Category: Business and Beyond

What does the workplace of the future look like? It will very likely look like your living room, or the coffee shop around the corner, or that new co-working space downtown. That is to say, the way we work is becoming less office- or location-based and more flexible.

Recent trends in work habits and workers’ increasing dependence on cloud-based technology have influenced this shift toward remote work. Recent statistics reveal how widespread it has become and points to continued growth:

• As of 2012, one in five workers worldwide were telecommuting frequently. (Reuters)
• Work-life balance ranked as the #1 contributor to job satisfaction worldwide in 2016. (Indeed Hiring Lab)
• 50% of the U.S. workforce holds a job that’s at least partially compatible with remote work. (Global Workplace Analytics)
• Business executives at the 2014 Global Leadership Summit forecasted that half to three-quarters of their full-time employees would be working remotely by 2020. (London Business School)

Yet, changing decades of ingrained thinking and practice in hiring and collaboration can make for a difficult transition. But it’s one business need to consider.

Referring to the forecast of widespread remote work by 2020, Adam King, London Business School’s Director of Learning Solutions, Executive Education, commented on the changing attitudes toward traditional workplace policies:

“Technology and some fundamental shifts in management thinking are behind this response. Leaders are learning how to enable their teams to flourish, and there is a recognition that the notion of a traditional 9–5, Monday–Friday, commute-to-the-office job is quickly eroding.”

Businesses that don’t see that erosion coming might get stuck in the mud and left behind by their competitors. And while transitioning from a brick-and-mortar office to a virtual one might seem next to impossible, it’s been done—and very successfully—by companies who see the future of work coming and want to be ready for it.

The complexities and costs of running an office—paying for property and equipment, dealing with weather and commuting problems, finding great employees who live in the area or relocating new hires—are more of a burden than you might realize. And many businesses are discovering the advantages of a location-independent structure, a choice that benefits both companies as a whole as well as individual employees.

David Hansson (co-founder and CEO of Basecamp, a fully remote company) sums it up well in an interview for a documentary on digital nomads:

“All the savings you can have on offices and so forth, that’s been one of the big drivers for other big companies like IBM, that’s downsized their offices because they let people work from home. [but] the big deal is that the quality of life for someone who gets to control their own workday, control their own work location, is immense. They become far better workers because they become happier human beings.”

So maybe you’ve seen competitors implementing work-from-home policies or have current employees asking about flexible work options. Perhaps some staff have even left for other companies that, as the New York Times article “Rethinking the Work-Life Equation” puts it, treat flexibility as “a default mode rather than a privilege.” You might even recognize the benefits of these kinds of policies but aren’t sure if they’re right for your company. If you’re on the fence, compare your situation to these clues that indicate a switch to a partial or fully remote structure could work for you.

Some employees already successfully work from home or out of the office.

Maybe your business already allows some flex time or has a work-from-home policy for when staff can’t make it into the office. This means that there are already some practices in place—how these people communicate and collaborate with colleagues, for instance—that could be expanded and refined to work on a larger scale.

Most work gets done online / in the cloud.

Particularly for companies that employ knowledge workers, most tasks can be done on a computer or phone. Web apps, cloud-based technology, and other tools of the modern workplace—from Slack and Skype to Google Apps and Dropbox—make exchanging information instant and effortless. What this really means is that the work can be done anywhere—or at least anywhere with an Internet connection.

Business is growing or space is limited.

Real estate—and related costs like utilities, maintenance, and equipment—are expensive. And many startups and other growing businesses will get to a point where their initial investment in office space starts to feel a little cramped. In that case, the most efficient and immediate solution isn’t to open another location, but to shift some (or all) staff to remote work, or at least offer the ability to work remotely. Employees have the option to come into the office or work from home depending on their preferences, while companies have the flexibility to scale their workforce up or down as needed without complication.

Competitors are embracing remote or flexible work models.

Have any of your competitors rolling out remote work or flex time policies? Then it may be time to follow suit. If a distributed model can work in your industry (and if your employees sit at desks working on computers all day, it most certainly can) then your competitors are already reaping the benefits. And given the choice, a prospective employee (or even a forward-thinking client) might just choose them over you.

Employees are asking for more flexibility.

If more flexibility is something employees already want, they’ll be much more motivated to have patience through the transition and work through any bumps in the road as your company figures out what kind of policies and practices work best. This will make things easier for everyone.

