Working from home sounds nice and all, but what do the stats say? Find out in Part II of my Working From Home series.

“Working from home” is synonymous with images of laying around on a laptop wearing pajamas. And I won’t lie, 90 percent of the time that’s pretty much what I look like.

But as many of these stats prove, the comfort of working remotely doesn’t make someone lazy — in fact, quite the opposite.

Remote workers are more productive.

Eighty-six percent of remote workers report being more productive than when they’re in the office. If this number seems high and biased, it’s not far off from what managers report — 66 percent of managers report the same thing of their remote employees.

Telecommuters make more money, but actually save companies money.

Fundera reports that “Employers offering at least part-time telecommuting flexibility collectively save $44 billion each year.” Simultaneously, people who work remotely make more money on average than their in-office counterparts.

For me personally, I made a little more than $100 a day at my old agency, plus 12 percent commission for the work I completed (usually about $230 total). Making this amount meant grinding all day long, constantly trying to beat distractions, and working for usually at least 3-4 clients a day.

On one of the days I was allowed to work remotely, I made $280 for the day. Me getting more work done helped the company as well (as productivity tends to do). Getting to choose my environment made an insane difference in how much I could get done, and how efficiently.

Employee turnover is lower for companies with remote options.

We all know that losing good workers is a huge loss to the company. Turnover rates are generally reflective of how well (or poor) employees are treated.

But turnover isn’t just a loss for morale and company output — it’s costly. Some reports estimate that companies lose a third of the quitting employee’s salary. The time it takes to find a replacement and train them is both timely and expensive. 

One study by Stanford showed that “employers who offered a work from home option had employee turnover rates fall by over 50%.”

Remote work decreases stress.

Who’s going to work better and last longer at a company: an overstressed, exhausted employee, or a happy and healthy one?

Stress has as much of a physical effect on the body as it does mental. Stressed workers are more likely to get sick (and either need to take time off, or feel forced to come in and get others sick) and are definitely more likely to get burned out and quit (speaking from personal experience on both examples).

A whopping 82 percent of remote workers said they felt less stressed when working from home. This undoubtedly contributes to the other stats on higher productivity and lower turnover.

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With all this in mind, you’d think that any company would be ready and rearing to offer remote work, right? Find out how my conversation with the agency went in Part III: The Conversation.

Photos other than the feature image are via Unsplash.