Sitting in your living room, sipping the best morning coffee, in your favorite armchair and working seems ideal and kind of like a dream, right? Although, it has become our reality now. Working from home has become the new norm of our lifestyle and well, it has been a good experience. Work from home is not a new concept yet it was normalized just last year and it would not be wrong to say that coronavirus pandemic has proven to be a wakeup call for all of us and the businesses, in a lot of ways.
Is working from home a better option?
It has been officially a year since working from home became part of our lives. Recent statistics have shed light on the following facts:
- 75 percent of remote workers that their productivity has been elevated since they started working from home due to lesser distractions
- 40 percent of remote workers are willing to accept more work in exchange for flexibility
- 18 percent of remote workers are willing to accept a pay cut to continue working from home
- 73 percent of remote workers work even outside their work hours as it makes them more productive and confident
The above data depicts the fact that working from home is actually benefitting the employees as well as the businesses.
Some more advantages on account of working from home are:
- Lesser operational costs
- Increased productivity levels
- Enhanced talent pool
- Easier employee retention
- Lesser absenteeism
- Employee well-being and gratification
Best Work from Home Tools
Working from home has become possible and so convenient primarily because of only one utility, the internet. The Internet has connected all of us together in a way that it does not matter if you work from a distance or your office. It has come up with tools and services that allow you to replicate your work ethics at home as well.
If you are working from home or plan to permanently opt for remote working, your most significant decision is choosing an internet service provider. Spectrum can help you work with an uninterrupted connection supplying speeds as high as 940 Mbps while offering a complimentary security suite so you do not have to worry about your confidential data and files.
We have compiled a list of work from home tools through which you can make your working experience better.
ProofHub
- Price per month: Ultimate Control Plan for 89 USD
- Available on: Android, iOS, Web
- Tool for: Project Management
ProofHub is the ultimate project management software. You can manage multiple projects and teams, at the same. Within this project management tool, you also get a time tracking software, a task, and a report manager. Whatever project management activity it is, you can manage it with the help of ProofHub. Furthermore, collaboration features like file sharing, in-built chat options, and proofreading tools, are also included in ProofHub, making it an all-in-one remote working experience tool.
Wrike
- Price per month: Business Plan for 24.8 USD per user
- Available on: Android, iOS, Web
- Tool for: Project Management
Another project management tool that streamlines your entire work routine, Wrike is designed to help you use it with utmost ease and convenience. Like ProofHub, Wrike also included collaborative and proofing tools. It allows managers and workers to stay connected and in the loop with all the activities and tasks of a project.
Slack
- Price per month: Plus Plan for 6.0 USD per user
- Available on: Android, iOS, Web
- Tool for: Communication
Slack is a very popular communication tool that organizes your daily conversations and chats. This app lets you create channels where you can collaborate with your team for seamless teamwork to supplement productivity. Slack also lets you communicate and collaborate with a particular colleague over private channels or direct messages. Moreover, it is compatible with third-party applications like Salesforce Chatter and Google Drive.
Chanty
- Price per month: Business Plan for 4.0 USD per user
- Available on: Android, iOS, Web
- Tool for: Communication
Chanty is a communication tool for remote workers. It is an AI-powered chat application, which is ahead of its competitor chatting apps. In addition to messaging your colleagues and managers, you can use it to assign and create tasks, start discussion threads, and much more. The Teambook feature of Chanty allows you to organize your conversations, tasks, and files.
Google Drive
- Price per month: Drive Enterprise for 8.0 USD per user
- Available on: Android, iOS, Web
- Tool for: Sharing files and documents
Google Drive is the most popular application for file sharing. It allows you to share as well as save files. The main functions of Google Drive are sharing video and audio files, documents, presentations, and pictures. The confidentiality of Google Drive data is incomparable and you can always choose whom you wish to share your documents and files with.
Microsoft OneDrive
- Price per month: Office 365 Home Plan for 9.99 USD per user
- Available on: Android, iOS, Web, Windows
- Tool for: Sharing files and documents
Microsoft OneDrive does not require any build-up as it is one of the most used file-sharing applications. You can access and store files using any device (PC, tablet, or mobile phone).in addition to saving and sharing documents, you can choose files that you want offline access for. It is a cloud-based storage application and you can use it to ensure that you never lose your confidential files.
Toggl
- Price per month: Premium Plan for 20 USD per user
- Available on: Android, iOS, macOS, Windows
- Tool for: Time Tracking
Toggl works like an attendance machine for remote teams. It is a time management tool that allows you to track work hours in order to make your team and yourself accountable for all the work hours. Every task and activity can be tracked with a simple click. The tracking reminder feature notifies you every time you forget to stop or start the timer.
TimeCamp
- Price per month: Pro Plan for 10 USD per user
- Available on: Android, iOS, Web
- Tool for: Time Tracking
Another time tracking tool that makes it easy for your remote team to stay connected and more productive while managing time. It provides time tracking for the billable hours of your day and further estimates the time required to complete each task.