For the past years, technology has continued to disrupt traditional practices in different industries. Even before the pandemic, many businesses chose to hire remote workers to save on renting office space and enjoy a number of other benefits. After the pandemic, more companies followed suit when many business owners resorted to adopting work from home.
It is a win-win situation for businesses and job seekers. Unemployed people or those who were seeking side jobs found massive opportunities through freelancing. And companies looking to hire remote workers did not need to go through a hard time. Freelancing platforms bridged the two.
Should You Consider Hiring Remote Workers?
Because of the attention that working from home gets, there are some studies that focused on testing the effectiveness of this setup. According to these studies, there are promising benefits to hiring a remote workforce. These data might help you decide whether it is the right move for your company.
1. Overcome borders
Before remote work became a big thing, one of the most significant considerations of job seekers is, of course, the location of the business. Only a few people are willing to relocate for work. Mostly, the main reason is the expenses it entails.
On the side of the business, this limits your chances of hiring valuable talent. Now, with remote working, hiring a qualified person doesn’t have to be limited by the geographical divide. The whole world basically became a big pool of talent. You can employ without worrying about immigration rules and visa requirements.
In fact, even two decades ago, it has been perfectly legal for US companies to hire workers living in other countries. Just like how it was before, if your company wants to fly one of your foreign employees into the US, you have to be familiar with immigration rules. You have to study visa requirements. You also need to acquaint yourself with legal services and regulations on immigration bail processes, just in case anything goes south.
By doing this, you avoid being involved in a major legal disaster like what happened with the tech company Cognizant. Just this year, a US court ruled that the tech company must face trial because they applied for the L-1 and B-1 visas for their foreign employees. These visas cost less than the required H1-B visa.
2. Have a round-the-clock team
If you actually seize the opportunity to hire remote workers, you will enjoy having a team that works 24/7. By strategically employing workers from different time zones, you can have your business run with no downtime. This is especially helpful for in-demand aspects of the company, like customer service.
3. Reduce operational costs
As you have read above, employing a completely off-site workforce will save you tons on office rent, furniture, and utility bills. According to an article from the New York Post, on-site employees spend an average of 8 hours per week on non-work-related matters. When you hire remote workers, you get billed only for the hours they spent on the project.
Other than the financial benefits companies get, remote work is also cost-effective for workers. Commuting which is financially and emotionally taxing, is not a requirement anymore. However, the costs get transferred to internet and electricity bills.
You don’t want to be unfair to employees and only think about your profit. It actually helps if you provide working allowances for internet and electricity and holiday pays. These perks keep your workforce motivated. You still have company values, and you want that to reflect on the way you treat even your remote employees.
4. Improve retention
One of the problems in traditional company setups is the low rate of employee retention. It costs a lot to train new employees when the old ones leave. This is why there are so many pieces of advice on making the workplace happy to increase the retention rate.
Remote work ushers in a better retention rate since the reasons why people leave their desk jobs are addressed. The flexibility of remote work makes it easier for employees to stick to their job.
Still, you have to work on employee retention even if you have a completely remote team. Be generous with vacation policies and provide career development opportunities. Invest in team-building and reward your employees for well-done jobs.
The Bottom Line
Migrating to the remote world means you have to make a lot of adjustments. Having a remote team doesn’t mean you are free from the responsibilities of providing a productive and happy workplace that spans across the globe.
