I'll admit, this blog started out with an entirely different title, and a very different message. Because I am basically the president of the I Hate Working from Home Club, I set out to complain and commiserate about our current state of affairs. But you know what, love it or hate it, remote work is probably here to stay for the foreseeable future. So I figure it's time to embrace it and make the best of this mess.

Here are some of the Akumina team's favorite benefits of working from home.

Environmental gains

When your commute dribbles down to 0 miles a day, you worry less about your gas tank. Your car has fewer miles on it, your public transportation fees are null, and your carpool responsibilities disappear. Not to mention the reduction in air pollution from all of our vehicles on the road. That's pretty spectacular too.

NASA reports seeing better air quality and lower fossil fuel emissions since governments enacted shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19. It helps to remind each other that the environment is benefitting, even when we're not.

Increased technology usage

Never before have I used the Teams chat feature as much as I have these past several months. I learned how to start an ad hoc meeting, I am a pro at joining calls on WebEx, Zoom, Teams, even Slack, and our meetings have become so streamlined that I've gotten extra hours a week back. As a team, we've seen productivity gains that were unexpected and very welcome.

We've also been much more open to exploring new tools. We started a Trello board for project management, we implemented a third-party tool that we use as a content repository for Marketing collateral (and more), and we're discovering new features of our existing technology every day. We're basically technology pioneers over here.

Extra family time

This is the real bonus, isn't it? Even though it's fulfilling to have a successful career and to make a difference for your company, we all ultimately work so that we can support ourselves and our families.

One of the most important values we have at Akumina is one that we hear repeatedly from our customers as well. Family comes first, people come first. I mean, we've built an entire business around caring for employees and meeting their needs, not just because it's good for the business, but because it's the right thing to do.

So we're happy to work from home for as long as we need to. We may not love it, it might not be ideal, but we'll do it. And because of the resources we've been given by our organization and others whose tools we've invested in, we'll keep aiming high and reaching our goals.

Let us know what you enjoy about working from home, and tell us about the tools you're using to help. We'll be happy to send a free demo of our employee experience platform your way so you can see what we do and why we do it.