Technology is Blurring the Line
Between Work and Home
More and more small business owners and their employees are taking advantage of technology to work from home or while away from the office. This remote workforce has been growing over the past few years with many companies embracing the change and allowing employees to telecommute rather than requiring they work in the office. For small business owners or part-time workers trying to balance work and home life, this can be very convenient.
A recent survey by Opinion Matters confirmed that this is the case not just for remote workers, but increasingly for all workers. More employees are now checking work email on their home computers and mobile devices on weekends and evenings. Sixty-four percent of respondents said they check email at least once daily outside of work hours and eighty-one percent said they check their work email on weekends.
Benefits of a remote workforce
It’s been hotly debated whether or not a remote workforce lowers productivity or hampers collaboration. Many believe that there are more distractions at home that can prevent workers from focusing on their jobs, but various studies have shown that working from home can actually improve productivity, reported TechWorld Australia. One U.K. telecommunications company allowed its 3,000 employees to telecommute. More than 36 percent of workers said they were able to be more productive by working from home.
Stanford University conducted a real-world experiment within a travel agency comparing 200 remote workers to those who remained in the office. The study found that remote workers were able to take more phone calls, requested fewer days off and worked more hours than onsite employees.
Although not all businesses will benefit in the same way, telecommuting is still an option worth exploring. TechWorld Australia explained that small businesses in particular can benefit several ways:
- Hiring workers spread across a broader geographic area, which makes it easier for employers to find candidates who are an ideal fit for the position
- Saving money on expenses related to transportation and office resources
- Reducing office space needed and lowering utility usage
Managing the risks of working remotely
If you work remotely it’s likely that your home PC is a substitute for a physical office. This means that computer performance is even more important as problems aren’t just inconvenient they mean lost productivity and possibly wages. To minimize these risks it’s important for your maintenance routine to include the following:
- Prevention of malware and virus attacks that can harm your computer
- Protection of confidential company information stored on your PC
- Hard drive optimization to free up computing resources for work applications
- Maintenance of software and drivers to keep your PC running smoothly
Small business owners or remote workers may find that investing in a comprehensive PC tune-up and security software suite such as System Mechanic Pro can help them manage these issues and maximize productivity. System Mechanic Pro combines all of the optimization tools found in System Mechanic with the security solution System Shield, which regularly and automatically updates to catch the latest threat definitions, maintaining an ever-expanding roster of specific malware signatures and suspicious behaviors to help keep your PC secure.
System Mechanic relies on over 16 years of in-house engineering research to develop ever-evolving solutions to built-in Windows flaws that can accumulate over time. These include: slow program access, decline in RAM, slow boot time, bloatware, decreased web speed, registry errors, fragmented hard drive and more.
