Building a team in a traditional office environment is expensive, particularly if you are located in a big city where office space is scarce or incredibly expensive.
When starting a business, keeping overheads low is vitally important. One way to lower office and admin costs is to base the business at home and work with other self-motivated individuals who work remotely. Additionally, if you choose to work with freelancers rather than employees, you may also avoid some complex employment regulations and have access to talent you may otherwise not have been able to employ.
According to a survey by Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2016, 22% of employed people in the United States did some or all of their work remotely. We’ve compiled four key reasons why remote employees are an excellent choice for startups.
Consider The Cost Savings
Working with remote employees can save the high costs, both short and long-term, associated with operating physical offices. This is especially true if you’re based in a city where labor is expensive. A business could potentially save up to $20,000 a year for just one remote worker.
Not having a physical workplace means that you also eliminate expenses such as rent, office supplies and the cost of many employee benefits. Startups can utilize these budget savings to invest in other activities that directly contribute to growth.
For some job roles, hiring remote workers means you can employ people from other countries where labor is cheaper. This means you get all of the skills at a fraction of the cost. This is often particularly true when hiring SEO, web design or call center professionals.
Access to Diverse Talent Pools
Finding the best talent is a major challenge for employers. Hiring remotely increases the size of your talent pool because you are in a position to hire people located anywhere around the world. When searching for a talent, you aren’t limited to a particular radius around your office any longer. Many companies spend thousands of dollars recruiting for the best skills in their area. If they can’t find them within their designated radius, they’ll even spend more money on relocating the best talent and their families. Hiring remote staff allows you to get the best talent anywhere on earth which contributes to an increase in your startup’s valuation.
Additionally, remote workers often have global experience. Their expertise is built on working with different companies from around the world. This means they can bring diverse skills and knowledge of best practice to your startup.
Improve Productivity
Working from home makes people happier and more productive in their work. There are countless reasons behind this theory – no more commute expenses, no more wasted time stuck in traffic, remote workers get more time to spend with family, extra flexibility and the fact that they can create the working environment they want. A Stanford survey revealed that call center workers working from home outperformed their coworkers in the office because they took less sick leave and shorter breaks. The study also showed that home-based employees had higher levels of happiness and tended to stick with the company longer. Employee retention will ultimately save you money in the medium to long term.
Remote work offers other lifestyle advantages including flexibility with child care, work out routines and improved work-life balance.
Maximum Efficiency for Your Business
Building a team of employees who work in different locations introduces diversity into the company. This is helpful when needing unique answers to problems and is especially handy when trying to focus your business on a broader audience.
Having people working from different time zones means that your business can be up and running at any time. Someone will be able to respond to customer inquiries or complaints, update social media, and address anything else that crops up at any time of the day. With your team working around the clock, the productivity of your business never stops and you could be getting ahead of your competition literally while they sleep.
In Summary
Remote employees can have lots of benefits for your startup. You can access new talent, save money and improve the productivity of the business.
With these helpful points in mind, startups anywhere in the world can build remote teams that can help their business to soar to the next level.
About the author: Jock Purtle is the founder and the CEO of Digital Exits, an online brokerage service. He is an industry leader and expert in website brokerage and valuations of high growth internet companies. He’s been featured and quoted in publications such as CNBC, Forbes, Business Insider, and Entrepreneur. Connect with Jock on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Image: Pixabay
