Should You Work For Companies Offering Remote Working As A Perk?

Deciding to leave your job in search of any new position can be both exciting and scary. A common way to make our decisions is to make a list of the facts in the form of pros and cons.

The list might include things like salary, benefits, work schedule, bonuses (as in monetary bonuses) position and/or title change, and length of commute. Company perks do not make the list for a number of reasons. First and foremost because perks are not part of your working contract and can be changed at any time without your knowledge or consent.

Think about it. If the company perk of taking out the ping pong table, no longer providing Friday happy hours, or not receiving a gym discount were taken away would you be immediately inclined to start looking for another position? It’s not likely. However, if your “perk” was that you could work remotely and then that was taken away it has much larger implications. Implications that are likely to affect your entire lifestyle.

Companies that offer remote working as a perk don’t understand that working remotely is not a perk but an entire global industry. In Laurel Farrar’s Forbes article, Remote Working: Is It More Than A Trend? she not only makes the argument for the entire industry but lays out the future of workforce training, government involvement, and how businesses will streamline their operations.

If you are already working for a company that offers remote working as a perk I’m not telling you to quit. However, if it is a perk you don’t want to be taken from you I would highly advise that you get involved in making it a company hiring practice - complete with policies, guidelines, and regulations. These not only protect you, the employee, but the company as well. It is in their best interest to do this now before they are made to forcibly after a law or bill is passed or they find out they are already out of compliance.

Should you be looking for a new position that offers remote working, do not seek out employers that offer remote working as a perk. In the video below I explain why it will not benefit you.