Keep in mind, if this is something you’re hearing often and don’t do anything about it (or at least start a discussion about possible changes), then you risk losing valued employees to a company that better aligns with their professional and personal goals.

It’s difficult to find qualified talent to fill open positions.

You’ve just sat through your third interview this week with a candidate you figured out was a bad match in the first five minutes. Why doesn’t anyone seem to have the skills and abilities you’re looking for? Could be that you’re looking in the wrong place—or not enough places. Access global talent through Remote Staff.

Narrowly defined boundaries in your hiring search—say, looking for software developers only in the biggest tech hub in your region—seriously limits your access to the best talent. Remote work goes both ways: individuals have the flexibility to decide where they want to work, but businesses also have the benefit of not being constrained by location or relocation costs. If you find your perfect candidate halfway around the world, there’s no barrier to bringing that person onto your team.

Office distractions and unproductive meetings are a problem.

Maybe your company fell for the myth of the productivity-boosting open office layout, and now employees complain of not being able to hear themselves think. Or maybe you’ve walked out of one too many meetings wondering, Did we actually accomplish anything here?

Despite decades of ingrained thinking to the contrary, co-located office spaces aren’t necessarily the places where workers are at their most productive. Office distractions can be relentless—in fact, interruptions (and the time it takes to re-focus) can consume nearly 30% of the average worker’s day. And according to a FlexJobs survey, a whopping 93% of professionals say they would choose a work location other than the office if they needed to be at their most productive on important projects.

A distributed team model offers a simple solution: give employees the choice to determine where they work—whether that’s at home, at a coffee shop or library, in a co-working space, or back at the company office. Though any location will come with its own distractions, having control over your own work environment can drive significant personal productivity gains.

Existing technology usage and communication practices would support remote collaboration.

Is your team on top of their tech game—chatting on Skype, sharing files in the cloud, having video meetings with clients or out-of-office colleagues? Then you already have a great framework in place to support remote communication and collaboration.

In fact, if these kinds of practices are common within your company, then you’re basically operating as a remote team would already. Simply expanding these web-based processes and workflows and making them standard operating procedures would enable an easy transition to remote work.

Your company culture tends toward independence and flexibility.

Independent, self-motivated people who are flexible and adaptable are the kind of employees who make the best remote workers. If you have these types of people on your team, who perform well without constant supervision, a remote work policy might be a win-win situation for your company—a welcome change for industrious team members and a boost for your business’s bottom line.

On the other hand, if staff need significant guidance and supervision, the transition might be more difficult, yet still doable with the right kind of training and preparation, plus clear standards in place around communication and collaboration and the technology used for it.

The typical 9-to-5 workday with its boardroom manipulations, extended meeting, and restricted cubicles is fast morphing into a flexible working arrangement where productivity and efficiency are the only office etiquette employers are demanding. Add to this freedom some interesting by-products; Creativity and Innovation, and we have ourselves a winner. Remote working is no longer an exception to the rule, it is fast becoming the rule for any modern workplace to attract and retain quality talent.

What started as a practical choice for low-earning freelancers is rapidly becoming a conscious choice for skilled and educated professionals from all walks of life and age groups. Not only the millennial workforce but even the baby boomers are happily embracing this brave new lifestyle.

Choosing the right recruitment function is an integral part of owning a business. Working with the right recruitment partner has many benefits and opens up a variety of potential candidates that offer nothing but the best for a thriving business!

There are tons of recruitment firms around, but how will you make sure that you’re working with the right one?

Here are 6 Questions to ask your possible recruitment partner:

Do you know what kind of candidates we are specifically searching for?

One way to test their compatibility to work with is that if they take the time to learn about your company and analyse what kind of applicants are fit to work for you. They should be able to understand your company and its environment, and as you also should with them. You should be able to do your part for them. Explain to them how the industry works and give them all the relevant information that they need. But, if they’re not interested in finding out about this information at all and just give out whatever candidates they find? That’s some serious business. You should be able to catch if they’re willing to give you their best efforts in seeking what you need. Otherwise, they might not be for you.

What is your process in finding applicants?

