The СOVID-19 pandemic has made companies throughout the world rethink how they operate, turning remote work from an emerging trend to nearly a necessity. We at Placesetters helped the most innovative businesses to build distributed teams last year and examined this process from the inside. Based on our experience, this article will explain why you should start hiring remote employees if you haven't done it yet.

To grow your talent pool

Whether your company is located in Silicon Valley with its high competition and cost of living, or in a small city in Eastern Europe with its lack of high-skilled IT specialists, or somewhere "in-between", it doesn't matter when you go remote. By removing the geographical limits, you gain access to the most talented professionals around the globe. It proved to be especially useful if you need someone proficient in a niche or a cutting-edge technology. Why stop yourself from making your team stronger only because the candidates don't want to relocate or abandon their work-from-home flexibility?

To have more productive employees

Remote workers demonstrate a significantly higher level of productivity than on-site ones and here's why — freedom. It might sound counterintuitive to you but if employees become able to сhoose where, when and how to do their job, they do it better. No need of spending hours on commuting, no constant distractions by colleagues, no procrastination caused by the commitment to sit through a 9-to-5. By giving your employees an opportunity to complete their daily tasks in a favorite coffee shop or on a jungle resort in Bali during their most focused hours, you would receive a powerful team satisfied with their work-life balance and willing to put more meaningful efforts into their job.

To increase diversity in your team

The most obvious type of diversity that you can improve by going remote and hiring people out of your area is an ethnic one. However, there's more to it than that. Working from home makes it easier to include members of marginalized and under-represented societies who often find the office environment stressful and suffer from microaggressions. While for some of your team remote work would become just a useful benefit, there are talented professionals out there for whom it might be the deciding factor in accepting a job offer. For instance, parents of young children or people with disabilities.

To save money

We all know how costly and time-consuming the process of a candidate's relocation can be, given work visa expenses, endless immigration policy changes and other legal issues. But your company's spending doesn't end there. After getting a newcomer to your country, you have to provide them with some office space, computing equipment, Internet connection, furniture, refreshments, covering of commutes, etc. Hiring remote engineers or developers lets you remove all these expenses and redirect saved money to serve other needs of your team, for example, a salary increase.

To have a round-the-clock team

With employees living in different time zones you can develop an overlapping work schedule that would allow your business to become a dynamic non-stop mechanism. A round-the-clock team responds more effectively to a company's challenges such as end-users' complaints or pressing deadlines and maintains continuous development processes. This type of work structure requires excellent internal communication so adding some new time zones to your corporate calendar can be a long-awaited push to rethink and improve the way your employees communicate with each other.

To boost your employee retention rate

Work/life mindsets are rapidly changing and it's hard for companies to keep up with these transformations. Especially when it comes to Millennial employees who tend to change a job every 2-3 years and stay open to new opportunities. One of the most helpful ways to retain young talents longer is to let them work remotely which would satisfy their need for maximum flexibility and an independent lifestyle. No doubt, they will pay you back with loyalty, more high-quality work, and new ideas to the table.

To remain competitive in the market

Indeed, the future is remote. It isn't a pandemic invention or a temporary trend. The shift towards distanced working has been stewing for the last ten years and COVID-19 just triggered the massive expansion of it. The most important reason why businesses create remote teams is their craving for the highest efficiency at minimal cost and without considerable delays in hiring processes. This need will only increase over time so if you don't want your company to be left behind, you should try to build a remote presence and make the most out of it.

Not sure where to start? We will help you unlock the power of remote work with a fast, hassle-free, and affordable hiring solution.