New Delhi: An average working professional in India is saving Rs 5,520 per month and 1.47 hours of travel time everyday while working from home, according to a survey by leading co-working space provider Awfis.

About 74% of the respondents are willing to work remotely, which could be home or a cafe near home as it leads to significant cost and time saving.

Around 20% are saving Rs 5,000-10,000 per month while working from home while 19% are saving over Rs 10,000.

And 40% of the respondents spend less than an hour commuting.

“The time saved translates to time worth 44 additional working days in a year,” said Amit Ramani, founder and CEO, Awfis.

Nearly 44 additional working days in a year means that for a company with 100 employees, 18 FTE days (full time equivalent) are added without any additional cost.

Full time equivalent refers to the number of hours an employee works in a day and translates into roughly 8 hours of work in a day.

The survey was conducted over a period of two months (June and July 2020) across 7 metros in India, and inputs from 1000 employees were analysed across varied industries.

According to the survey, more than 75% of the workforce can manage their time efficiently.

This has instilled more accountability to the employees as well has led to employees earning higher trust from their managers.

However, there are many challenges that employees face while working from home.

About 27% and 23% respondents see isolation and work-life balance as the biggest challenges respectively while working from home.

While a smaller percentage of companies are still facing technology challenges, the adoption is rising steeply as the advent of remote working becomes inevitable.

“People have realised that ability to work from home is possible without compromising on productivity. It was expected that in five years more people will either work from home or near home. COVID19 has fast tracked this,” said Ramani.

In the survey, 43% of employees report inability to maintain their work-life balance while working remotely.

“Now that the lines between home and work are blurring, companies need to create policies that describe clear demarcations between the two to make remote work sustainable in the long run,” the survey said.