By 2020, 50% of Workforce Will Be Remote. (MarketWatch, 2017). Understanding the shift towards virtually dispersed teams and remote working is key for organisations today.
Hiring & Attracting Talent
There are many reasons why businesses implement a remote working model. For some organisations, they know no different. I’ve known several businesses that have never had an office and they have always scaled their team in a virtually dispersed way. In some industries, it may be difficult to recruit and hire certain skillsets. Remote working gives these industries access to a talent pool all over the globe, that they may not necessarily find if they required an office.
Depending on your organisation, it may be beneficial to consider the language and cultural diversity remote working can bring to your team.
Not only will remote working help you hire more diverse skillsets, but it will also help you attract talent to your organisation.
We’ve heard the stats on how our workforce will be predominantly made up of millennials by 2020. What do millennials want in their career? The flexibility that remote working can provide. That and swag, lots & lots of swag.
Scaling your business
If you operate your business 24/7, it may really make sense for you to hire in various time zones around the globe so that your business has the round the clock support it needs. However, you don’t necessarily have to operate 24/7 to take advantage of having a team dispersed in various time zones. If you’re looking to scale your operations in terms of time efficiency, hiring remotely may really help. I’ve worked with smaller businesses who have hired in various time zones, meaning when it came to projects turn around, because they were always been worked on, they could increase the number of projects they took on and were better able to scale their businesses.
The biggest challenge with hiring remotely across various time zones and cultures though is communication and establishing your company’s culture, which I’ve written about here
Cost-effective
Maybe you’re running out of space in your office and the cost of a bigger office space is not within your 5-year budget? Remote working can save your company money. Not only will it save on rental space, electricity and other office expenditure such as furniture. Research also shows that remote working models have a lower rate of absenteeism too. Although remote working is guaranteed to save your company money, you should also consider how you can build in attract perks for remote employees and factor in if you’ll arrange in-person team meetings as you scale.
Every business is different, and every business will have its own unique reasons for hiring remotely and because of that every business will benefit and be challenged in various ways with a remote model.
@shaunammoran