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5 reasons to make more conference calls in 2020

New years have always brought resolutions. But often, we resolve not to do something. Or at least to cut back on certain habits or penchants. Instead, we propose taking a more positive outlook. We’re thinking about one great practice which you should aim to do more of in the coming year, rather than curtailing yourself. We’re talking, of course, of conference calling. There are so many amazing benefits to holding conference calls, and so many different ways of using them. Picking just five reasons to conference call more in 2020 is a tricky feat, but these are our biggest and best reasons to feed your teleconferencing habit.

1) Help protect the environment

Probably our favourite thing about conference calling is how much it can cut your carbon footprint. And never has this felt like a more pressing concern than it does today. We’re constantly hearing of endangered species. The Extinction Rebellion movement staged a whole host of protests, drawing attention to the need to change our behaviour. If these messages weren’t clear enough, the recent spate of storms makes it clear that climate change is an increasingly severe concern.

How does business play into it?

Unfortunately, even everyday business is worsening the problem. Just look at the state of traffic in our cities, particularly around rush hour. Consider, too, what public transport looks like at peak times. Millions and millions of people are commuting to and from work every day, adding exponentially to the country’s carbon emissions. And while public transport is doubtless the better of two evils, there’s still a staggering 16.7 million people driving to work each day. Trains, trams and buses contribute their share of pollution, too.

Let’s think about what this means for businesses. Take even a small, fairly local business. We could say, for example, it has ten employees. We’ll be generous and say that only half drive to work (national statistics are sadly a little different). Let’s say those that drive are travelling an average of eight miles to and from work. That’s 4,176 miles per year. Using a carbon calculation tool, we find that comes to over a ton of carbon being emitted purely from the commute per driver, totalling well over five tonnes for the company.

We still need to factor in those travelling via public transport. If two travelled by bus, that’s an additional 0.7 tonnes of carbon emissions. Another three travelling by rail adds another ton. In all, we’re looking at around seven tonnes of carbon being released for ten employees to get to their local place of work.

Bigger business, bigger pollution

Consider a larger-scale enterprise. Maybe there are a hundred employees. Perhaps several are travelling from a little further. And maybe there are fifteen or so who have to travel abroad for work fairly frequently.

We’ll give each employee an average commute of 15 miles. Again, we can calculate that only half drive. We’re looking at nearly 100 tonnes of CO2 now. Let’s say thirty employees get the train to work. Twenty go on the bus. That brings another 15.56 and 26.39 tonnes respectively. In all, this company is racking up nearly 150 tonnes of CO2 just on daily commutes. Add in international flights for those fifteen travellers. We could say their trips are to Tokyo. Each employee has to go once a quarter. That’s another 500 tonnes of CO2. All in all, that company is adding over 650 tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere each year.

How can teleconferencing more help?

It’s kind of a no-brainer. By holding a conference call instead of meetings, you can avoid a huge amount of travel. That means teleconferencing can help make remote working a much more feasible part of your business. Even if you don’t want to go completely remote and shut up shop entirely, you could allow some people to telecommute some days. Think of how many tonnes of carbon you’d be sparing the planet!

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2) You can save money by teleconferencing more

As if being a hero wasn’t enough of a reason to conference call more in 2020, you can also boost your profits while you do it. Studies have found that remote work can save companies a whopping $44 billion + per year! And it’s not just the companies that will save money. Workers themselves are thought to save between $2000 and $7000 each year by telecommuting.

After all, travelling doesn’t only demand harmful fuels, it’s also notoriously expensive. While Luxembourg has introduced free public transport, train tickets in the UK continue to rise in price and are genuinely prohibitive for many. Petrol isn’t cheap either, nor is are the many costs associated with buying, owning and running a car.

But you can save your business all these expenses by increasing your monthly conference calls! There are other costs being cut, too. Even small things like providing refreshments during a meeting, or hiring extra staff to greet visitors or prepare the premises can all add up. Save yourself a lot of hassle and money by making the most of genuinely free conference calls. If you opt for WHYPAY?‘s free package, you’ll get great features without having to part with a penny. Every conference call will be free to join, for an unlimited amount of time and as often as you want! Even if you go for the more specialised packages, they’re just £4 or £8 a month – far less than you’d spend on teas and coffees.

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In fact, the savings are immense. Even in comparison to other teleconference providers, WHYPAY? is saving its user literally millions of pounds. In February alone, our callers saved over £1.5 million. And if you want to know how we work that out, you can study our calculations here.

3) Make 2020 the year of collaboration

We’re facing a potentially divisive moment in history. But we at WHYPAY? think it’s time to unite. We’re firm believers in team-work, and the eternal (if stale) wisdom that two heads are better than one. This is no less true in business than other walks of life – although conference calls have loads of great uses outside of business.

