For startups: 6 pros and cons of hiring remote tech teams
Hiring remote tech teams is serious business — and can mean the difference between beating the competition and being left behind in the dust. If you’re a startup founder looking into hiring remote tech teams for your company like we did, check out the pros and cons right here before making a decision. You’re welcome!
The upside of hiring remote tech teams
1. Larger talent pool = access to the best talent
Think of hiring remote tech teams like skipping the (global) queue to finding the most talented employees out there. You’re no longer limited to hiring within our sunny little island, which means your talent pool just got a huge upsize option. If you hire within the region like in Batam, you’re getting access to more talent while saving loads of money!
Without geographical restrictions and a need for employees to be physically present at your headquarter, you’re throwing all the old rules out the window. You could find an awesome full-stack developer in Europe to collaborate with your local engineers, or even a bunch of talented front-end developers around the region to build your product.
Hiring remote tech teams means your productivity will more than triple with the higher quality of talent you’re taking in. Why not?
2. The 24-hour time cycle
Hiring remote tech teams also means that your startup will be adopting a 24-hour time cycle approach to work. This is especially so if you hire remote talent from halfway across the world.
Your remote tech team will be able to respond quicker to emergencies this way, especially if the team is scattered across various regions in the world. For tech-related products, this is crucial, since bugs and errors in code show up regardless of what time it is. When trouble comes knocking, imagine being able to respond quickly, no matter what time it is!
This might sound like a mess waiting to happen, but with the right structure in place for your team members to effectively collaborate, you could be saving time and effort in your pursuit of productivity. Win-win!
3. Flexible hours for productivity
Hiring remote tech teams also opens up work hours for everyone. Not sticking to a 9-to-6 work schedule might sound like a nightmare to the average Singaporean, but this might be a good thing for your team. By allowing your remote workers to tailor their work hours according to what they want or need, there’s a chance productivity will soar.
Think about the night owl worker who produces his best work only after 9pm, their time. Instead of restricting him to working in the day, where he’s constantly thinking about doing espresso shots to stay awake or alert, you’ll be able to let him work peacefully in the night. In return, he’s going to wow you with what he’s come up with.
Your remote workers might have obligations to fulfil as well, such as taking care of their children or an ailing family member. Look away from the clock and trust your remote tech team — this flexibility will pay off in the end.
The downside of hiring remote tech teams
1. The loss of true bonding and friendships
Of course, since your remote team is scattered across the region (and the world), there will be a significant loss of bonding opportunities. Video calls might make it a little easier, but humans are naturally built to be social animals. Physical, face-to-face meetings will always be one step higher than virtual calls. Your remote employees might start to feel isolated and alone, even though they’re engaged in online meetings with each other day in, day out!
This also means that after-work activities will be carried out independently, and in private. No more happy hour outings or impromptu birthday celebrations! The most you’ll get is a flood of birthday cake emojis when the time comes.
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This is something that you, as a manager, will have to work around. How can you create a sustainable culture among your remote workers?
2. Dealing with timezones for meetings
Meetings won’t be easy to set up. Hiring remote tech teams means that a physical meeting space will not matter as much anymore. You’ll likely be cracking your head trying to fix a timeslot for your remote workers and finding the best possible hour in the day to conduct your weekly meeting.
If your remote tech team is located nearby in the region, this might not be such a huge problem. But if you’ve got employees in the United States or in Europe, you’re probably going to have a harder time (goodbye sleep!). If you’re intent on hiring remote tech teams, this is an obstacle you’ll need to anticipate, especially if your projects require close collaboration and regular meetings to keep everyone in the loop.
3. Communication will be put at risk
Speaking of keeping everyone in the loop, hiring remote tech teams will also open you up to the problem of communication overheads. If your company-wide messages are transmitted over tools like Slack, be sure to avoid letting your channels get flooded so people don’t miss important memos. More care will be needed to ensure that communication isn’t a messy, fuzzy thing, especially conducted virtually.
Put communication protocols in place, such as employees leaving emoji reactions to acknowledge that they’ve read something, and keep your various channels free of off-topic spam. Once a member of your team is left out of the loop, it might lead to time wastage and needless work being done (or not at all).
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Hiring remote tech teams is not for every startup founder out there. However, when done right and managed well, remote tech teams can propel your startup to the next level of success and productivity. With access to a larger talent pool, you’ll be spoiled for choice as you hire your next star developer or digital marketer. It depends on what you think your startup needs at the moment, and whether you’re able to find the talent you need here.
If you’re ready to take the leap and put together your own remote tech team, let us help you along. Easy breezy hiring!
