In today’s increasingly tech savvy world, businesses are toying with the idea of saving as much operational cost as possible by investing in hiring virtual employees, giving employees an option to work from home, and giving them laptops. Many companies have shifted their focus from their employee’s commuting issues to their connectivity, or their ability to work from a home.
The benefits of having an online workforce are massive when it comes to cost. Freelance work is booming as the operational cost comes to zero. If you able to build a system where your team of virtual employees can handle a wide range of business needs including technical projects, you can then focus on the growth of your company and not bother with its daily maintenance.
Should You Hire Virtual Employees ?
If you’re seriously considering the option of bringing virtual employees onboard, you must weigh the pros and cons for it. Think about the direction and growth plan of your business and how will you manage a team of virtual employees? Are you prepared to get your work done through employees you will never meet in person? Some of them must be in other countries altogether.
These elements can be either good or bad depending on how you take it. If you’re not sure, here’s a list of pros and cons that you should ponder before making this decision:
Advantages to Hiring Virtual Employees:
Costs:
Cost plays an important part in the process as hiring from developing countries can drastically lower your operational expenses which you can use in other areas of the business. Though you can hire local employees as well to work for you remotely, the choice is entirely yours. You can tie up with a contractor to provide you workers as per the skill required. However, in both cases, you save on operational, equipment and space.
Skill set access:
Beyond the potential cost savings, remote workers may also give you access to skill sets that aren’t available easily in your area. If you aren’t knowledgeable about a subject which can help you grow your business, you don’t have to spend time learning it. Rather hire remote workers to work on your projects and grow your business. Stick to what you know, and let your network of virtual employees work on your projects.
Also, if you live in a rural community, where finding new skills is difficult, hiring remotely enables you to find the right people for your needs irrespective of the location.
Time utilization:
For most professionals, time difference works to their advantage. By the time they send their work request to the remote workers, they can have it completed by the international worker by the time they wake-up in the morning. This routine if managed correctly, remote workers in different time zones can maximize your productivity and keep you updated for the day ahead without disturbing your convenience. Although remote workers would be working during your night time, they are available for support even during your daytime for any support required.
Disadvantages to Working with Remote Staff Members:
Language barriers:
Communication could be challenging if you hire remote workers for whom your native language is a second language. Discussing projects plans and instructions could be the possible areas where you might face language issues. Although employees in India are well-versed in English and most of them have been to the US and other foreign countries and understand the accent used.
Internet-based Miscommunication:
Even if your virtual employees speak perfect, fluent English, there’s bound to be issues with working remotely which comes in form of email communication. Face-to-face interactions give you a chance to clarify doubts and be on the same page before you begin work. However, when all your communications occur via email Web chat, chances of miscommunication increase manifold.
Turnover and training time:
Understand that you may find dedicated remote employees who are looking for a long-term association with you, there are many who are only interested in short-term work. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing (depending on your company’s needs), you may find the turnover and training cost go up in this case.
However, WebBee Global works differently and invests in training its employees before placing them on your project. These remote employees work as dedicatedly as full-time employees and are fully associated with the project till the end.
While we take care of all the shortcomings of hiring virtual employees, we also invest in their training and ensure that our clients get the best results by hiring virtual workers from us.
