6 reasons your staff need to work from home in 2025

In the past few years, there has been a major shift from working from the office to work-from-home or hybrid employment. In fact, in 2023, around 20% of all US workers worked from home. While, there are certainly pros and cons to introducing a work-from-home system to your business, several recent studies have shown that hybrid or remote work creates a win-win scenario for both employers and employees.

In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the top reasons you should allow your staff to work from home in 2025 and break down how remote work can help your business overall.

Better work-life balance

Out of office teams are set up for a better work-life balance, as they are less stressed due to the flexibility that remote work offers.

When you allow your staff to work from home, they can handle urgent personal matters, make wellness appointments, or care for loved ones, all without the level of disruption that would occur in a traditional office setting. Ironically, this can also lead to less “out of work time,” in that an employee likely won’t need to take a full day off for a virtual doctor exam or dentist appointment.

But it’s important to note that creating an environment of balance doesn’t stop at simply letting staff work from home.

As management, you should also allow them to take advantage of that flexibility. When you work from home, turning off work for the day can be hard. Without a physical separation, employees can become more prone to burnout as the line between home and office blurs.

This makes it much more critical for leadership to communicate the need for non-work related outlets and downtime.

As Lance Herrington, founder and CEO at UNICO Nutrition Inc. puts it, “Our employees have their own lives outside of work. They have their children’s soccer games, dinner with friends, or personal hobbies they use as a stress reliever, and many of these activities weren’t available to them for the last two years of the pandemic.”

With a remote work setup, they’ll have more time to spend on these activities.

Eliminates the commute

Despite the rise in remote work, most Americans still commute to work, spending an average of 53.6 minutes commuting to and from work each day. When you allow staff to work remotely, they can simply wake up and start working. This cuts back on the number of employees showing up to work late — it will also improve the overall quality of life for your staff. 

A 2024 report highlights that switching to remote work for staff with long commuting times not only improves job satisfaction, but also directly impacts an increase in working hours and productivity.

Your employees can use this extra time to develop healthy habits or pursuing hobbies, which generally leads to happier, more engaged employees who are better equipped to perform their best.

Additionally, eliminating the commute will lessen your business’ environmental load. Overall you’ll contribute to a reduction of carbon output by electing not to have an office, and not having people commute to it.

More productivity

Another somewhat ironic plus to remote work: Less time in a physical office space can lead to more time for working.

Contrary to popular belief, many individuals find that they have more time to spend on their actual work thanks to the elimination of a commute and the general down time spent at the office in between meetings, coffee breaks, and mandatory chit-chat with people you’d probably rather never speak to again.

In some instances, remote work has improved how business is executed and can result in a better end product or consumer experience.

For instance, Travis McCain, VP of Marketing at General Steel, explains how more flexible remote schedules helped improve customer service interactions for his company.

“Customer service is something we like to automate because it’s something available 24/7 to assist customers with any basic questions or concerns, but sometimes when an issue arises and time is of the essence, having a live person contact the customer can be the saving grace when it comes to customer retention and avoid a purchase crisis.”

“…having a live person contact the customer can be the saving grace when it comes to customer retention and avoid a purchase crisis.”

With some team members preferring to work really early or late in the evening, the company is able to offer more real person solutions and mitigate customer service issues.

Savings on operations costs

Here’s an obvious benefit that many business owners have touted as a valuable trade-off. Sure, there may be some startup costs when setting up a team for remote work (think: collaboration software, extra monitors, and headsets). But, once you get past that initial hump, you’re bound to save on recurring expenses that come along with running a business.

If your company opts for a fully remote system, these savings can include big ticket items like rent for your office space and utility bills. 

But the smaller operational savings that can add up, including things like toilet paper, coffee, and snacks. In general, you will have less overhead, allowing your business to invest in new tools that will benefit your business.

With a work-from-home model in place, you’ll also be more prepared for disasters or business interruption which involves any disruption in the operations of your business that leads to revenue loss. If your business hasn’t switched to a work-from-home model, any interruption to your standard operations could be all the more costly.

Increases your talent pool

You can also use some of those operational savings to attract top talent. You’ll be able to open up recruitment opportunities to a national or even global candidate pool because remote teams can hire the best person for the position — no matter where they live.

This wealth of choice in hiring can increase and promote diversity and inclusion across different cultures and disability groups. Work from home also promotes blind hiring, avoiding biases that, while sometimes unintentionally, can make recruiting difficult.

Disabled workers in the U.S., for example, can have an extremely difficult time finding an employer with a physical office space that meets all of their needs. This is one contributing factor to people with disabilities being more likely to be self-employed than those with no disability. Further, unemployment rates for those with a disability were much higher than for those without a disability across all demographic groups, according to a 2024 report from the Employment and Training Administration.

“The option to control your space is nice for fully-abled workers but can be an absolute game changer for those with disabilities or chronic illnesses,” notes Jon Hill, the CEO and chairman of the executive recruiting firm The Energists.

“Remote work allows those with disabilities to create a fully-accessible, comfortable workspace that puts them on equal footing with their able-bodied coworkers.”

Promotes an all-around healthy environment

If your people are happier and lead more balanced lives, they will typically be healthier in mind and body.

If your people are happier and lead more balanced lives, they will typically be healthier in mind and body.

It’s important and healthy for employees to have an identity outside of work. Still, it can be tough for individual workers to implement this on their own. So, it’s vital for managers and HR teams to do their due diligence by periodically checking in on staff to ensure that they’re doing well.

Ultimately, when deciding to go remote for your business, you should focus on what is most important. And we think that’s your team’s overall well-being.

Working from home is mutually beneficial

Remote work arrangements can have many different benefits for not only your staff but your business as a whole. To learn more about insuring your business against remote work risks, check out our employment practices liability and workers compensation coverages. Ready to get started? Apply now and get a quote in minutes.