Top 5 reasons why remote working can benefit your design agency.
When starting up at Noise we decided to be a remote-first creative agency. As well as having all sorts of benefits for the sports and outdoor industry, operationally and culturally there are so many other reasons why smaller specialised design agencies can benefit from a remote team. Here is our top 5!
1) Building trust, makes for independent and collaborative work.
With the right remote setup, values, internal culture and solid processes, trust in each other and valuable collaboration becomes the default.
Being a small team, there isn’t much of a hierarchy at Noise. Each of us knows where we can go and who we can talk to if we have a problem, be it at work or personal, who to ask if we are blocked or who to reach out to for a morning coffee to get our creative juices flowing.
As cliché as it sounds, Noise really is a family. Despite many of us having never met each other, the internal culture of trust, respect and creativity allows us to slot in together, bounce off each other’s processes and ideas and create incredible work that we are all proud of!
It isn’t all about working alone in a cafe or co-working space, and it’s not about constantly praising each other’s work either. Each week we come together as a team for a ‘design critique.’ We share our work, open it up for creative and strategic debate and listen to each other’s thoughts, ideas and developments. Team work really does make the dream work!
We make sure to work with awesome people, use lightweight processes and tools that help us get stuff done. And most importantly, we work together for the same purpose — to build amazing products and user experiences that speak to everyone, everywhere to get more people to experience the world actively!
2) Lower overheads = more money for perks.
Let’s take a step away from the benefits of remote work for the individual and have a look at how remote work benefits the agency, brand or organisation. It doesn’t take a genius to see that a remote set up costs less for the organisation. No office, no commute, no heating or electricity bills. Remote work reduces overheads.
It’s up to your organisation how you spend that saving but here at Noise, it all goes back into employee happiness. Lower overheads for us means more money for perks, be it a money aside for everyone to buy a barista made coffee each day or cash towards a co-working space, or even budget towards our fitness goals or a gym membership.
Beanbags and free coffee machines can only get you so far, investing in true employee happiness and activities or initiatives that actually enrich employees lives will make for a happy and productive workforce!
3) Remote work can be more sustainable.
Remote working also has its benefits on the impact on the environment. In it’s most basic form, fewer commutes mean reduced greenhouse gasses and fossil fuels, and ultimately increased air quality. When working remotely we are more or less forced to share files with team members online which means less printing. Eating lunch at home also reduces the temptation for convenience food and drink, meaning less plastic consumption. Offices also tend to consume more energy; think about all those lights that stay on overnight across office buildings in the city! Arguably, people are less likely to act environmentally consciously when at the office as it’s not you that is paying the water or electricity bill.
4) Attract incredible talent.
Another organisational benefit to remote work is that we are able to attract incredible talent that isn’t bound by postcodes, the ability to travel to the office or even border control! At Noise we work across different time zones, borders and continents. It means we are always ‘on’ not only increasing our communication lines with our clients, but also enriching the talent pool we have on the team.
We would say this, but the Noise team really is the dream team. A pool of incredible talent across design, UX UI, brand strategy, brand design, animators, visual designers, marketing, sales and finance. Each member of the Noise team brings with them something special and different. A wealth of experience and knowledge from their different backgrounds or past work experiences. And if all else fails, at Noise, if we don’t have someone on our mega team that can do it, we can certainly find an epic freelancer who can — from anywhere in the world!
5) Employee retention. Happy employees stick around.
And finally, we have banged on about how we believe being a remote studio makes for happier employees for a number of reasons. And ultimately, happy employees means those employees are more likely to stick around!
Any business owner understands the importance of employee retention. A successful business needs consistency in all aspects of its business, employees included. Having a high retention rate means less time and resources are used in interviewing, onboarding, training new staff and having the loyalty needed to run a tight-knit team.
Finding employees that suit and match the team culture can also be a difficulty. Team culture is something super precious at Noise, and we take the time to cultivate and positively develop our relationships with each other and our work. It’s something inherent in the team members we employ, it’s what makes Noise studio truly special!
Noise Studio is an international creative agency working at the intersection of digital and branding. We create unexpected design solutions for some of the most exciting names in sports, outdoors and sustainability.
🖥️ www.noisestudio.co | 💌 hello@noisestudio.co
