In fact, working in an office can be far less productive than working remotely.

When you work in an office, you are surrounded by other people. Distractions are rife – a coffee break here, a little chat there, and soon enough half of your work day is already squandered.

Additionally, much of your work is tied to the work of others. This can lead to you being peppered with and distracted by questions that probably could wait, but that your co-workers nonetheless harass you with, as you’re sitting right there – and “it will only take a second!”

Of course, if you work remotely from home or at a coffee shop there are bound to be interruptions and distractions as well. The difference is that you can better control such disruptions.

Many managers judge the value of an employee based on secondary factors, such as how often a worker takes breaks, how often he is late, or how nice they are to other colleagues, and so on.

If an employee works remotely, an employer can evaluate that employee solely based on the actual quality of his work. Think about it: What does it matter if someone starts their work day half an hour later, if the work they submit on time is impeccable?

We’ve seen the benefits that remote work can offer. But if working remotely is so great for both employees and employers, why do so many companies still resist it?

One frequent argument against remote work is that having employees in many different places makes it more difficult to build a company culture. However, this perspective confuses “company culture” with “team building.”

Company culture isn’t about ensuring that your workers have the same lifestyle and lunch hour; it’s about how your company’s values are reflected through your employees.

Things like a positive attitude toward customer needs and long-term productivity goals are what counts in building a lasting company culture. Regular face-to-face meetings between colleagues aren’t necessary, however, to understand and implement that culture.

Another reason that companies resist remote work is because they believe that innovation only happens when people collaborate face-to-face. Even if this is true, companies still struggle to implement ideas that have already been developed through such face-to-face meetings.

If you can’t implement each day’s new idea, there’s no need for employees to meet every day!

Furthermore, many managers think that a body in a chair in an office equals productivity. In other words, if you’re not at the office, you’re not being productive. However, a manager doesn’t have more control over an employee just because she’s sitting across the hall. If anything, a manager is simply fooling himself into thinking he has control.

Consider this: Some 30 percent of the internet bandwidth at the headquarters for J.C. Penney is used to watch YouTube videos. Is that productive? Not in the least.

Many companies reject remote work offhand. These companies lazily contend that, while remote work might be fine for others, it just wouldn’t work for their organization.

However, companies of all sizes from all industries have successfully introduced remote work, including some organizations you might think too traditional or too big to change – AT&T, Aetna, Intel and even the U.S. government!

Simply saying no to remote work without giving it a chance is foolish.

So now you’re convinced, and want to give remote work a try at your company.

Some companies believe that they are too invested in office work to make a successful shift to remote work.

However, it doesn’t matter whether you manage employees at a start-up or at a multimillion-dollar established corporation: you can always introduce remote work into your normal work flow.

“Going remote” simply means that your employees aren’t chained daily to their desks at the company office. It doesn’t mean, however, they can’t be there at all.

Working remotely isn’t an all-or-nothing commitment. You might first test the waters by offering a few employees the opportunity to work remotely for a few days per week, for example.

This way, you can see for yourself whether remote work is a good option for your company and can get an idea of what you’ll need to pay particular attention to, before allowing more employees to work remotely for a longer period of time.

But whatever you do, don’t jump to make a decision. If you want to introduce remote work, don’t base your final judgment on one single employee who has worked at home for just one week.

Instead, have an entire team work remotely for a few days a week over a couple of months to get a better sense of whether the concept works for everyone, you and your employees.

Interestingly, you probably use remote work already without even thinking about it. It’s quite common for companies to outsource certain tasks to third parties, such as lawyers or accountants, advertising agencies, and so on.

As many companies already entrust work to professionals outside the company, it shouldn’t be so hard to imagine allowing your own employees to work outside company headquarters.

Colleagues can turn into close friends or at least good acquaintances as people work together over time. But how does this work if employees never see each other in person?

It’s a fact that no one can work 24/7 without having some sort of social interaction, and remote workers especially so. We all need to unwind from time to time, and it’s ideal when employees can do so with other colleagues to build and maintain a sense of team spirit.

Finally, you have to recognize that technology simply isn’t a perfect substitute for real-life interactions. You’ll have to make sure there’s some socializing in the “real world,” too.

While there are countless tools that make virtual collaboration possible, people still need to connect an online name with a face at some point. It doesn’t have to happen every day or even every month, but it does need to happen eventually to build trusting, loyal relationships.

Because of the flexibility inherent to remote work, the work day looks a lot different for remote workers. So remember to keep their needs in mind.

For starters, remote workers run the risk of becoming lost in their work. While some people believe that these employees don’t do as much work as office employees, in fact, there is a real danger that remote workers actually do too much.

Because they aren’t bound to normal office hours, remote workers might feel tempted to do a little extra here and there, and because of this, can eventually burn out.

Be extra careful not to encourage this kind of behavior. After all, you can’t see burnout symptoms in front of you as you would if your employee was working in the office with you.

After all, you want your employees to be happy and productive; to ensure this, you don’t want them spending all day in their home office. Working out, meeting new people and other leisure activities might fall by the wayside if an employee lacks the social contacts that come with working in an office.

Managers, therefore, have the responsibility to encourage remote employees to live a healthy and diverse lifestyle.

Employees are also supported by the company in their pursuit of hobbies outside work, as company holiday gifts help bankroll travel, as one example.

Finally, if remote workers aren’t a majority of your workforce, they can easily start feeling like “second-class workers,” as they aren’t part of everyday office dynamics. Be sure to ask them what their needs are to make them feel included. Or, ideally, have a manager do some remote work as well to see how life feels in a remote worker’s shoes.

Modern technology means that employers and employees can easily benefit from remote work. However, the dynamics created by remote work are different than the normal office routine, so managers need to rethink how they manage remote workers to keep everybody happy and productive.