In any industry, certain buzzwords seem to come and fade away. However, there is one exception that stands the test of time – the trend of remote work, which exceeds the bounds of all industries.
When you mean REMOTE WORK – you should not ask ‘IF’, better ask ‘HOW’.
Since the late 90’s with the development of technology and increased mobility, remote work has become more common. In nearly every corner of the world, both employers and employees got used to enjoying a brand new approach to work.
36% of American workers and 25% of European admitted they work remotely at least once a week.
Not surprisingly the phenomenon of remote work remains on the radar of managers, wondering if this solution might work for them.
⇨ Did you know? Although we believe the idea of remote work has been popularized by millennials, in fact, the word “telecommuting” (also known as “telework” or “working remotely”) first appeared in 1972 and referred to working remotely from space. Click here to read more.
The idea of managing remote teams can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. If you arm yourself with the right tools, mindset, and employees, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about.
Consider the following benefits of remote work option for your employees:
1. ACCESS TO GLOBAL TALENT POOL
Need Scala Developer with Apache Spark experience? Need DevOps who’s worked on Kubernetes? Need Java Developer with knowledge of microservices?
When you agree on remote work your talent pool will no longer be dependent on the geographic location of your office.
If you are looking for the best employee it doesn’t matter where you find them. With this attitude, you will find your perfect match the first time and reduce the risk of finding a bad fit or losing your candidate due to a required relocation. What’s more, finding an employee whose expertise perfectly matches your expectations will only help them perform better. A true win/win.
2. IT IS ALREADY GOING ON
Note, that tasks that might well be done remotely are already performed by many of us. In particular, the IT industry has acquired online task management tools like Jira, Github, and Asana very smoothly.
A lot of employees are used to bringing their work home with them: picking up calls when commuting, answering emails after hours, working before going to work. These all make us work 24h per day.
Our never-off model of working expresses our will to work remotely.
3. HEALTHIER EMPLOYEES = HAPPIER EMPLOYEES
Adhering to a rigid schedule is not only stressful but also impossible for many people. Either you are morning type or a night owl, you can get sick, or simply had to take care of kids in the morning or pick them up. They’re all facts of life and employees who have the freedom to work as per their own schedule are happier. Reduced stress and susceptibility to illnesses plus access to better food options right at home are all contributing factors that make remote employees healthier.
Remote work definitely offers more flexibility, lower expenses (commuting costs), better childcare options and much more free time. Not surprisingly, more than 80% of US employees confirm they would like to work remotely at least part-time.
4. BETTER COMMUNICATION CHANNELS
Absolutely in any work environment, a major concern for leaders considering remote workers is the challenge of communication. However, the good news is that remote work requires impeccable communication from all parties. There is no room for offhand conversations.
With the growth of the cloud industry, services like Slack and Google Docs have taken work outside the office. They can track progress and conversation, attribute comments and also deliver feedback with far better efficiency. These tools keep information more effectively than we can.
Employees not being physically together, tend to rely more on both incoming and outgoing communication. It helps them to get to an efficient and productive level of projects.
5. THIS IS HOW PEOPLE WANT TO WORK
Bear it in mind that 68% of millennials who make up more than half the workforce say they want to work remotely. Remote work is one of the main factors affecting their interest in an employer. The trend of remote work is something you will sooner or later have to face.
6. TRY IT OUT STEP BY STEP
You don’t have to start with 100% remote workforce at once. You’ll need to be able to identify when someone is ideal for a remote opportunity, and when someone simply won’t cut it.
It takes a lot of behind-the-scenes work to teach your remote employees best practices so they remain efficient, focused and active. Things can fall apart quickly if just one or two remote workers are flaky, especially if they’re responsible for a majority of the work.
Start by asking interested employees and understand their motivations. You will see that even one remote day per week can affect employees’ happiness and retention. Furthermore, you might well consider opening up a new fully remote role.
Successful remote teams are different because they are more personal, connected and organized. Even after you find the right employees, you need to build a strong culture and understand how to bring your employees together, even when they are hundreds — if not thousands — of miles apart. In return, you will get lower operating costs, more effective workers and cheaper tools to get the work done.
As for employees, remote work means for them an improved quality of life, increased productivity, and better job satisfaction.
Employees are embracing the remote culture and you can’t afford to ignore it.
Learn more on how to build a successful and booming remote work environment ➩ drop us a message at projects@javashop.pl.