The COVID-19 pandemic has been truly devastating for businesses of all sizes. Organisations are facing challenges that are completely unforeseen and unprecedented - so perhaps it is not surprising that many are struggling. But the truth is that just as with any else, businesses must go on, and must continue to look for solutions.
“Don’t let COVID-19 beat you into the ground and take your business,” says Dominic Monkhouse of Monkhouse & Company “instead, let it be an accelerator. Now is the time to pivot and re-evaluate to change into something better”.
If you can get into the mindset of COVID-19 being an opportunity rather than a challenge, there really is a huge range of possibilities. Perhaps one of the most exciting is the fact that the world is embracing remote working in a way that we have never seen before. It may be that now is the time to take advantage of this way of working.
Here we take a look at how you can make use of remote staff to grow your business.
Expertise from anywhere in the world
Perhaps one of the most important advantages of working with remote staff is the fact that you are opening up the available talent pool to your organisation. Modern businesses depend on the talents and skills of individuals, and if you are only hiring in your vicinity, you are limiting your access to potential key staff members.
Allowing staff to work remotely means that you can hire anyone, as long as they are able to carry out the work. This gives you greater possibilities in terms of hiring the staff that you need in order to grow your company.
More affordable
Sometimes it is not just about getting the right staff for your business - it is about doing it at the right price. Once again, limiting the area in which you search for staff can mean a shortage of people with that kind of expertise in the area. And naturally, in this scenario, this means that you will need to pay more for their talent.
It is the case that the majority of the expenses for any business come in the form of staff costs. So, prohibitively expensive staff can be a real challenge for business. But hiring remote staff can help to make employees more affordable. Remember that business that want to operate with remote staff are still in a minority so remote workers are often happy to sacrifice slightly more money for the greater freedom of working with a company that allows them to do their job remotely.
Keep your business costs down
Of course, it’s not just the cost of the employee that is expensive to your business. Having staff work at your premises necessities having that premises in the first place - another major cost to companies is their property. It may be the case that you need (or want) to have a small office presence, but that growth and hiring more staff would mean moving to a larger, more expensive premises.
In this example, growing your business with remote staff means that you can bring in the personnel that you need with having to invest in the other major expenses.
Greater productivity
It is always the case that you are going to get greater levels out of your employees when they are happy. Working remotely has long been recognised as something that a large number of employees desire and this is also something that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, as many people have enjoyed the benefits of working at home.
Providing staff with the working environment that they want can be a great thing for overall levels of productivity.
Focus on company culture
It is finally worth pointing out that one of the challenges in having a large number of remote staff comes in attempting to establish or maintain company culture. If you are going to grow your business, you need a strong company culture - so if you are employing remote staff this is an area that you need to focus on.
Ensure that remote staff properly integrate with the rest of your team and are treating in the same way as other members of staff. It can be a great idea to hold regular meetings using videoconferencing software.
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