Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, more people have shifted to working from home. At first, this shift away from the office was meant to be temporary. But as businesses and workers got used to the idea that work could be anywhere, many people decided to quit their traditional corporate jobs and find positions offering the flexibility of working remotely. We think it’s time for your company to make the shift to remote work, and here’s why:
1. Reduce your Costs!
The most obvious reason to let employees work from home–or from wherever–is that it saves money. Not having people come to the office means that your organization can start to rethink how work happens, and start saving on things like rent for a traditional office environment. It also means you could pay less for utilities, furniture, office supplies, and even free food and coffee. While offering remote work doesn’t mean you can reduce salaries, experience shows us that you’ll likely see employees be more productive, and even take fewer sick leaves. To leverage your savings and increase employee satisfaction, you should consider covering some of your employees’ remote work expenses. Why? Because it’s worth it!
2. Hire Anywhere
Many companies find it difficult to find quality talent. When you decide to go remote, you have access a wider candidate pool that isn’t limited to your city, state or even to the country where you live. This depth will be more valuable to your organization as it grows, since you may find that the talent pool in your city just isn’t big enough.
And you can go further. Foreign hires bring incredible potential to the workplace, if only because having a diverse team is good for business. Traditional companies often tend to hire people who think and act in pretty much the same way. Bringing together people of different backgrounds, cultures, religions and lifestyles adds new perspectives to your company, and can help your brand go further by enabling more creative solutions to business problems.
We would be lying if we didn’t mention that there’s an important feel-good factor in this too. When you hire remote employees, and are open to diversity, you can give people who might be overlooked for a traditional office job. These could be working moms, or people with disabilities. If you go this way, remember to set up some support for them. Again, we think you’ll find it’s worth it!
3. Improve Employee Engagement
According to researchers, remote workers are more engaged than in-office employees. Lots of people enjoy virtual employment opportunities because it may mean less commuting, or because it helps people spend more time with family and friends. And of course, people can wear what they want! All this brings benefits to your organization, because engaged employees tend to work harder, are more motivated, and have fewer absences.
4. Boost Individual Productivity
In-office employees are exposed to daily distractions like last-minute meetings or chats with colleagues. Remote employees who have a distraction-free workspace don’t face those challenges. In fact, the home office can be the perfect place to concentrate and perform at high levels. This may be even more accelerated by flexible work arrangements, where virtual personnel choose a schedule that suits them best. Since 9 to 5 isn’t optimal for everyone, working from home can allow people to work at night or in the early morning, whenever they feel most productive.
5. Better Work-Life Balance
Happy employees perform better, which helps your company thrive. When you offer flexible work conditions, including remote work, you are also providing your employees with a better work-life balance. This can include simple things, such as eliminating the need to commute. Or it can mean that people in your organization can do things like attend their children’s special events. This can help avoid employee dissatisfaction, and even prevent burnout among your top staff.
On top of that, remote employees can choose to live in less expensive, greener areas away from the stress and high living costs of metropolitan cities. This can positively affect their physical, mental and emotional health, while reducing their environmental footprint and contributing to a greener environment.
6. Reduce Employee Turnover
Employee turnover is costly for a company because it requires an investment of time and money to train new hires. According to some estimates, replacing an employee costs anywhere between 16% to 213% of an annual salary. Obviously, this will depend on the role, and can range from simple jobs to executive positions.
Employees with flexible work conditions have fewer reasons to consider leaving a job, especially when it means they might end up in a more traditional work environment. Obviously, there are trade-offs to consider. People need to be satisfied with things like salaries, career advancement, and so on. But for many people, work flexibility is a key value. This is especially true when it comes to Gen Z and millennials, who are usually searching for the best work-from-home jobs and want more say on when, how, and where they work.
How to Hire Remote Employees
Are you convinced? You should be. As you can see, there are many benefits to hiring remotely. Not only does it reduce your overhead and foster a more diverse workplace environment, but it also improves your employees’ work-life balance, which helps reduces turnover.
The internet makes hiring remote employees easy. Mark the location of any job you advertise as remote, conduct video interviews and add a job trial period to assess whether the candidate can carry out the job. You’ll probably find that your new remote employee will integrate well into your team and fit into your company culture. Like any new business reality, it can take a bit of getting used to, but we think it won’t take long for you to enjoy managing your team from home.
