4 Reasons Why Leaders Should Consider A Remote Workforce
Workforce trends come and go. Today, upskilling to retain employees, integrating artificial intelligence into the workplace, and prioritizing mental wellness are all popular business strategies.
There is one trend in particular more companies should take seriously, and I’m confident it’s more than a passing fad — and that’s a remote workforce.
My own company has been remote since its inception, and it’s worked great for us so far. The vast majority of my employees prefer the flexibility that comes with being remote.
I’ve found that they are more productive, happier, and able to maintain good connections with their co-workers and employees.
While it may not be the ideal solution for everyone, especially in industries like manufacturing or lab science where employees need to physically be in one place, many businesses in the digital age can benefit from a remote structure.
Here’s why a decentralized workforce works:
1. You can find the right people for the job wherever they are.
The biggest advantage with having a remote workforce is that you can vastly expand your recruitment horizon.
Say you’re located in a small rural town, where there aren’t many colleges and universities. In a more traditional office structure, your applicant pool is vastly limited. But if you decide to hire a remote workforce, you suddenly have access to the best applicants, wherever they are. You can hire a software engineer located in Silicon Valley and a web designer in New York City.
Networking websites like LinkedIn are great resources for finding the most qualified applicants to suit your company’s needs. If you’re having trouble finding a marketing manager or software engineer locally, you can simply enter in those names and thousands of names pop up — from all over the world. In fact, the first software engineers my company worked with were based in Ukraine.
By making use of technology, you can open yourself up to hiring the best employees for your company — no matter where they are — rather than closing yourself off to those who are simply nearby.
2. Your employees will have a better work-life balance.
One of the biggest benefits of a remote workforce, particularly from the employee’s perspective, is an improved work-life balance.
When your employees are squeezing social, familial, and personal obligations into the limited hours they have outside of the office, they become stressed and unhappy.
But remote employees can take their children to ballet class in the middle of the day, then come home and finish their work while the kids are in bed. A flexible schedule allows employees to go to the grocery store, the gym, or the hairdresser during off-hours, when things are less crowded and hectic. They can then return to work with increased energy, which benefits everyone.
Remote workers who aren’t chained to an office desk from nine to five can intersperse their work throughout the day in a way that make the most sense given their unique schedules, physical needs, and relationships.
Your employees will feel grateful for a job that respects their time, which will in turn make them feel more loyal to you and your company.
3. A flexible work environment means fewer distractions and increased productivity.
There’s a pervasive myth that being in the physical office space means employees are working harder or more productively. And it’s simply untrue.
Just because an employee shows up at the office for a certain number of hours doesn’t mean he or she is actually working during those hours.
In reality, your employees’ presence in an office is unrelated to how much work they’re getting done. It simply means they’re there.
What’s more, offices can be extremely distracting. There are always people talking on the phone, having meetings, or gossiping. Offices are filled with drama and interpersonal conflict, which can take people away from more important tasks and waste everyone’s time.
Remote workers, by contrast, can control their environment to maximize productivity. As long as they’re doing the work assigned to them, it shouldn’t really matter where or when they do it.
4. You discover new ways to collaborate and foster community.
While there are benefits to face-to-face collaboration, technology enables us to mimic in-person communication with remote workforces. I’ve found that if you take it seriously, you can collaborate effectively even when you aren’t in the same room.
With tools like Slack, Skype, and Zoom, it’s easy to communicate often. When you take advantage of these tools, it doesn’t even feel like your employees are working remotely.
At Ximble, for example, I hold regular all-hands meetings via video conferencing, which allows for some face time with co-workers. I use these meetings to keep my team-members in the loop about important company happenings and ensure everyone feels connected to one another and to the company vision.
And, to prevent my remote workers from feeling isolated, I encourage them to get out of the house and work from coffee shops or co-working spaces.
The change of scenery can improve mood and productivity and one can feel a sense of community by being around other people.
If the idea of a totally remote workforce still seems strange, consider allowing your employees two or three work-from-home days each week. You might be surprised to find that your employees are getting just as much done at home as they were at the office.
