Advantages and Drawbacks of Hiring Remote Employees
With remote work gaining more popularity, it’s common to come across various employers sharing their differing experiences on hiring a remote workforce. Hiring a remote workforce comes with its unique benefits and challenges, which should all be taken into account before its implementation.
Hiring a remote work team can save significant costs for the employer. It can also provide them with a larger talent pool to choose from. And surprisingly, working remotely can result in higher productivity. However, it’s important to note that remote work is not for everyone. The lack of oversight may result in a loss of motivation among employees.
Continue reading below for a detailed comparison of the advantages and drawbacks of hiring remote employees and solutions to those issues.
Advantages of Hiring Remote Employees
Many businesses have found that hiring remote employees can have several advantages. Some of these have been discussed in the section below.
Savings
Remote employees save money by eliminating the need for an office, its associated expenses, and other costs for its employees, such as a travel allowance.
Global Workplace Analytics, which analyzes labor market trends and predictions in the United States, estimates that businesses could save an average of $11,000 per employee annually by allowing them to work remotely for half of their scheduled hours. Most workers would also save between $2,500 and $4,000.
Larger Talent Pool
If you advertise virtual job openings, you can attract qualified applicants from all over the country (or even the world) who don’t otherwise have an accessible commute to your office.
This can be especially useful if you’re targeting a worldwide market or trying to fill specialized roles inside your organization.
Higher Motivation
Allowing workers to perform at least some of their duties from home is a surefire way to boost morale. OWL Labs’ State of Remote Work research found that 62% of work-from-home employees found that they are more productive when working from home.
Reduced Turnover
Offering employees the option to work remotely has been shown to decrease turnover while retaining more employees. You can save a lot of money for your company by improving your numbers in this area.
Fewer Unnecessary Meetings
Remote workers waste less time on unnecessary meetings. Poorly planned meetings cost U.S. businesses about $400 billion annually in lost time and productivity, as stated in Doodle’s State of Meetings report.
Productivity Boost
It may come as a surprise, but many businesses have discovered that remote work actually increases productivity.
A professor at Stanford conducted a case study on a travel agency that employed over sixteen thousand people. He divided the staff into two factions: those who worked from home and those who were physically present at the office.
He discovered that the offsite group had a 50% reduction in employee turnover while also producing an increase in output equal to an additional full day’s worth of work.
Worker Autonomy
In the absence of close supervision, remote employees must develop their own sense of initiative. This can be beneficial because micromanagement often lowers employee morale.
Lower Absentee Rates
Companies lose an average of $1,800 per employee per year due to unplanned absences.
That amounts to almost $300 billion throughout the entire country. According to the same Global Workforce Analytics report we discussed before, work-from-home programs can cut down on unplanned absences by as much as 63%.
Good for the Environment
Having a virtual workforce that doesn’t require employees to commute to the office is one way for a firm to become more environmentally friendly. As a matter of fact, this is one of the most effective things a business can do to lessen its overall carbon footprint.
If every American had a job that allowed them to work from home just half the time, the amount of pollution that would be cut would be the same as if you were to New York State’s total workforce off the road.
In the absence of close supervision, remote employees must develop their own sense of initiative. This can be beneficial because micromanagement often lowers employee morale.
Lower Absentee Rates
Companies lose an average of $1,800 per employee per year due to unplanned absences.
That amounts to almost $300 billion throughout the entire country. According to the same Global Workforce Analytics report we discussed before, work-from-home programs can cut down on unplanned absences by as much as 63%.
Good for the Environment
Having a virtual workforce that doesn’t require employees to commute to the office is one way for a firm to become more environmentally friendly. As a matter of fact, this is one of the most effective things a business can do to lessen its overall carbon footprint.
If every American had a job that allowed them to work from home just half the time, the amount of pollution that would be cut would be the same as if you were to New York State’s total workforce off the road.
Disadvantages of Hiring Remote Employees
Despite the many upsides for businesses that hire remote workers, there are also a few drawbacks to think about.
Lack of Supervision
In the transition to remote work, managers may be concerned about a lack of accountability on the part of employees because they are not as “visible” (although technology affords plenty of ways to track worker activities, which we will discuss below).
Absence of Personal Touch
As effective as video conferencing technology has become, nothing can replace the buzz of a room full of enthusiastic collaborators on a shared project. The lack of regular face-to-face meetings may cause management to worry that employees may become less collaborative or creative.
Unsuitable for All Workers
Some workers need a traditional office setting to thrive. Successful remote work transition management requires investing in the tools, mentoring, and resources employees need to perform well when they’re not sitting in the same room as their coworkers and supervisor.
Feelings of Bias
Another aspect of remote work that hasn’t been discussed is that not all jobs can be done remotely. In the event that you decide to adopt a workforce that is at least partially remote, you run the risk of inciting feelings of envy or favoritism among the workers who are required to stay physically present at the workplace.
Initial Investments
Although working remotely can save money in the long run, it does require an initial financial investment. In order to take advantage of remote work, your company’s IT infrastructure, security measures, and technology will need to undergo potentially pricey upgrades.
