Why Hiring Remote Web Developers Can Be Beneficial for Your Company

Andreea Laza
Andreea Laza ↓ 4 minute read
Mar 07, 2018
Read 377 times
IT

Modern workforce is going through a dramatic transformation, due to the rapid technological advancements we have seen over the past decades. Coupled with the changes in the human consciousness, namely beliefs, values and ideas, the workforce today is a whole new society with different needs and wants. The experience of living the life is more important that the comfort of having a 9 to 5 job that ties you down and doesn’t allow you grow. Hence, digital nomads, freelancers and remote working professionals represent a growing population these days.

Statistics show that the remote workforce has dramatically increased by 80% from 2005 to 2012. The highest growth has been noted in the IT area, where most jobs require a computer with Internet connection to get things done. GitHub, for instance, the software company with 10+ million code repositories has 2/3 of their developers working remotely. Another great example is Dell, the giant IT vendor who made it public that their goal is to have half of their employees work remotely by 2020. And there are even more great examples of telecommuting-friendly tech giants such as Amazon, Yahoo, IBM, Xerox, SAP, Convergys etc. It’s safe to say that hiring remote developers is not just a passing trend, but the future norm in this industry.

As a recruiting company specialized in IT, we can say from our experience that the number of developers who look for remote jobs is on the rise. While most IT companies are still skeptic about hiring remote developers, we thought it would be helpful to highlight the positives of remote working and give you a few good reasons to consider telecommuting a future practice. Let’s jump right into it and see what the major benefits for IT companies are in hiring remote web developers.

5 Direct Benefits for Hiring a Remote Developer

1. Lower employee turnover rates

According to a study published by Stanford University, when offered remote working options, the employee turnover reduced drastically. Even more so, the job attrition rates went down over 50%, making this practice highly profitable for the company.

2. Hire great developers who can’t relocate

It’s hard to pin point where talented developers are located in the world. Basically talented developers live where talented developers live. And if you want to get your hands on the best of the best, a remote work strategy is a good compromise to make. Attracting and retaining talent is also translated in increased retention, and this means lower costs on the company’s behalf.

3. Decreased absenteeism

Another good reason to adopt a telecommute work strategy is lower absenteeism rates. 69% of the participants in a study with remote jobs reported lower absenteeism. While it may sound counterintuitive, according to a Harvard Business Review, remote employees are often more engaged with colleagues and supervisors than in-office workers.

4. Increased productivity

While seeing your employees everyday may give you a sense of better management and control, remote workers are actually more productive than you may think. Although most managers may presume that remote working developers can work less and get lazy, stats show that people tend to put in more hours and be more productive when they work from home. An infographic from SurePayroll, 86% of employees surveyed said they prefer to work remote for maximum productivity. Even more, 2/3 of managers stated that employees working from home have a better work productivity.

5. Happier employees

Besides the numbers and other palpable benefits, there are others just as important and that is the health and morale of the employees. A study by PGI confirmed that remote working comes with less stress and a better morale. Their study revealed that 86% of telecommuters reported lower stress levels. Having a more flexible schedule and no hassle with commuting every day are things that matter a lot for most employees when it comes to stress management. And when employees are less stressed they perform better, so the benefits are shared on both sides.

Bottomline

There are still many misconceptions and bias when it comes to hiring remote developers. Some managers still believe that whenever they allow an employee to work from home, they are basically giving that person the day off. However, the solutions to make remote work actually “work” are endless. Starting with a great remote work strategy and continuing with neat solutions such as Google Hangouts, quick chat software, Trello or Google Docs, there’s plenty ways to go about it.

In the years to come, remote working could potentially become the norm. Some predictions say that by 2025, 50% of the total working population could be working remotely.

While this may sound scary for a lot of IT company managers, statistics show that there’s no need to worry. Instead, it’s better to look to the future and embrace the change rather than continue the old, outdated ways that will eventually force you to step down and out of the game.

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