“Remote work is the future of work.” – Alexis Ohanian, Reddit
High-speed internet, portable machines, and project management tools have made it possible for anyone to hold down a full-time job from anywhere. While remote work might be new to some of us, more than 4.7 million people were already working from home before the COVID-19 pandemic.
In-office presence is great for collaboration, and team-building, however, Gitlab, Buffer, Zapier, and Knack are a few of many examples that show that companies don’t need a physical space to be successful. You can hire people sans geographical limitations, eliminate infrastructure costs, and more importantly, work with a team that’s not bogged down by the stress of a daily commute. At the end of the day, the focus shifts to doing good work and not on being in the same room together.
In this post, we will further explore the many benefits of investing in a remote, distributed team. But first, let’s quickly go over the basics.
What is a Remote Team?
A remote team is a group of employees that don’t occupy a traditional office workspace and instead, choose to work from the comfort of their home (or a beachfront, who knows!). As a result, they are not bound by the everyday hassle of “showing up” to work. They can easily use email, video conferencing, or other messaging applications to communicate with their team members and complete their tasks.
With remote teams quickly gaining popularity, a lot of companies have been considering going remote-first. If you’re considering something similar, take a look at the following ways you can benefit from it.
How can a remote team help you?
High productivity
When considering remote work, employers are often anxious about ensuring employee productivity more than anything else. There’s a perpetual concern that people will exploit the lack of constant supervision to goof around. A recent RescueTime survey might help put your worries to rest. After speaking to 500 employees, the company found that knowledge workers, software developers, and IT professionals across SMBs and enterprises are more productive when working from home. In fact, they spend almost 58% more hours on completing core work.
Remote workers are also 20% more likely to complete their daily tasks on most days, and are 17% more likely to log off of work “feeling accomplished about what they set out to do”.
Of course, as an employer, you can also take certain steps to keep tabs on the delivery pipeline without having to micromanage your employees.
“The best way to keep employees engaged is to frequently discuss the value of productivity and getting deep work accomplished through the day,” explains Nathan Olsen, CEO of Idaho-based Best Notes, “This has helped employees feel like their work was meaningful and have a sense of accomplishment.” He also recommends using task or project management apps like Trello to ensure company-wide transparency about who’s working on what.
Expansion of the Talent Pool
Imagine you’re hiring a graphic designer for your company. When scouting for candidates, or screening applications, you will give preference to people who are already in the same city as yours, or willing to relocate. Ultimately, you only have access to a very limited talent pool, and oftentimes, location can be a huge obstruction to hiring good employees.
In a remote team, you have people with different educational and professional backgrounds rallying behind your company’s vision. There’s also the diversity of thoughts, perspectives, opinions, and ideas—all of which are strongly influenced by one’s upbringing. Everyone brings a “slice of home” with them, and your company’s growth can tremendously benefit from all the unique strengths people have to offer.
As Stephane Kasriel (CEO, Upwork) rightly said—”Companies that refuse to support a remote workforce risk losing their best people and turning away tomorrow’s top talent.”
When you’re not worried about hiring within your zip code, you can finally dedicate more time, energy, and resources towards achieving your business goals.
More Cost-Efficient
People often underestimate how much setting up and maintaining a physical office cost. Apart from rental/mortgage expenses and utilities, an ergonomic workspace also demands proper furnishings.
According to Global Workplace Analytics, a company can save nearly $10,000 per year in real estate by working with full-time telecommuters. For example, Aetna, one of the largest American Insurance providers, saved $78 million in a year by offering flexible workspace and remote working options. It’s important to note that 47% of the company’s workforce logs in from home.
The cost-saving numbers also work the other way around. Inc. Magazine reported that remote workers save between $2,000 and $7,000 per year simply because they no longer have to spend money on the commute, fuel (applicable for vehicle owners), childcare, formalwear, or morning coffee/breakfast-runs.
Less Turnover
Remote work not only helps you attract ideal employees but also ensures that they continue to stay with your company for the foreseeable future. As a result, companies that allow remote work have 25% lower employee turnover as compared to the companies that don’t. The reason is simple: People don’t have to experience the burnout of everyday commute, administrative tasks, and trivial office-level conflicts. With lesser things on their plate to worry about, they can focus entirely on carrying out their work responsibilities.
Flexibility to work remotely also gives employees the leeway to figure out and stick to a schedule that works best for them (and, by extension, the company). This means they can make time for running errands, and spending time with family/friends while meeting deadlines. As a result, remote workers are more likely to have a better work-life balance than office-goers, which brings us to our next point.
Happier Employees
After commuting a long-distance and spending nine-to-five hours per day at the office, people often are too exhausted to tend to anything else. This leaves very little room for them to catch-up with friends/family, or even find time for themselves.
On the contrary, remote work empowers employees to have a life beyond work. With more time on their hands, they can pick a hobby, cook a nutritious meal, engage in personal relationships, and more importantly, take better care of their physical and mental self. No wonder, 86% of people feel that working remotely reduces stress.
Happier employees are the most valuable asset for any company. They are more likely to exceed expectations, achieve goals, and perform better than their unhappy counterparts.
In The End
If you’re considering building a remote team, we hope these pointers can convince you to go ahead. That being said, we understand that building a remote team can get overwhelming. So, TeemGeniei is here to help as your remote team partner. Know more at https://teemgenie.com/.