They should have an appealing and feasible process and they should be able to consistently follow through with it. To note if they’re knowledgeable about their process is if they are able to comprehensively walk and talk you through it, as well as asking for your input for any improvisations to let you help them decide how things will go. They should also be able to convince you and make you trust the process.

What are your plans for executing the process?

If they are able to present you an elaborate and well thought out explanation of the process, they should be able to know its purpose and execute it with ease. Good planning is crucial to make sure everything is in tip-top shape. You can’t go out on a battle without a sword. You, along with your recruitment partner, must always be prepared for future situations that might hinder the execution of the process. There should be preparations from, not only their part, but it is expected from you as well. There’s no such thing as winging it out!

Do you have other projects that you are currently focusing on?

Your recruitment partner will also be busy. They might not be able to consistently help you out through the recruitment process. It is important to know the status of their workload because, fun fact, waiting is not always good. You can wait a lifetime for somebody but does not apply to everything. That’s a completely different story. If your recruitment partner is busy with projects that they did way before yours, it is a possibility that the recruitment process will be pushed through and not follow the desired time limit.

How will we make sure that communication between us will be strong and consistent?

Communication is important between you and your recruitment partner. It is something that you should maintain and prioritize with them. Miscommunication is hard to undo, what’s worse is, there’s no undo button at all! The entire process will suffer if there’s any miscommunication between you and your partner. It is important for you to share information with them and give your thoughts and opinions. I assure you, it doesn’t hurt to let them know about your concerns.

How long will the recruitment process take?

It’s never a good idea to have this search take ages. You and your recruitment partner’s goal should be having all the positions filled quickly, but let’s be honest, that seems like pie in the sky. Even though the desired speed was not achieved, never forget to acknowledge their efforts in searching for the best candidates for you. The search won’t be easy and it will definitely won’t be as quick as the speed of light, but you have to take into consideration all of the things and the procedures everything needs to go through.

And there you have it!

There might be more questions along the way as the recruitment process goes on, but for now, here are six questions to ask your possible recruitment partner.

Remote jobs are increasingly appealing. The prospect of working from home and effectively removing the need to commute is very attractive. Studies have shown that remote workers are happier, more engaged, and more productive when compared to their in-house counterparts.

However, this also has its downsides. The same study mentioned earlier also shows that 27% of remote workers have difficulties when working due to the fact that they are not in the same place as their team members. Of course, due to being separated from the rest of your team means that remote workers have a lower quality of relationships with their coworkers. There are many factors that influence and could affect the remote working experience.

Like any workforce, remote working brings its own set of challenges when it comes to keeping in touch with your employees. As such, there are many things to consider when hiring, and keeping a healthy working relationship, remotely.

Trust

When you hire someone, that usually means that they’ve met your expectations and requirements, and that you have gotten a feel for their personality; if they are the type to take a task head-on when assigned to them, or if they are the type to wait for feedback before progressing on a project. Remote work brings with it a level of ambiguity, someone is working on a project, that you have assigned to them, from their home, and the idea of a person taking advantage of this ambiguity is not far from the minds of employers. However, when assigning tasks to remote workers, it is important to have a certain level of trust with them. When you choose your team, it is crucial that you have enough trust in them to get work done. Of course, your guidance and direction are necessary for much larger and more significant tasks.

Trust is a key point in building and maintaining a good working relationship with your remote workers. As an employee, knowing that your employer or supervisor trusts you to accomplish a task can be a big boost in morale.

Communication

When the person you work with isn’t in the same room as you, and only reachable through messages and calls, good communication is essential. Oftentimes it is easier to discuss ideas in person rather than through screens because we can gauge others’ reactions and custom fit the conversation for others to better understand our point. This factor works hand-in-hand with the technology available, with capabilities like instant messaging and video chat, expediting the need to check up on team members’ desks and calling for meetings to just pinging the chat, and ringing for a video conference.

This being said, communication can make or break a remote team. The possibility of a member who lives in a different time zone can make scheduling meetings quite tricky. Keeping your team members in the loop and involved in the project is vital to the success of remote work.

Technology

Working with people from another country on a day-to-day basis would be impossible without access to today’s technology. Imagine relying on mail to collaborate with someone who might be halfway across the world, either nothing would be accomplished, or both of you would create wildly different things than discussed.

