These days there’s an increasing trend of the emergence of virtual offices. However, just like every other strategy, even virtual offices have their share of pros and cons. However, before we jump to these pros and cons, let’s understand the primary aspects of virtual offices:
- Virtual offices are an excellent alternative to the traditional offices, as they do not need any physical location.
- When the employees work remotely via virtual offices, they have way more flexibility and freedom.
- However, virtual offices aren’t apt for everyone. For any enterprise whose business isn’t run online, virtual offices do pose some serious challenges for the management.
Unfortunately, after the developments of the novel coronavirus, a lot of businesses have had to make their employees work from home. So, what is a virtual office? Are they good? Are they bad? Well, here, we’ll discuss both sides of the virtual offices and give our final verdict towards the end.
Pros
Lesser Overheads
Sarah, who works with a platform that offers pay for writing papers service, says “In a virtual office, the overhead cost is less, and the businesses can allocate their funds into other core areas.” Since the prices are significantly lesser than in the case of the brick and mortar store, enterprises can save several thousands of dollars when they replace their regular office with a virtual office.
Lesser Management Required
The second big benefit of the virtual office is that there’s not much management needed. All regular offices have to be managed daily. However, the virtual offices only need the tools to have everything in check. Further, employees working from virtual offices have the flexibility to finish their tasks in their time. This helps improve creativity and keeps the employees relaxed. Kiara, who offers online assignment help services, says that employees who work remotely enjoy better job satisfaction, lower work-stress, and finer relationships with subordinates and supervisors.
Lesser conflicts
No matter how amicable your office staff is, there’s bound to be a few underlying issues. It is almost impossible to bring together a group of people with different personalities and not have any conflicts. In a virtual environment, there’s a minimum clash of personalities. Despite that, the communication is well intact with alternatives like video conferencing and messaging.
Cons
No physical space
The biggest downside of a virtual office is the lack of physical space. It is an important element and must be a part of the business plan for all entrepreneurs. If the virtual office requires a space in the later stages, the savings will dwindle. Though in this world of the internet, an office can work just fine without a physical space. However, certain businesses aren’t ever able to survive without a proper physical space.
For instance, if you are in a business of client-servicing, then having a physical space is important. It helps give out a feeling of permanence and professionalism, which is almost impossible to give out in case of a virtual office. Sonia, who offers online statistics homework help services, says that whether or not you can have a virtual office entirely depends on the nature of your business. In my personal opinion, in the coming future, almost all offices will have a feature of both virtual and in-person communication. However, it would be up to you to decide which end of the spectrum you fall in.
Less Community
Of course, virtual employees have several benefits, but having almost negligible contact with the co-workers can lead to isolation amongst the workers in the company. When you sit and work face-to-face with someone, it helps develops a sense of trust and companionship that is almost impossible to achieve in a remote office.
Further, in a virtual office, there’ll be no post-work gatherings, team-building activities, or office activities. In a way, these activities are a great way to form a sense of belongingness and togetherness amongst the employees. So, if a virtual employer wishes to give the remote employees a gist of belongingness, they too can conduct such activities to give the employees a sense of connectivity. Moreover, you can schedule meetings where all the remote employees gather and discuss their issues. It can be an incredible measure to harness the benefit of virtual office without compromising on inter-personal relations.
Might hamper productivity
Of course, the concept of the virtual office is intended to boost the productivity of the worker, but it might cause potential slacking behaviour in the workers too. Zoe, who offers the best machine learning course online, says that for some employees, structure and discipline are mandatory to give out their best performances. None the less, every employee is different, so the effect on productivity will be variable for each of them.
Final Verdict
To conclude, having a virtual office or not would depend purely on the specific needs and the structure of the business. For anyone who needs a cheaper alternative, virtual office space is a great alternative. So, consider the requirement of the business and the manner of operation to determine whether or not it is the right alternative for you or not.
