One aftereffect of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it’s forever changed the way many of us work. First, there’s been a massive transition to remote work. Subsequently, 54 percent of employees want to continue working remotely. As a result, we’d all better get used to our virtual offices. The good news is that this also presents businesses with an opportunity to cut your remote overhead expenses.  

If your company was based in an office location before, it could be tempting to continue with your old practices, shifted to a remote setting. But, instead, take the time to carry out an expense audit. Then, see where you can cut your remote overhead expenses now that you’re committed to running your business remotely. 

1.   Remote work can improve productivity
According to some estimates, businesses lose $600 billion every year due to distractions in the workplace. Employees working from home are generally more productive because they don’t have to deal with as many interruptions, distractions, or noises. Not to mention no more office politics!
 
If your employees are working more productively, then your costs will naturally decrease. Remember that tax requirements can vary between in-office and remote workers. Make sure you meet your specific state’s regulations.

2.   Automate your accounts payable
Automating your accounts payable department can have the double benefit of cutting costs and increasing efficiency. For example, the Institute of Finance and Management (IOFM) estimates that manually processing invoices costs between $8.78 to $5.81 per invoice. Above all, automation can decrease this between $2.44 and $1.77. Added up, that’s a significant saving. Suppliers like AvidXchange, Bill.com, Corpay One, and Vic.AI each have unique offerings in this area. More options are listed at our website AccoutingSoftwareWorld.com in the Accounts Payable section.

3.   Outsource specific tasks to cut your remote overhead
Instead of hiring new contracted staff, consider outsourcing tasks to third parties. Outsourcing makes far more sense for occasional jobs as you’ll only need to pay for them as and when required. In addition, using freelancers can save you 20-30 percent per year, compared to paying an employee salary once you consider benefits like retirement funds and health insurance. We have discussed this concept in the past with our article on Outsourcing Tasks Can Do Wonders for Your Small Business.
 
Ensure you have a system for virtually onboarding employees. Use the same method for freelancers completing occasional tasks. 

4.   Update where necessary
Old website content management systems (CMS) might have been the right solution when you launched your business, but as technology changes, they can end up holding you back. The time and money needed to keep an old monolithic style CMS updated can end up costing you more than making the switch to a new version. CMS that provides microservices has the added benefit of helping to enhance your customer’s user experience.
 
It’s also worth checking through which subscription-based tools you might be signed up for yet not using. $10 per month for access to stock photography or graphic design tools might not seem like much, but by subscribing to a range of different services, they all add up. Make a note of your subscription services and how often you use them per month. For those that aren’t paying their way, either cancel or look at switching to a pay-per-use model instead.

5.   Keep meetings to a minimum to cut your remote overhead
​Meetings might be vital to keep everyone in the loop, but do we need so many of them? According to some estimates, businesses spend $37 billion every year in the US for unproductive meetings. Consider the far better impact if a portion of that time and money was spent elsewhere. The amount of time employees spend in meetings has been steadily increasing since 2008.
 
Remote meetings are particularly unproductive, as it’s hard for attendees to remain engaged. Cut down on all but the most important meetings, and make sure only required staff who need to be there attend. Use these tips to increase meeting productivity:

• Keep meetings under 30 minutes
• Send agendas and supplementary material in advance
• Start and end on time
• Stay focused
• Write down essential action points to distribute after the meeting

 
If you’ve decided to make a permanent switch to remote working, there are plenty of ways you can use this as an opportunity to cut your remote overhead expenses and increase your profits as a result. Cloud computing has certainly made this easier. Use these tips to get started!
 
Learn more about supporting remote work in K2’s Working Remotely – The New Normal or in one of our Technology Conferences.

Thanks to this year’s global pandemic, more people are working from home than ever before. As many are coming to realize, burnout often goes hand-in-hand with remote work. We thought that providing 3 tips to beat Work-From-Home burnout might help you. Not surprisingly, articles about how to prevent or avoid burnout have popped up all over the internet. Far fewer resources, however, address how to overcome burnout if you are already suffering.

Recent reports indicate productivity dropped 4.8% in the last quarter of 2020. This productivity drop was the largest decrease since 1981. We have written other articles on being productive from home like Insight on Work at Home and Work-From-Home Strategies – “The Finer Points.” We have talked about Tips for Starting a Home Based Business and The Rise of “COVID-prenuers.” And, we have even created Continuing Professional Education (CPE) courses on Working at Home. But with all this guidance on how to work from home or be successful from home, burnout can kick in.

How do you know if you are among the 69% of remote workers currently suffering from burnout? While the symptoms can look different for everyone, these are a few of the tell-tale signs:

• Feeling negative or apathetic toward work
• Trouble falling asleep or staying asleep
• Forgetfulness, or an impaired sense of the passage of time
  
• Using substances as coping mechanisms
  
• Decreased efficiency — for example, finding yourself re-reading the same sentence over and over

If you have noticed some of these red flags in your life lately, you could be burned out. Fortunately, there are several effective ways to banish burnout and restore your work-life balance. Consider these three ideas.

One of the major causes of work-from-home burnout is the lack of time boundaries. If you work-from-home, you are probably acutely aware of how often you let your life interrupt your work, answering a child’s question or moving the laundry into the dryer, for example. However, you may not realize how often you let work interrupt your life. You may find yourself responding to an email while cooking dinner or absentmindedly logging in during TV time.

Many remote workers report feeling as though they are never “off” work. As Dr. Heather DeQuincey put it in a now-viral tweet: “I think we need to stop calling it ‘working from home’ and start calling it ‘living at work.’”

It is not hard to see how such nonstop connectivity can lead to burnout. Inc. explains one of the most effective ways to combat this problem is establishing firm temporal boundaries and sticking to them. Create a work schedule, write it down, and let your family and co-workers know that these are the times you will be available. It may be difficult at first, but in the end, it will save you countless wasted hours, not to mention your sanity.

If your current workspace lacks physical boundaries, it could contribute to feelings of burnout. Just because you can work from anywhere does not mean that you should work from everywhere. If you pop open your laptop or check work on your phone in every room of your house, your brain eventually associates all those areas with working. No wonder you are feeling burned out!

Establish a designated workspace in your home. Try to restrict your work to this place as much as possible. Real Simple notes that ideally, your work area should be near a window where you can get some natural light, or at the very least should be well-lit and at a comfortable temperature. Choose an area that is free from visible distractions, including piles of clutter. A disorganized or chaotic work area disrupts your energy flow. Further, clutter tends to breed negative thoughts, so it should be dealt with accordingly. Any distracting objects or unfinished projects should be out of sight.

There are many apps and programs available that you can customize to automate or nearly automate a vast array of tedious tasks. These sorts of tasks can suck up loads of your time and energy. Worse, unproductive tasks leave you feeling that you did not accomplish anything.

Remember that you can pick tips and tools that our K2 team recommends. Further, remember our guidance on outsourcing. Learning to say no will make a difference in your business and work-life balance. And yes, there is an app for that!

If you have become burned out while working from home, you are not alone. These 3 tips to beat Work-From-Home burnout can help you establish a healthier, more sustainable relationship with your work.

However, if things do not get better for you, call for professional help. Unfortunately, I know of multiple people who have chosen suicide based on their stress levels in the last 60 days. Get help from places like the Canada Suicide Prevention Service at 1-833-456-4566 or from your medical professionals. While many of us offer our friendship and support, we often do not know our friends and colleagues are desperate for help. Watch out for the symptoms above in yourself, family, friends, and colleagues.