It is today’s technology that makes remote work possible, and it would be a gargantuan misstep if you did not take advantage of the various technologies to ease the communication process between people living in different countries. The addition of applications such as the RSSC system also greatly assists in keeping track of team members’ progress throughout the day. Now with applications offering the ability to contact one another in a select group, or to host a group video chat, granting the ability for more in-depth conversations as most human communication relies on facial expression and body language to convey reactions.

These factors have a huge effect on the success of remote staffing, they are also an integral part of why remote work is even feasible. The combination of today’s technology with age-old business practices and cultures makes remote work, not only appealing, not just beneficial to both employees and employers, but lasting.

The demand for remote workers or online employees is growing year after year after year. Now is a time for these dynamic, versatile employees who live miles away from where their employers are to shine and make a difference. Globally speaking, there are thousands of people in the talent pool who you can actually hire. The skills and knowledge possessed by the online working industry don’t end in virtually assisting clients or creating content but it encompasses a huge variety of more complex jobs like bookkeeping and web development.

With a lot of hiring platforms available in the industrial market, it’s easier for employers to hire someone for a certain job specification. However, if you are a client, you need to know exactly how to make remote hiring work for you, and more often than not, you can do this more effectively by finding the right staffing partner to help you place professionals who are dedicated and passionate about their work.

In this guide, you will get a hint of how to find quality candidates who can get the job done efficiently and effectively.

Let’s start!

Show your possible employees that you care by communicating effectively. The secret to hiring online workers who will actually get the job done is by following practices that will likely increase your chances of finding the perfect hires. To do this, you must explicitly describe what you want your future possible employees to do. You must be clear about what skills they need to have, what kind of job should they be expected to do and how much are you willing to compensate them.

Spare yourself from the hassle of explaining what you need for future employees because we will do that for you, as long as you brief us about what you need. We practice effective communication so we will make remote staffing work for you.

Set clear expectations even before your remote staff starts working. There is a huge possibility that your new remote staff would be doing well in the beginning but would gradually slip from the quality of his or her work, making you think are not working out. Well, the answer lies in setting clear expectations from the start and our team of expert recruiters will do that for you. We can tell your remote staff in a clear and simple way, every single detail of what is expected of them. We will set their expectations that they will be working with our RSSC system, a tool that monitors remote workers’ productivity, attendance, and the like so that you get complete transparency of what your remote working is doing during the day.

Follow up frequently and provide the training that your remote staff needs. It’s always a great idea to check on your workers consistently, but since we understand that you have more important business matters to consider, we will do the checking for you. Our Relationship Managers are there to support you in dealing with cultural differences, attendance issues, and making sure there is a good working relationship between your staff and yourself.

And lastly,

Provide helpful feedback. Paying your remote staff isn’t enough. You must also check on them from time to time so you build trust leading to a long working relationship. Our Relationship Managers can help you relay your feedback to your remote staff employee and give them your evaluation of their work. Your hires deserve to know where they stand in the company and they also deserve managers that would listen to their thoughts, good or bad, so that they can manage and think of ways on how to improve in their work.

Remember, the keys to hiring and keeping remote staff relies heavily on how you manage them.

Your business is growing fast. You’ve been achieving milestones and it crosses your mind to consider hiring a remote staff to help you manage things. There are actually tell-tale signs that you need an extra pair of hands to work for you, but you just aren’t sure if a remote employee is a good investment.

As a business owner or manager, you know your business better than anyone else and you are the only person who knows what you need. The mere fact that you are reading this article means that there is a high possibility that at the end of this, you will be ready to make your first remote work hire or maybe, add more people to your team of amazing online workers.

But first, you need to check if several signs are already present in your company to help you decide. These signs are not cast in stone and may vary from a company to another. However, do know that a remote staff is really someone who can add value to your business, no matter how small or big you are.

You see a decrease in your employees’ productivity.

Are deadlines not being met? Are there piling complaints from customers? Are the numbers of unfinished tasks outnumbering the number of tasks that need to be done? If the answers are yes, you should consider hiring remote staff now. According to research led by the University of Cardiff, the remote staff has much higher work ethics compared to those who are physically in offices.

This may be because of the fear of looking lazy, or the lack of distracting chatter across the desk. According to the latest figures, more than 1.2 million people in Australia are happier working from home. This translates to more productivity because another study from the University of Kent stated that happy employees are more productive than those who dread going to work everyday.

