 85 Broads community, women are working on average 2.8 days away from the office (over half the week), though they feel they should telecommute a little bit more – 3.1 days on average. The survey also shows that almost everyone would rather have a regular remote working schedule and that 9% would like to be able to work remotely every day.

The most important reason for remote working was pointed out as being a better balance between work and home, which was followed by avoiding long commutes and increased productivity. The survey also found out that most women (62%) feels that remote working increases their productivity.

When asked what their biggest challenge was, 49% has answered that it was technology. 

In fact, technology is one of the biggest issues when doing remote connection. On one side there is a market where there is no shortage of technological solutions and tools for remote access, and most managers and IT managers really don’t know where to turn to. On the other there is still this opinion on the part of managers that the equipment used by the employee at home isn’t really their responsibility.

Managers must look for and deploy the right solutions and, at the same time, provide employees with the equipment they need to perform at their best from their homes. There are several solutions in the market which stand out because of their quality at reasonable prices, such as RHUB 6-in-1 web conferencing and remote support appliance.

Managers that say that their employees are working less at home than in the office should be aware that most of the time this happens because employees aren’t given the right tools to do their jobs efficiently.

The “Your Office, Your Terms” campaign will be running the whole month of November as well as in December, with a blog and several events which are aimed at showing women the benefits of telecommuting.