Understanding the Concept of Remote Work
Remote work is a type of work arrangement where employees perform their tasks and various other job responsibilities in a non-traditional office setting (i.e., outside of a traditional office).
In a typical remote work arrangement, there’s no need to commute to a designated workplace or, in the case of hybrid work arrangements (which we’ll talk about down below), commuting is limited to just a couple of days a week.
Remote work is mostly managed and made possible through the use of various work software, digital communication tools, project management software, time-tracking apps, and similar. These types of solutions allow remote employees to perform their work, finish their tasks, and stay in contact with their co-workers, managers, and clients.
Types of Remote Work
Remote work can be systematized into several broad and loose categories, such as:
1. Freelancers and Independent Contractors
Both freelancers and independent contractors can work in a remote work environment as long as their jobs and services fit within a remote landscape. Freelancers and contractors usually have more flexible work hours, are more frequently hired on a per-project basis, and often work for several clients at a time.
2. Work From Home (WFH) or Fully-Remote Work
In this type of work arrangement, employees work remotely on a full-time basis. The company that employs them usually doesn’t have a physical office space. These types of remote employees perform all of their tasks and other work obligations from a remote work setting (e.g., home office, co-working space, coffee shop, library, etc.)
3. Hybrid Remote Work (WFH + In-office)
Hybrid remote work allows employees to split their work days between remote and regular office settings. In conversation with their managers or team leads, employees enter an arrangement in which they agree to work remotely for a specific number of days per week or month (e.g., they can work two days per week remotely and three days at the office).
4. Flexible Remote Work
Flexible remote work arrangement allows employees to pick whether they want to work remotely without consulting their company’s higher-ups. This means that employees have the freedom to choose the days when they’ll work in person and the days they’ll work remotely. Additionally, they have the option to work either fully remotely or fully in person.
Pros and Cons of Remote Work
Just like regular in-person office work, remote work comes with its own set of positives and negatives for both employers and employees. Let’s have a look.
Pros and Cons of Remote Work for Employees
Pros
- More job opportunities – Many remote positions are available to candidates from all around the world, regardless of their country of residence. Employees are no longer limited to working for companies based in their city or country, thus expanding their career prospects and widening the range of job opportunities.
- Increased work flexibility – Remote employees, in a lot of cases, have more control over their work schedules and can choose their work hours as they see fit. This type of work flexibility has been shown to have a positive impact on remote workers’ productivity and overall well-being.
- Improved job satisfaction and productivity – Many aspects of remote work, such as flexibility, increased autonomy, and time saved on commuting, have been associated with increased levels of job satisfaction. All of that combined can have an impact on remote employees’ job motivation and overall engagement levels with the company they work for.
- No daily commute to the office – Remote work completely removes the daily office commute from the employees’ work schedule. This helps remote workers save both time and a good amount of money they would otherwise spend on gas or bus/metro fares. Additionally, avoiding heavy traffic or traffic jams can significantly reduce stress levels, potentially leading to an increase in remote employees’ morale and work efficacy.
Cons
- Blurred lines between work and personal life – Working remotely, especially from the comfort of one’s home, can be tempting. At the same time, the lack of boundaries between work and personal spaces can make it harder for employees to disconnect from work. This can cause or worsen burnout and lead to a poor work-life balance. Trying out various time management strategies and using time tracking can prove helpful.
- Loneliness or social isolation – Some studies suggest that remote work can cause feelings of loneliness and social isolation. The general lack of social and in-person interactions can negatively impact the mental health and work engagement levels of some remote workers, which is why they’re encouraged by their workplace to engage in online communication via different digital platforms.
- Communication and collaboration between remote teams – Maintaining communication channels and properly collaborating with other members of a specific remote team can prove challenging. Luckily, thanks to all the tech solutions we have today, many of these problems can be mitigated with the right remote work software, including time-tracking and various types of communication apps.
Pros and Cons of Remote Work for Employers
Pros
- Increased team productivity – Some studies have shown that remote work can have a positive effect on organizations and teams that operate within them, leading to better company performance overall.
- Larger talent pool – Remote work enables employers to have access to a wider talent pool. Companies can hire workers from various locations without geographical restrictions. Expanded talent pools allow companies to hire more qualified workers with higher output and produce better-quality work.
- Reduction of costs – Remote work can significantly lower the operating and overhead costs that companies have to incur. By hiring remote employees, businesses can reduce expenses related to renting office space, utility bills, various office equipment, and general labor costs.
Cons
- Managing remote teams and their performance – Managers might find it more difficult to keep tabs on remote employees and ensure their productivity levels are on par or exceed the performances of regular office workers. Ensuring employee accountability, tracking tasks and work progress, as well as providing remote workers with timely and objective feedback can prove troublesome for some remote managers. For the most part, these issues can be successfully addressed via the use of time-tracking and other digital solutions.
- Security risks – Remote work heavily relies on the use of digital and online work platforms. The use of these platforms introduces new types of security risks and challenges. To address this problem, companies should look to implement top-notch security measures to protect their customer and employee data.