You do not have time for your core business needs.

Does it seem like there’s no end to emails, irritating phone calls, one meeting after another, and exhausting appointments? As a business owner or manager, you need to attend to all these things so that you can help your thriving business but you see, these mundane tasks can take up so much of your energy and time, making you lose the enthusiasm to do other more important matters for your business, or exhausting yourself to your limits just so you can accomplish everything.

Remote staff can help you take that burden off your shoulders and make your life way easier than it is right now. Remote staff can answer all those pending and incoming emails. They will notify you if something important comes up. They can answer phone calls and set appointments too, while you take all the time you need to focus on more important matters like expansions and growth.

You are stuck in focusing on survival vs. growth.

Remote staff will help you thrive and not just survive. Having an extra pair of hands can help your business grow in small and big ways. If you think you need someone to rely on, and someone who will look at your business like it’s their own, you should consider hiring someone from a reputable remote recruitment agency like Remote Staff. Survival in the business industry is a phase that doesn’t die out, as long as you wish to continue your venture, you should think of ways on how to survive and thrive. Remote staff can help you thrive in many ways.

Your office is becoming too crowded and you cannot afford to expand.

Growing a business means growing the number of employees too, and an expansion in office space might cost you more so if you’re expanding, you should consider hiring a remote staff who can work across the globe but still help your business grow. A remote staff is a wise investment as this person will do the same work as your local employee while cutting the cost of wages and office rent. It doesn’t matter where you are or where your employee is. What matters is that you both understand each other’s needs and will work hand-in-hand to make a business a success.

Hiring a Remote Worker may seem like a strange choice at first compared to the tried and tested routine of hiring local staff. But hiring remote staff or giving pre-existing employees the ability to work from home or away from the office brings many benefits. Having your business web-enabled and allowing your remote workers to check in at regular intervals is all that is necessary to claim these benefits.

Best of all, one does not need to run the entire business online to claim the benefits of having remote workers.

Some of the benefits of hiring remote workers include:

Reduced Paper Waste

The first obvious benefit is the reduction of paper waste due to most correspondence being sent through digital means. Cutting down on paper waste not only helps increase the efficiency of organizing documents but also helps save money.

The lack of any physical files means that communicating documents is instantaneous, and does not incur postage or printing costs. This is hammered home by the fact that most people have smartphones, giving them instant access to emails.

The reduction of paper wastage also benefits the environment. Going paperless help reduce the number of trees which need to be cut and processed in order to make paper, in addition to reducing energy consumption, a business would use less energy when various printers, fax machines, and copiers are inactive.

Cost Savings

The money which would be spent on Real Estate and the subsequent utility bills such as water, power, and maintenance would be largely reduced. Having employees work from home or away from an office would drastically reduce the number of unscheduled absences, either due to sickness or troublesome weather.

The business is not alone in saving money, with the rise of gas prices and subsequently the prices for public transportation, coming and going to work is becoming more expensive. In a survey conducted by ConnectSolutions, the average remote worker said they saved approximately $4,600 per year by working from home.

Commute-related Stress Is Eliminated

Not only would the business benefit from having remote workers, but the workers themselves benefit from working at home. A study conducted in Sweden discovered that a commute that is longer than 45 minutes for just one partner in marriage increases the likelihood of the couple divorcing by 40%.

This also opens doors for potentially great employees who happen to be too far to commute or live in another country. This works especially well if you would want top-notch talent but the budgets won’t cover it properly, then you may be able to find an employee overseas with exactly what you’re looking for who is willing to work at a lower cost.

Not only would the bottom line of your business improve, so would the happiness of your employees. Happier employees are more productive, saving time, and getting more done with the extra time.

Reduced Employee Turnover

Estimates show that in order to replace an employee who makes $50,000 per year will cost your business 20% of their salary. Jobs that require high levels of training and education will have greatly increased turnover costs. Thus, many companies are using remote work in the form of a perk to retain their best talent.

Losing an employee usually disrupts productivity, according to the Reference for Business website. Once a replacement employee is hired, they will require weeks or possibly months of training before they can produce at the level of the former employee. These setbacks in time and productivity can be avoided by keeping the more experienced employee.

When you take in that 95% of employers say that remote work has a high impact on employee retention, it is no surprise that two-thirds of employees would migrate to another job to ease their commute, modernizing an old company or starting a new one with remote work taken into account is definitely a step in the right direction for both the company and the employee.

