In the past, businesses and employers had preconceived notions about employing remotely. But these perceptions were changed with the forced implementation of working remotely with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Organizations have come to a realization now that employees are more productive working remotely and exceed their deliverables in a remote model.
Let us quickly jump on to understanding the advantages of having a remote team, as cited by respected brands and enterprises, especially working greatly in favor of SMEs. We have sourced articles from reputed business articles like Hubspot, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, KPMG case study, Indeed, and Business Standard magazine. We have also cited some examples and case studies conducted by companies like Hubspot, Gitlab, Atlassian, and Ring Central. This comprehensive information will help you in materializing your global expansion plans.
Companies emphasizing on a remote team:
As a business owner, you no longer need to dwell on thoughts like ‘Is the team actually working? How do I ensure they will complete the allocated tasks for the day or project for the assigned period?’ There are a number of collaborative tools for remote teams that can be used by your company to keep a track of their work and to monitor their operations as well. All you need to do is put the in-house IT wizards to suggest the best collaborative tools and platforms that work best for your remote team model.
Let’s take the example of the company Hubspot, which emphasizes- work being a part of your identity and has little relevance with an office setting you go to. Hubspot has been promoting the advantages of remote working since 2012 by quoting: ‘Work isn’t a place we go, but it’s a thing we do” in its Culture Code template. A slide deck that was initially an internal document has now been made available for public viewership and the presentation has gracefully embraced over 5 million views.
Various other top-notch companies are promoting remote working as well. Be it Airbnb, Capita plc, Hubspot, Quora, Reddit, Shopify, or Upwork, these names are among the top 25 companies encouraging permanent work-from-home possibilities according to a survey conducted by Flexjobs.
What happens when you encourage working remotely?
It offers flexibility to the employees of your company. It creates a healthy working environment for them and a good space of mind. Whether it’s in the comforts of their homes or having the privilege of working from anywhere, it makes them feel way more productive and ultimately results in employee retention.
This in turn is extremely beneficial for small and medium-sized businesses looking out for remote employees for their business expansion plans, particularly in India as it reduces cost operations to a great extent.
There are a number of advantages of having a remote team, let us take a quick look at what the industry experts and popular business articles have to say about the same:
- Flexibility
An interesting piece published in Forbes throws light on offering flexibility. The piece talks about a company’s approach to managing remote teams focusing on building remote culture, the right state of mind, and not just extending the liberty of having a convenient remote location.
However, while extending flexibility, a few checklists have to be ticked- like carefully planning out and managing asynchronous communication. Also, considering the availability of employees unanimously. Emails, intranets, instant messaging apps, and video calling software, should be used to ensure that communication is carried out appropriately among the employees and that the message or instructions are delivered correctly without missing out on many contexts.
Most relevantly, keeping the employees’ motivation levels in check by staying connected through Slack or Zoom apps. It is important to give them the privilege of exercising autonomy and experiencing flexibility, which will only create a happy organizational culture.
As an SME business owner, focusing on flexibility will help you source more productivity from your employees. Especially from the new generation – 76% of millennials, 69% of GenZ, and 64% of Gen X expect flexibility. Furthermore, an Atlassian study published in Forbes showcases a team is 71% more innovative, 83% have a positive look on the organizational culture, and comparatively 14% experience burnout compared to people having no flexibility.
- Productivity
Ring Central, earlier known as Ring Zero systems, now Motorolla, believes remote working enhances productivity. They believe remote work benefits companies as it springs out more loyalty from the employees. Eliminating obligations or hassles like traveling to work, unnecessary distractions from co-workers, and uncomfortable office settings from the employees’ professional lives make them perform and focus better.
Another survey conducted by Harvard Business Review found that when employees worked in a remote model, they contributed extraordinarily. They performed in ways that their deliverables could be measured up to an extra day of work. An observational study cited by the founder of Ctrip company, a Chinese travel website found that the employees seemed happier, were less likely to quit and most importantly were more productive.
