Hiring a remote workforce has always been a matter of raging debate, with many in favor and against it. Some people believe remote working is a boon of the Covid-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, they cannot be more mistaken. The concept of remote workers existed long before the pandemic, albeit with some amount of fear. The Covid-19 crisis has only helped fuel its growth worldwide.
Arguments Against Hiring a Remote Workforce
Those against the idea feel remote workers are less productive because they are easily distracted and delay work. We don’t blame them entirely. A study conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2019 concluded that only 24% of employees completed some or all tasks while working from home. The same shot up to 82% when working from the office.
Another study conducted in 2012 revealed that employees working on tedious, repetitive, and non-creative jobs are less productive working from home as they tend to get bored. It also explained how an organization would underperform if employees worked remotely because everyone would only like to put in as much effort as the other.
Another recent study showed how employees who worked for 8 hours or more a day from home tend to become 70% less productive in the long run.
Arguments in Support of Hiring a Remote Workforce
The studies quoted above certainly add steam to the arguments of those against the idea of hiring a remote workforce. But things have steadily changed since 2012. Technological advancements and improvements in remote working software have helped remote workers increase productivity and deliver outstanding results at reduced turnaround times. Employees reveal working from home allows them to be more productive as it means spending less time on gossip, water-cooler chats, office celebrations, and ad hoc meetings.
Mark Zuckerberg once said that he liked working from home as it gives him more time to spend with family and space for long-term thinking, making him happier and more productive. He even went on to add that he would be working remotely for at least six months a year and plans to make 50% of Facebook’s workforce fully remote within the next ten years.
The Implications
Do not make the mistake of taking Mark Zuckerberg’s comments as an exception. What he said reflects the growing popularity of remote working that has had many leading organizations like Facebook take drastic measures to implement it successfully. Fortunately for them, the Covid-19 crisis helped fasten the transition.
Yes, organizations did face some challenges initially. Installing the required tools and working out ways to measure productivity did take some time. But once everything fell into place, companies realized they stood to gain enormously from having a remote workforce. And it is precisely what we will explore in this post, the benefits of having a remote workforce. Let’s get going.
A Remote Workforce Surely Leads to Better Outcomes
The paragraph headline might make you think we are being biased. With all due respect, we are not. The benefits of recruiting and maintaining a remote workforce have been recognized worldwide by several leading organizations. All we are doing is relay them to you, our esteemed readers. Here’s presenting a list of the top 7 benefits that highlight why recruiting a remote workforce leads to better outcomes.
1. Centralized and Efficient Communication
Instead of sending individual emails and storing information in separate folders, a remote workforce allows organizations to save all critical data and files in a commonly accessible place. It not only saves time and valuable space but also helps keep track of projects in real-time.
2. Increased Productivity and Performance
A recent study shows that employees who telecommute are 35-40% more productive as they are less likely to be caught up in traffic jams and unnecessary distractions at work. The same study also revealed that because remote employees enjoy greater freedom because of location independence, they are likely to make 40% fewer mistakes than their colleagues at work.
3. Improvement in Employee Health and Wellness
Working remotely allows employees to set their own routine, spend quality time with their families, devote more time to their hobbies, and lower stress levels by avoiding office politics. All the factors listed above translate into happy and satisfied employees. For a business, happy and satisfied employees translate into lower absenteeism, increased productivity, and ultimately, more delighted customers and clients.
4. High Engagement and Retention Rates
Two of the most prominent challenges organizations face are keeping employees engaged and preventing them from leaving. Employees may become disengaged and resign for various reasons like not getting enough time to spend with their families, lack of flexibility, change of location, etc. Hiring a remote workforce allows organizations to address all the above issues, ultimately helping them keep employees engaged, motivated, and, more importantly, invested in the business.
5. Build a Diverse Talent Pool
When companies hire for a typical office job, they have to restrict themselves to hiring local talent, which, more often than not, is not the best they could get. A remote workforce allows organizations to hire employees with the required skills, attitude, and experience best-suited for them from varied geographic, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds, sometimes extending beyond the realms of a country or even a continent.
6. Lower Operating Costs
Perhaps the most significant advantage hiring a remote workforce offers is substantial cost savings. By hiring remote employees, companies can save enormous amounts of money incurred on transportation, office supplies & rent, furniture, water & electricity bills, and team-building events. According to a study, an organization, on average, stands to save $11,000 per year per remote employee. And it does not require a genius to figure out what these cost savings ultimately mean for a business; higher profitability.
7. Positive Environmental Impact
One of the primary social responsibilities of any business is to reduce the impact of its operations on the environment. By hiring a remote workforce, organizations ensure there are fewer vehicles on the road and less consumption of paper, water, and energy. These factors ultimately help reduce greenhouse emissions and improve air and water quality.
Final Thoughts
While the pandemic may have fuelled its growth worldwide, it is not the only reason to recruit a remote workforce. Working from home does provide plenty of beneficial outcomes, both for the employers and the employees. Yes, a remote workforce does raise some challenges in terms of cybersecurity, communication, and onboarding new hires, but the benefits of remote working more than make up for these issues. With the work from home concept here to stay, companies would be well advised to make it indispensable to their long-term organizational strategies.
About Ufinity Ventures
Ufinity Ventures provides talent management and business development solutions for SMEs & startups looking to outsource operations to Asia. Be it pre-hire services or post-hire assistance, we offer end-to-end solutions and work as an extended team for our broad global clientele base, thereby helping them save time and costs while enabling them to gain access to the best local talent.