Remote Employee Monitoring: A Solution to Your Remote Work Problems
Remote employee monitoring is a method of system monitoring for managing remote workers’ output and efficiency. Companies utilize these tools to gain insight into their remote workforce, boost employee engagement, and pinpoint productivity bottlenecks.
The software allows you to keep tabs on remote employees as if they were sitting at a nearby desk. Simple and precise time monitoring, as well as proof of work, will help you verify that they are carrying out the responsibilities for which you have employed them.
This software keeps records of and monitors the amount of time a person working remotely spends on a particular task, as well as client meetings. This gives you a clearer picture of what they’re doing within their remote work hours.
How Wolfeye Can Help Manage Remote Workers
Now that you have a clear idea of what remote employee monitoring is, let’s have a look at how remote monitoring software like Wolfeye can help you manage your remote workers and cut down on the drawbacks that come with a remote workforce.
Productivity Boost
While the numbers do show us that remote employees are far more productive than in-office employees, some businesses may find their productivity to have suffered a loss after a transition to remote work. Remote monitoring software can be helpful in this regard.
When employees are aware that their actions at work are being monitored, they tend to be more mindful of how they use their time while they are there.
This can result in greater productivity. Furthermore, keeping an eye on workers enables managers to respond more effectively to any issues that crop up in the field, making it possible for those issues to be resolved more quickly. Productivity increases as a result because less time is spent fixing things after the fact.
Collaboration
Monitoring employees is not only useful for ensuring compliance and safety; it also has the potential to improve communication and collaboration among members of a remote workforce. Monitoring staff activities allows managers to predict and avoid workflow disruptions by seeing patterns that may indicate a need for intervention.
By keeping tabs on their employees’ activities, team leaders can determine who is making the most significant contributions to the team as well as who may be having the most difficulty.
This data can be put to use to guarantee that all employees are working toward the same objective, as well as to make resource allocation decisions that are more accurate.
Monitoring can also make it easier for members of a team to communicate with one another and coordinate their efforts. Tracking who is doing what and when helps improve teamwork by providing context for tasks.
It’s common for members of a remote team to feel alienated from one another. Fortunately, monitoring may help build an environment of responsibility and cooperation.
Budgeting
Estimating the time, energy, and materials required to finish a project can be challenging. It’s natural for a manager to predict that initiatives for high-priority clients will require more time and resources than those for a client who generates less revenue.
When there is a system in place to monitor workers’ activities, managers may observe the normal amount of time a representative spends on a certain client and the tasks that the representative frequently completes for that client.
Managers can use this information to better meet the demands of each client by allocating resources like time and money. When managers have a deeper understanding of the dynamics of the client-employee relationship, they are in a better position to correctly allocate the resources available to the firm.
Suitable Assignments
Monitoring staff also allows for real-time assessment of work quality. Managers can check to see if the correct people are working on the right tasks.
If an employee consistently produces below-average results on a certain activity, for instance, that worker probably isn’t the best fit for that role. The information can drive managers to actively train the person or perhaps assign another individual to the project.
Constructive Feedback
With monitoring software in place, it is much simpler for managers to provide employees with feedback on how they are doing in their jobs. Given that many remote workers list a lack of feedback from management as one of their biggest frustrations, this is an enormous plus.
With the help of employee monitoring, managers can provide their employees with constructive criticism based on concrete examples of their work in the field rather than relying on vague assessments of their overall performance. Having this feature also allows managers to provide training to underperforming workers and appreciation to high performers.
Managing Timelines
Managers will typically lay out a timeframe for a project before delegating responsibilities. Employee monitoring allows managers to see if workers’ actual work hours and tasks are in line with the estimated time frame set for the completion of a project.
The information gathered from this can be used to reschedule tasks, provide more training, or both. In either case, keeping an eye on progress will ensure that projects don’t get behind schedule due to ineffective time management.
Lower Initial Investments
Transitioning to a remote team may be a bit expensive, especially for small businesses, as they switch to better IT teams and networks. But being able to afford a remote monitoring tool is not something you have to worry about with Wolfeye.
The low costs associated with an affordable program like Wolfeye can put your mind at ease.
Is Employee Monitoring Legal?
We do not give legal advice because we are no lawyers. Please carefully read this notes also to learn who you can contact to make sure you get well informed. Also it depends on the country that you are operating in. Example US: According to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA), companies can monitor the behavior of any device(s) they offer their employees. This covers the use of the internet, files, downloads, and any activity on social media platforms. However, regulations may vary from state to state.
At the federal level, it is not required by law for employers to inform their workers that they are being monitored; nevertheless, the legality of obtaining consent from employees differs from state to state.
For example, some businesses make their workers give their supervisors their social media account credentials if they ask. Nevertheless, in some states, employees are allowed to keep their login credentials private so long as their posts do not damage the company’s reputation.
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act makes it illegal to eavesdrop on or record electronic or verbal communications.
However, if you have legitimate business concerns, you can listen in on and record calls made from company phones. Under federal law, you need only secure the consent of a single party. There are, however, different rules in each state about how many people need to consent before a talk can be recorded.
Conclusion
As you have probably learned by now, transitioning to a remote team can come with its own unique challenges. Luckily, remote monitoring tools can help companies mitigate the negative effects of remote work.