Eliminating all these obligations from your remote employees’ work profile will give your company and business an edge to make the most of their time, i.e productivity.
- Giving autonomy to employees means ensuring business continuity
What happens when you hire a remote team disregarding geographical barriers? It broadens the possibilities of having people working for your business irrespective of the need of having an office space that demands their physical presence. It de-risks your business, ensures continuous business operations, and gives access to a larger talent pool by giving them autonomy as well.
Gitlab Inc. the open-core company has been remote since its inception. Considered the first Ukrainian unicorn in 2018, it holds an estimated 30 million registered users strength over 65 countries. It is considered the largest all-remote company in the world and is centered around remote working. Gitlab believes in giving employees the freedom to work from anywhere which in turn creates an all-inclusive work environment. Gitlab is a perfect example of ensuring business continuity by implementing the remote work model since its inception. They believe in giving employees autonomy for ensuring business continuity and success.
Probably as an SME business owner, you may not favor the concept of going all-out remote but you can definitely dedicate a section of your workforce to remote model working to make the most of the global talent pool and ensure business continuity irrespective of the time zones.
- Profitability
Mandatory renting or leasing of commercial property in order to run a business has become a thing of the past. You can simply achieve profitability by hiring an excellent remote team from anywhere in the world. This will minimize your expenditure on office spaces, supplies, energy bills, and travel allowances. It will save operational costs according to an article published by WBM.DIRECT.CA, a Western Canadian Information technology leader.
Dell was one of the first to play with the idea of remote working and practice it too. The policies were implemented first in 2016 which landed them saving 12 million dollars every year when it came to real estate.
According to Indeed, businesses can save up to 50% on operational costs from a remote working model. Most importantly working with a remote workforce results in reducing 31% in expenditure on health insurance. It leaves no room for obligations like worrying about renting parking spaces for their vehicles, you can save a lot on your balance sheet because you are eliminating the entire travel allowance from the salary structure. Additional expenses like providing stationary, like cooling machines, printers, lights, etc will be taken off the hook too.
A study conducted by KPMG cites that 68% of corporations especially the larger ones are planning on downsizing their company footprinting.
- Access to a larger talent pool
Ultimately having a remote team gives you the advantage of having an access to international talent. It gives you an opportunity to tap into a larger pool of talent irrespective of geographical barriers. Be it a web developer or IT engineer, your city or region won’t limit you from sourcing the best-skilled professional for your remote team. Forbes highlights that 55% of knowledge workers would choose to work remotely rather than from their office location and live in an area other than their office location according to Atlassian.
India’s IT industry has grown significantly by contributing 8% of India’s GDP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced Nasscom’s Future Skills platform to upskill 40 lakh IT employees and job seekers in eight emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data analytics, virtual reality, Internet of things, robotics process automation, social and mobile.
An article published in the business standard magazine quotes Rishad Premji, Chairman of IT services firm Wipro emphasizing companies coming to India for its quality talent, skilled young workers, and engineers in the digital economy and how Covid-19 showcased work can be done remotely and at scale.
By sourcing a targeted pool of talent from India, your SME will have the opportunity to make the most of a skilled workforce.
Remunance- a gateway in making the most of the remote teams
Our teams of HR and recruitment professionals at Remunance leave no stone unturned to resource the best talent pool from your remote team. We understand the role a team plays in building your business and we ensure we create the right foundation for it.
What is employer of record?
An Employer of Record provides services such as HR, legal, taxes, and local compliance and takes care of employee responsibilities in countries where you don’t have a local entity.
At Remunance, we pick the right fit, and as a reputed Employer of Record, we create the perfect remote working model for your remote workforce by extending a unique basket of business setup services in India that include payroll, compliance, and infrastructure support. All you need to do is specify what kind of skill, knowledge, and experience your SME requires, and leave all the paperwork and local laws adherence of your employees to your legal employer in India.
