Intro
Hiring remotely is a great strategic decision. It’s important to note that being remote is not all or nothing. You could have only some specialist positions remote (like Dell), only some teams remote (like Amazon, Adobe), or you could have the whole organization remote (like Zapier, InVision, Trello). Moreover, remote doesn’t (necessarily) mean hiring people from other countries/time zones or having flexible working hours (find here a definition of remote work).
Remote is such a natural choice that probably you already work remotely without realizing it. Have you worked while being away from the office? Have you worked with, for example, your company’s lawyer on the same project while being in different buildings for most of the time? If you answered with yes, go ahead and add that “remote work” skill to your LinkedIn account.
But now you’re hiring and you need to choose: stick with traditional hiring, or explore remote hiring. After reading this article, you will know why so many companies are switching to hiring remotely.
Access much bigger pool of talent
The #1 reason why companies go remote is to be location independent. The difference between hiring only from your local area versus hiring globally is incredible. Instead of waiting for weeks to get job candidates, you would easily get 100+ candidates for every opening. Not only that, but the quality of your hires be much better. What are the chances that the best person for the job lives in your city?
Improve productivity
Contrary to the typical guess – researchers find repeatedly that remote workers are more productive than their office counterparts. For example, Professor Nicholas Bloom from Stanford University reports that remote workers are 13% more productive, plus they work 9.5% longer. If you think about it, it does make sense. Not restricting your employees to work from the office can only be good for productivity (as long as you hire reliable people).
Lower salary expenses
The #2 most popular reason for hiring remotely is the considerable savings. For example, a company based in the United Kingdom wants to hire a Senior Java Developer in Eastern Europe
- The median salary in the UK is $67,115.
- The median salary in Ukraine is $37,425.
- The median salary in Poland is $37,274.
- The median salary in Russia is $27,998.
Therefore, by hiring remotely the company can save up to 58% from its salary expenses. Note also that the developers from Ukraine, Poland and Russia tend to be better programmers (HackerRank’s world ranks are #11, #3, #2 versus #29 for UK and #28 US).
If you want to find out how much you can save by hiring remote developers – this is the article for you.
Lower overhead expenses
Another source of savings is the lower overhead expenses. When your team doesn’t work from the office – you can have considerable savings. The annual cost of a serviced office in London starts at $7,140/employee and goes up to $23,820/employee. Even if your employees are based in the same city, you can achieve those savings by switching to hiring remotely.
Happier, more engaged employees
Remote work is not only good for the business, it’s also good for the employees. Remote work possibility is consistently ranked as one of the most desirable employee benefits. There are many reasons, as our blog post on the topic reviews. Studies report that the employees who work remotely are:
- Happier (State of Remote Work)
- More engaged and committed (HBR)
- Stay at their job longer (State of Remote Work)
The experience of Dell with hiring remotely confirms:
“Our employees who indicate that they have flexibility in their current roles have a higher eNPS [Employee Net Promoter Score]. What is good for the employees can also be good for business.”
Jennifer Newbill, Director of Global Employment Brand at Dell
