As the workforce evolves into a more immediate, responsive and collaborative culture, employees are doing everything they can to stay connected with their colleagues and customers. Unfortunately, this can come at a bit of a cost, with more than 658 million unused vacation days left on the table in 2015. A mix of feeling like they lack management support with the fear of missing out has left some employees hesitant about taking time off. We think video conferencing can help you maintain a better work–life balance and take back that well-earned trip to Tahiti.
Video conferencing with your team makes communication and collaboration easier, improving your overall company culture. In fact, 98% of respondents in a Lifesize user survey said video conferencing helped with relationship building inside and outside of the company. Seeing your team members face-to-face helps build more meaningful relationships in addition to helping you get things done faster. Maybe even vacation-savingly faster.
The benefits of video collaboration are easily extended to teleworkers as well, as 87% of the employees in our survey who were not physically in the office reported feeling better engaged with colleagues through video. Of course, working from home isn’t a new or unknown concept in the modern office. Aside from the cost benefits of having employees work from home, people actually tend to work harder in organizations that give them the freedom to work from wherever they want. In our recent infographic about the remote workforce, we actually found that 53% of telecommuters end up working more than 40 hours a week. But they aren’t complaining: 98% of the respondents reported being happier working from home. The ability to work remotely with video conferencing is a huge perk for the modern workforce, and it can play a huge role in achieving your work–life balance.
For those who do make the daily drive, video conferencing has another meaningful perk in the ability to keep your standard hours while offsetting your commute. Companies can work out a policy to allow employees to work the first and last hour of the day from home and skip rush-hour traffic. Meetings can be kept, collaboration can continue, but the stress of being bumper to bumper disappears.
Enhancing communication and culture is just one of the reasons modern businesses deploy video conferencing. Check out our new guide on the Top Five Reasons Businesses Crave Video Conferencing (and why it belongs in your tech stack) for more video conferencing benefits.