In fact, collaboration has been shown to actively boost your business. It can provide inspiration, as you get ideas from new colleagues, or have your own challenged. It can help you achieve things you couldn’t alone, whether by supplementing your budget, providing tools you don’t have, or connecting you to new opportunities. It’s also a crucial part of making your company cohesive and efficient. We’ve all encountered organisations in which the right hand doesn’t seem to know what the left is doing. If it’s that frustrating at the point of delivery, think how stressful and ineffective it must be to work within a company like that. By encouraging open and frequent communication by incorporating free conference calling, you’ll ensure your team is always up to date and helping each other out.

Conference calls also widen the net of potential collaboration partners. You won’t be at all limited by geography. Even scheduling conflicts become easier to resolve thanks to the flexibility of teleconferencing from mobiles. Wherever you are, whatever might be happening, you’ll always be able to get the team together in a matter of clicks.

4) Conference calling creates dream teams

This ties back to a couple of the points related to our third reason to conference call more in 2020. Those are two related but separate ways in which teleconferencing can ensure you have the best possible group of people come together, whether it be for a professional project, a catch-up with your best mates, University study or research group, a sports team or even a prayer group.

Cast a wider net

The first way that teleconferencing more will help you find your dream team is of course by removing geographic obstacles. By using easily accessible and totally free teleconferences, you’ll be able to communicate with people all over the country in a matter of seconds.

Even if you’re not able to have employees be 100% remote, using conference calls for interviews will still grow your pool of applicants. There are lots of people whose current jobs and busy schedules make it difficult to travel even half a dozen miles to an interview, particularly during working hours. But if you can have those initial meetings over the phone, they’ll still be able to have their application fully considered. There might even be some who do live further afield, and don’t want to spend a lot of money travelling to interviews up and down the country. Perhaps, though, they’d be ready and willing to relocate if the right position came along. And that just might be the one you’re offering.

Don’t limit yourself by forcing people to be available to meet in person even in the early stages. You can save yourself and your colleagues time and money (and let’s be honest, some effort) by starting the interview process with conference calls.

Strengthen team bonds and boost morale

Once you’ve found your perfect teammates, teleconferencing is a great way to maintain open and easy communication. Holding regular audio meetings will ensure your remote or flexible workers feel included, involved and appreciated, a vital part of keeping morale – and efficiency – high.

Having really strong communication and collaboration will doubtless make your team and their work better. Almost all employers know that – it’s quite intuitive. What some employers still struggle to believe is that implementing a more flexible approach to when and where employees work will not only make them happier, but more efficient too. When a staggering 99% of workers want something – in this case the ability to work remotely – it’s probably time to listen.

In fact, studies have found that 82% of remote workers are less stressed than people who work solely from the office, and they rank as 7% happier. A massive 91% also said they work more productively outside the office than in it. It’s no wonder, then, that a majority of the world’s companies have adopted a flexible stance to remote work. 91% of business in one study have said they support remote work. And over the past five years, remote work has grown hugely – up an estimated 44% since 2015!

By trusting your employees to know when and how they work best, and allowing them to find a better work-life balance, you’ll find you have a happier and more productive team in no time. They’ll be easily in touch with one another, especially with the wealth of communication tools out there (of which we give free conference calling pride of place). They’ll also feel much better towards your company, more generally fulfilled, and less resentful and stressed when it comes to work. All in all, that makes for a real dream team.

5) 2020 is all about freedom and flexibility

Tying into the notion of remote work and balancing our professional and personal lives is the importance of flexibility as we look ahead. Conference calling is a really great way to inject more freedom and flexibility into all aspects of your life, not least the business side.

Flexibility is something we’ve covered a little in previous points. Accessible conference calls mean you can take a more flexible approach to work, by connecting people who don’t need to be tied to the same physical space. Instead, one can be on a train to a meeting, while another is in a coffee shop and a third walks their dog in the park. Instead of dictating people’s schedules, work begins to fit around them.

The notion of remote work itself can be a flexible one. Worker don’t need to be 100% remote. And actually, many aren’t. 68% of workers across the world work remotely at least once a month, but not necessarily every day!

That means that instead of having all your meetings in an impersonal, stuffy boardroom, they can become an opportunity to do a local cake tour or explore the beautiful parks in your area.

For freedom of location, freedom from reservations and strict schedules, freedom from wires and confusing technology, and a more freeing attitude to workplace and routine, conference call more in 2020.

You’ll have a happy, diverse, efficient workforce, working in the ways and places that best boost their productivity. You’ll be able to travel as you meet, whether for business or pleasure. You’ll be saving time, money, and best of all the planet.

There are so many brilliant reasons to conference call more in 2020, and no downsides. It won’t even cost you a penny. As you map out the next working year, why not conference call more? And crucially, why pay for it?

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