Allowing employees to work from home can benefit your bottom line

Offices have changed dramatically over the years. The office atmosphere your parents may have known has largely fallen by the wayside, and chances are your own office might be starkly different a decade from now than it is today.

One of the common changes to office life is the increasing number of people who aren't going into the office at all. According to Global Workplace Analytics and the Telework Research Network, who independently research and consult on emerging workplace issues and opportunities, a shade more than 2 percent of the American workforce considers home their primary place of work. That translates to 2.8 million people, and those figures do not include the self-employed or unpaid volunteers.

Telecommuting clearly has its advantages for employees, who can avoid rush hour commutes, save on childcare expenses and save money on transportation to and from work. But business owners can also benefit from allowing employees to work from home. The following are just a few of the many reasons that businesses may benefit from allowing employees to telecommute.

* Build a strong sense of trust. Employees who don't feel as though their employer trusts them are not likely to be as loyal or work as hard. Allowing employees to telecommute is perhaps the easiest and most cost-effective way to show employees you trust them. Insisting employees come into the office indicates that you don't think they will work as much or as hard if they're not under your watchful eye. This can create a toxic environment in which employees don't enjoy coming to work. Showing them you trust them by allowing them to work from home can have the opposite effect, as they'll not only be grateful for your trust, but also they will want to prove worthy of that trust.

* Saves you money. Business owners know office space is not cheap. Allowing employees to work from home can significantly reduce your facility costs, allowing you to choose a smaller office with a much smaller rent. Business owners will also save on office supplies and furniture, including desks and possibly even computers.

Another way allowing employees to telecommute can save you money concerns employee salaries. Travel and childcare expenses weigh heavily on the minds of men and women, and allowing your employees to work from home greatly reduces, if not eliminates, these expenses. This can be used in your favor when employees request a raise. In fact, employees who telecommute and benefit financially from such an arrangement may be less likely to ask for a raise.

* Increase productivity. It's no secret that a stigma is attached to employees who work from home. Though outdated, that stigma is that men and women who work from home slack off because there's no supervisor around to make sure they're doing their jobs. Technology that connects home computers to the company's server has made it essentially impossible for employees working from home to do nothing and go unnoticed, but the stigma persists. And that perception may actually benefit employers, as men and women who telecommute are often motivated to work even harder to prove to their employers that they aren't spending all day lounging on the couch.

Office culture is changing, and more and more companies are recognizing the benefit of allowing their employees to telecommute.