Your business needs to keep up with the ever-changing pace of modern life because if it does not, it’s only a matter of time before your competition will overtake you.

Technology is one of the most important changes you will notice in the entrepreneurial world.

Technology plays a huge part in global modernization. What used to be hardly accessible can now be easily reached through clicks and taps. You do not have to go to the mall to shop. You do not have to go to school to learn. All these can now be done through interconnected networks or more popularly known as the Internet. Actually, you can do relatively anything online now. That doesn’t exempt doing business.

According to an article written by ICT Pulse, the continuous evolution of technology is changing the way we do business, the dynamics of the workplace, and what we perceive is possible. The article also states that the business world is often hit especially hard by technological changes because this can result in the complete renovation of a process or even an entire industry.

One of those changes brought about by technology is remote staffing. Online remote staffing is a trend a huge number of firms, organizations, and companies from all over the world are following today. Remote staffing actually is enlisted in “Fox Business’ 4 Talent Acquisition Trends A Company Should Not Ignore”. According to this article, online staffing companies are leveraging technology to disrupt the traditional staffing model. Unlike staffing firms, these companies deliver talent through marketplace transactions. These Web-based platforms let individuals buy and sell various services and provide those individuals with features that enable online project engagement and self-service options (e.g., billing, rating, scoping, and feedback).

Remote staffing has changed the way business tycoons play the game. Employees do not need physical interaction with companies in order for them to get hired, and companies in return need not invest too much time and effort in screening potential candidates to fill in a job vacancy. Over the last few years, the emergence of remote workers has changed the way a lot of companies are recruiting and hiring their employees. They get hassle-free recruitment solutions from reliable remote staffing partners like Remote Staff.

Over the last 20 years, technology had been rapidly changing and these changes affect the processes in the workplace. It made work easier and faster. Moreover, the continuous evolution of technology and modernization is transforming the way industries are doing business. It has impacted them in many different ways which are proven to improve business logistics and landscapes. While there may be tension between traditional work ethics versus modern professional practices, it is very evident that technology has immensely improved the global business landscape.

And presented below are ways on how this landscape had been changed by finding and offering jobs online.

Employee Management

One of the best thing about remote staffing are online timesheets. Your remote staff logs in to a platform that accurately measures the number of hours they worked on a daily basis. Online Timesheets allow you to view when your staff logs in, take lunch, take breaks, and log out. The timesheets are automatically linked to staff payroll and client invoices.

CBS News states that beyond the platforms and software your company uses, you need to continually research the newest tools for the sake of efficiency and collaboration — often to keep up with what your savvier team members are already using. Maybe they use IM all day long and you like the phone. Yes, you call the shots but ask yourself what will make your people most productive and satisfied.

Cost Management

Increasing competition may require any company to streamline their operational costs and resorting to remote staffing online is one of the most cost-efficient ways on how to do that. With Remote Staff, we provide flexible payments with fair pricing for business owners to choose from, allowing them to control their expenses without compromising the kind of employee they let in their company. We even cater to your office solution needs and provide you with a more affordable alternative to housing your employees in an office in your country.

Research from Network World from IDG states that it costs between $10,000 and $20,000 per year to house an employee in an office in a major metropolitan area and between $6,000 and $10,000 to do so in a smaller city. Moving employees out of headquarters and into remote or home offices can save companies millions of dollars per year. And keep in mind, these numbers dwarf the cost of IT support for these employees.

Time Management

Offering an online job to offshore staff gives business owners a huge sense of time management. They will not have to waste their time looking for potential candidates as reliable third-party service providers like Remote Staff can do that for them. More so, the support system doesn’t end there. They are also guided through billing, payments, and staff monitoring.

For specific sorts of organizations and employment obligations, remote staffing can be a successful instrument for enhancing company productivity. In the first place, these remote laborers more often than not have similar capabilities as their office-based counterparts, however, their finance costs are not as big. Research shows that remote staff are similarly as committed – and potentially much more beneficial than your local office-based employees.

These are a few of the many ways how remote staffing helped changed the global business landscape for the better. And you’ll have to experience it for yourself. Build relationships that matter from the Philippines and request a callback from us today. We will help you steer your business to the path of growth.