Alessandra CeresaWorking virtually is becoming the norm for a lot of businesses, and there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, there are quite a few benefits for both the employee and the employer of a virtual team.
Benefits to employees:
- Work-Life Balance
More employees are searching for that necessary work-life balance, so they can spend more time with their families and find fulfillment outside of work. In more cases, giving your team members the power to manage their work and life increases their ability to perform successfully on both fronts.
Your employees can organize their days to fit their productivity schedule. Perhaps your Marketing Director prefers to work out at noon when everyone is still in their cubicles – it allows your team to shift their schedules to fit their own lives. They can easily and effectively intertwine their normal day-to-day activities with their work schedules giving them more flexibility. This flexibility tends to make people happier with not only their lives, but their jobs as well.
What does this mean for the employer? Better results and employee retention.
- Less Commute = Increased Productivity
Just because you have a refrigerator and a TV in close reach doesn’t mean you are going to be less productive working virtually. In fact, according to Mashable and bnet.com, 56 % of decision makers believe that working remotely makes employee more productive.
What if you could cut out your commute and the time it takes to get ready in the morning, wouldn’t you? If you do not have to spend time (an hour+ in most cases), you spend more time on your actual work, increasing your overall time working.
Benefits to Employers:
- Lower Overhead = More Revenue
Think about the money you could save if you do not have a lease, utility payments, and everything else that goes with a brick and mortar space! In most cases, that is A LOT of money that you could put away for your business and greatly improving your profit margin. If you do like working from an office, there are plenty of collaborative workspaces popping up allowing people to separate their work from their home life without actually working in an office or being changed to a desk.
- Less Micro-managing = Better Results
Instead of clocking the time your employees spend in the office, you can measure their success via analytical results. Longer hours do not always mean better results. When people have real goals, metrics, etc to work towards, they have to become more productive to reach them. Makes sense, doesn’t it?
- No Limitations on Hiring
Why limit your pool of potential employees to a geographic location? With a virtual workforce, you can hire the BEST employee for the job, regardless of their physical location. Not only does this give you the chance to hire the right employees, it also enables you to expand your business into new territories. For example, let’s say you hire a marketing manager in Colorado. Now you can potentially gain customers/clients in that locale as well. It’s a win-win for everyone.
With such compelling benefits for both employees and employers, it is strange that it has taken us so long to start implementing virtual teams.
I have worked for a virtual company for the past four years, and in those years we have grown over 1800% –now we have a team of 19 virtual employees. Through the use of technology, from CRM, Google Drive, Skype, and much more, we are able to successfully grow and provide an exceptional customer experience to over 400 clients worldwide.
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