Why you should start getting ready for remote hiring

During these times of the Covid pandemic, a lot of things have been written about “working from home” and best practices when it comes to this. Even though we have been introducing and warming this process up for years, with every company that we’ve worked with, this remote working thing is still a pretty “big deal” for a lot of managers.

However, this article is not about working from home. It’s about working from anywhere in the world. It’s not about temporarily working from your living room and hoping to get back in the office soon. It’s about hiring people to work with your company on the long term, in different time zones, different locations and different backgrounds and cultures.

We believe this is the future, and we want to give you some good reasons why.

Happy people, healthy people

Let’s start where everybody does: the positive factors for your employees.

Even though we don’t have the most long-term scientific research just yet, we do have some results from surveys that already show the positive influence that remote working has.

For instance a survey from Flexjobs found that 65% of the 7300+ respondents found more time to exercise each week. The same survey found that 80% of respondents felt they would be more loyal to their employer if they could have a flexible work schedule.

Additionally, a different survey found that 86% of people believed that remote working decreased their stress levels and 89% said they felt they could take better care of themselves. This could be due to multiple different factors: no more delays during commuting (so much extra time in your day!). More time to take your kids to school. The flexibility to go to a doctor when you need to. The ability to do some extra work on (or evening) that fits best into your weekly schedule. Remote work gives a bit of air to breathe when life is as hectic and crazy as it can get sometimes.

And just be clear: these numbers don’t necessarily reflect the sentiment during the coronavirus where families are forced to work, eat, and learn from the same kitchen table (which is definitely not a stress-reducing setup). Instead we are talking about a pandemic -ree world with endless possibilities.

Your office is easy to reach and totally free

Why? Because, you don’t have one!

When I look around me, during the times of Covid, the highest burdens in costs are offices and other kinds of workplaces/spaces. Even though an office can be a great place to be, we can probably all agree that this also often isn’t the case. It’s too cold, too hot, there are no parking spots or there are no good lunch places nearby. Plenty of reasons why this is not automatically the best place for anyone to work.

If you add up the costs that you pay for a nice, city-located office (because let’s face it, that is what you need if you want to attract high-class employees) and you combine this with other costs that come with “coming into the office,” you can conclude that this is a large part of where the monthly fixed costs are coming from. Still in doubt? Travel expenses, lunch, snacks, parking facilities, IT, cleanings services… and I’m pretty sure you can come up with more.

So remote working means saving money? Check!

Easy scalability and only hiring the best talent

When you are ready to scale and are looking for the best talent, remote teams don’t have to settle for “that person that is pretty good and lives in the same city.” You can go for the person that actually solves the problem that you have, anywhere in the world!

Think about it: with a location-based office, you are limiting your look for talent to one city. And if this city is Amsterdam, then you are also dealing with a lot of competitors that are doing the same. If you put it like that, it almost feels impossible that you are getting the most out of this hire, don’t you think?

Additionally, when you have a remote team you don’t need to look for a new office space before you can expand your team. And when you actually set up a remote work environment, things like on- and offboarding people are way less time consuming than face-to-face operations.

Less unscheduled absence - another money (and stress!) saver

Flu-season (we do have this every year in the Netherlands, it’s not just Covid-19), weather conditions, traffic, strikes in public transportation...the list goes on and on. There are so many reasons why valuable hours get lost, just by getting from one location to another. Or where month after month, people are making each other sick, one at a time. Totally unnecessary, when you think about it.

With remote work, you eliminate many of the obstructions employees face that can lead to lost hours. All your team needs to do is open up their computer and get started. There’s no time lost with a train delay or bad weather. You also limit the spread of sickness amongst your workforce: another added bonus!

Expanding perspective and around the clock service

By hiring people from different countries, cultures and times zones, you also have the availability of different perspectives. Think about all the advantages this has when you’re entering a different (international) market. Or when you just need another point of view on something—which is usually helpful!

Thinking differently can bring you to great places. But adding employees from different geographical locations and time zones also gives you the opportunity to offer 24-hour service to your customers. With the right CRM tools you can extend your customer service seamlessly to any place in the world, at any time, without the need of a second shift. These extended service hours are a huge advantage to the people that it’s all about: your customers.

Don’t discredit a remote workforce

Remote work does have its disadvantages. One major issue is the fact that it is harder for management to evaluate the work process of their team members. Let’s also not forget about the social factor that comes with an office. But the pandemic has proven that there are ways to overcome these challenges and create a great work environment with an entirely remote team.

Altogether, the advantages of hiring remote workers continue to grow. If you are a tech company and you operate online, these advantages far outweigh the downsides.

Need help setting up your company for a scalable remote process? At Scale Force Talent we specialise in helping small companies scale their workforces, both online and offline. Feel free to contact us today with any questions—we’re always happy to help.