Work-from-Home May Keep Working for Companies

For those lucky enough to be able to work from home over the last few months, the next few may be more of the same for many. Even as the economy tries to re-open, several companies are considering keeping their remote employees at home for the long-term.

In a recent study from The Conference Board, 77 percent of HR executives said they expect that there will be growth in the number of employees working remotely at least three days per week, even after the COVID-19 crisis subsides. Part of the reason that companies are leaning in this direction could be that 37 percent of companies that had remote workers before COVID-19 said those workers have shown an increase in productivity during the pandemic.

Of course, technology (and, perhaps, less water cooler talk and commuter time) is a big part of that productivity boost. However, as more employees stay home long-term, the need to undertake physical work that may have been avoided during quarantines will become inevitable.

But that doesn’t mean that technology can’t lend a helping hand.

Take shipping from home offices. While email, video conferencing, and collaboration tools can handle many of the day-to-day communications needs, there will always be a need to ship samples, documents, and more.

Without the benefit of a centralized mailroom or shipping department to manage outbound processes, employees working from home are often left on their own to manage even routine shipments, wasting time and money. At the same time, the company loses enterprise visibility and control over expenses.

Ship from home office

This is where Transtream Ship from Home Office technology steps in to help centralize shipping when companies go from managing four offices to 400 home offices for the long haul.

Transtream Home Office provides companies the chance to extend their centralized shipping to decentralized home offices, with benefits including:

• Convenience: Automate and simplify multi-carrier shipping for workers across your enterprise
• Accountability: Track expenditures by cost centers
• Control: Central administrative control over user access and carrier control selections
• Visibility: Track and confirm all package deliveries
• Safety: Avoid lines at local post offices or ship centers
• Compliance: Generate forms for international shipments

Personal shipping from home or office

Another challenge facing work-from-home employees is the need to ship personal items, especially as they maintain social distance from friends and families – not to mention staying closer to home, reducing the time spent visiting long-distance relatives.

With Transtream’s Personal Shipping feature and secure credit card payments, employees can ship what they want, when they want, and at a discount, without having to leave their desks or use corporate resources to do it.

Just print a FedEx, UPS, USPS, or DHL label and drop off the parcel at a dropbox or other carrier acceptance location without having to wait in line to pay for the shipment. This maintains social distancing, cuts down on time away from work, and eliminates the need for accounting to capture and reconcile employee shipping expenses.

Sure, corporate offices probably won’t disappear forever –even technology giant, Facebook, has recently invested in space in New York City —but neither will home offices.

Try a free one-year subscription to Transtream Home Office or take a closer look at Personal Shipping during a personalized demonstration of Transtream multi-carrier management system.