For the first six years, we ran our company out of offices. We’ve experienced everything you could out of an office, from expanding into bigger spaces, growing the team, launching products, hitting milestones, etc. For the past two years, we decided to make the drastic switch and ditch the office to become a fully remote company. After comparing the two experiences, I can confidently say that there are clear overall company benefits of working remote. Although everything about working remotely is not positive, the benefits certainly outweigh the drawbacks by a wide margin, in my opinion.
A lot of what you read about working remotely is geared towards the individual’s experiences. There are definitely a lot of personal advantages of working remote, but in this article, I will explore the benefits to the company itself.
Here are 5 of the clear-cut company benefits of working remote
- Bigger hiring pool globally
Being a remote company, you’re not restricted to hiring people from a particular vicinity or regional area. Instead, your talent pool opens up globally. You can literally interview candidates for any position, all over the world. I’ve personally screened candidates from every single corner of the globe, which is such an eye-opening experience. What I’ve learned is that there is so much incredible talent out there, and the world is definitely shrinking year by year. Since you can hire globally, it substantially increases your probability of finding high-quality candidates, in comparison to hiring locally.
- More diversity = creativity
Currently, our team is comprised of 17 people in eight different countries. As you might imagine, the differences amongst us in culture, language and upbringings, is enormous. However, when you can combine the differences amongst people, and bring them all together, it leads to amazing creativity. The unique insights and experiences that everyone has, is so beneficial to the company, and can lead to some incredible ideas and solutions to better provide value to your clients.
- Employee attraction and retention
Including “remote” in a job title is very enticing to many people. Each time I post a new job, I probably get double or triple the amount of candidates applying, simply because it’s a remote position. Most people have depictions of working remotely, as travelling all the time, being on the beach, and working in boutique little coffee shops. Although technically possible, that couldn’t be further from the truth in reality. It definitely takes a certain type of individual to work remotely successfully. It requires someone with defined character traits such as self-motivation, self-drive and determination. Although the vast majority of people who apply to remote jobs are simply not cut-out to work remotely and don’t understand what it takes, the ones who do, are golden. The individuals who understand the benefits will really appreciate the uniqueness of it, and are way more likely to stick around for a long time. Increasing employee retention means that management can utilize their time of other productive activities, rather than hiring and onboarding, which is very time-consuming and resource-draining, especially if you’re bootstrapped.
- Less stress = higher productivity
The little benefits such as not having to commute to and from work every day (usually in traffic), alleviates so much personal stress. Saving about 1.5 to 2 hours per day on commuting can do so much good to your personal life. You can use that time on your kids and family, not have to rush on breakfast and dinner, pick up your kids from school, attend your appointments, etc. The list goes on and on. These personal benefits equate to more happiness and less stress in your team’s personal life, and ultimately higher productivity at work. An overall win-win.
- Money saving
This is an obvious benefit. Office expenses definitely add up. There are many more expenses aside from the rent itself. You have to consider utilities, maintenance, restocking supplies, furniture, cleaning, etc. These are all added costs the company can save and reinvest into more money- making resources.
Working remotely certainly doesn’t come without its challenges. However, if you’re in the unique position to be able to grow a company remotely, and have figured out what it takes to be successful, the benefits are tremendous.
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