Telecommuting: The Entrepreneur’s New Best Friend | Society

Written by Tigo Ponce de Leon ‘22

With the COVID-19 pandemic having ravaged the globe, white-collar workers in all hemispheres have now been confined to their small living spaces, wrestling with the question: will this situation last? Today, video conferencing services are the non-essential worker’s equivalent of the brick-and-mortar office—that is, without the mindless hours of commuting, the constant overwatch of coworkers, and the deflating small talk. Pre-pandemic, only a slight 15% of Americans worked from home full-time; post-pandemic, the figure is now up to an astonishing 50%. Although many employees miss the simple beauties of face-to-face interactions, productivity levels for businesses are around 35-40% higher online, leading many to assume that this virtual world, whether employees like it or not, is here to last. As the very essence of how a company can manifest itself progresses into this new e-frontier, entrepreneurs are beginning to learn that online, anything is possible.

The bane of many emerging businesses is the extreme difficulty of finding talented and gritty prospective employees. According to CB Insights, 23% of failed startups can be attributed to an ill-qualified team. To find a vast network of hiring options, entrepreneurs must spend large sums of money to operate their businesses in dense cities. On the other hand, more affordable and less dense areas are cheaper, but the hiring talent pool is also considerably smaller. This dilemma, which in the physical sense of the workplace was unsolvable, is now non-existent thanks to the spread of video conferencing platforms. Ian Siegel, the CEO of ZipRecruiter, sums it up nicely: “Already, employers are finding themselves offering [flexibility] as a benefit, that flexibility of remote work, [where you can] set your own work hours and location.”

When it comes to business, entrepreneurs care about many things, but most importantly, they care about profitability. Put bluntly, 9 out of 10 startups fail. When there is a chance to reduce costs, business owners make sure to take advantage of it. Now that businesses have abandoned their physical workspaces, its importance is being heavily questioned. In fact, some companies are already making changes; Aetna, a large insurance company, has transitioned around half of their workforce online, thereby saving $78 million in real estate costs. With the exception of essential services, everything that can be done physically can also be done online, not to mention at a lower cost. Especially in the initial stages of a business, where budgets may run thin, entrepreneurs must save every dollar they can.

With the rise of video conferencing, emerging businesses will capitalize on its many advantages to ultimately experience more success. With lower costs, higher productivity, and more convenience, virtual working is not just a temporary solution to the current pandemic; it is the gateway to the future. As more and more businesses shift online, the entire premise of work will forever change.