- Employee engagement – Creating and maintaining high levels of remote employee engagement is more challenging in a remote work setting. This type of work environment doesn’t allow for the natural and spontaneous building of relationships between team members and other colleagues. However, digital communication tools, coupled with an intentional effort on the part of managers, can do wonders here.
The Main Challenges of Remote Work
Remote work, just like regular office work, comes with its own set of unique challenges and obstacles. Here are some of the main challenges that can affect remote employees and their employers:
Communication Issues
One of the main challenges when it comes to remote work is how to deal with communication and collaboration issues. As good communication is one of the main factors of successful remote work, both remote managers and employees should work together to tackle this problem. The most obvious solutions include various communication platforms, online work collaboration solutions, digital conferencing tools, and more.
Accurately Tracking Work Hours
Another common challenge is implementing a proper remote employee time-tracking method. Ensuring work hours are properly tracked and recorded is crucial for various reasons, such as maintaining payroll, billing clients, tracking costs, staying compliant with various labor laws, and more. One of the easiest ways to tackle this challenge head-on is to implement time-tracking solutions and tools into the overall remote employee management process.
No In-person Oversight
Similarly, it might be hard for employees to get real insight into the work their employees are getting done on a daily or weekly basis and vice versa. Employees, too, might need extra oversight from their higher-ups to get their job done more quickly and effectively. The best way to address this issue is to set up daily or weekly company calls. The frequency of the calls will depend on the nature of the work and the level of teamwork involved.
Technical Issues
Remote work greatly depends on technology. Almost every remote working position requires at a minimum a working computer (desktop or laptop) and a fairly decent internet connection. But as technology is not without fault, it’s not uncommon for remote employees to experience some form of technical issues or glitches. If they occur very often, these technical problems can negatively affect remote employees’ workflow and capability to perform specific tasks, resulting in missed deadlines, unfinished projects, etc.
Work-Life Balance and Time Management
A healthy work-life balance can be difficult to maintain in a remote work environment. Not having clear boundaries between work and personal spaces can cause difficulties for remote employees, especially when it comes to disconnecting themselves from their job obligations. This can negatively affect remote workers’ work productivity and ability to focus and even lead to burnout or overworking.
Remote Hiring Process: How Does It Work?
Remote work allows employers to hire talent from all around the world. It can help reduce costs, improve productivity levels, and increase work flexibility. But just like most things in life, the remote hiring process does come with some peculiar obstacles and challenges. In order to make it easier for you to find the right talent for your company, we’ve created a short step-by-step guide.
1. Figure Out What You Need
The first step when looking for that perfect remote employee is to ensure both you and your hiring team are on the same page when it comes to the responsibilities of that particular job position and the profile you’re looking for. You should also have a clear idea of how this employee will fit within your company and how you’ll benefit from their work engagement.
If you don’t have a hiring team and it’s just you at the helm, follow the same process and try to answer these questions yourself. To do it successfully, you should:
2. Write Down the Job Specification
Try and write the job description in such a way that it will excite potential candidates. You want anyone looking at your job ad to feel good about the prospect of working for your company. If you want, you can use the following format:
- Intro to the job description – Apart from the usual, you could also include details on what sort of impact the potential client can have on your business;
- Information about the role – General information about the specifics of the particular job position you’re hiring for;
- Details about you or your company – Any success your company had, future plans, mission statement, and similar.
- Some info about the team – Just some general information about your team, the company’s culture, and the like.
- And lastly – This part could include details about benefits, salary or wage range, information about reward systems for high-performers, etc.
3. Create the Hiring Task
When looking for a remote hire, it’s a good idea to have them complete a short task or a project. This helps reduce risks, further inspect candidates’ skills, and ensure they’ll be the right fit for your company.
If you want, you could also pay a fee to potential hires for completing the short test task or project. This will help you garner goodwill within your industry and stand out as an employer that respects the time and effort of your (potential) employees.
Additionally, when creating a hiring task, it’s important to include clear guidelines and expectations. All potential candidates should understand what the task entails, what the deadlines are, and approximately how long it will take them to finish it. As a general rule, you should try and create tasks that won’t take longer than 8 hours to complete (i.e., one work day).
4. Prepare Questions for the Interview
Before you begin interviewing potential hires, you should prep the questions for said interview.
Note that this doesn’t mean you need to ask every candidate the same questions.
Having a bank of questions from which you can draw is important because it will help you keep the interview on track and allow you to better assess the candidates' skills, experience, and suitability for your company.
5. Publish the Job Listing and Wait for Applicants
The next step of the remote hiring process is to publish the job listing. There are various remote hiring platforms that allow businesses to post and promote their job offers that you could use. Alternatively, you could post the job listing on your company’s social media accounts (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.).
6. Do the Interviews and Hire Your Perfect Candidate
Sift through the applications and source the candidates based on their experience, eagerness, and suitability. Next, schedule an interview and find your preferred candidate.
Successful Transition to Remote Work: Some General Tips
One thing that every employee transitioning from regular office to remote work wants to know is how to do it successfully. Although there is no one universal answer to this question, there are some universal tips and advice that you can apply to ace this transition.
