As remote and hybrid working become further entrenched in the modern working world, it’s not just employees reaping the rewards – companies are too, including multiple Starcircle clients and partners. Starcircle Chief Commercial Officer, Colin Hickey, discusses the benefits on offer, as well as his tips to make the change successfully.
In this world, change is inevitable. Remote working was traditionally frowned upon, as managers worried that employees wouldn’t be as productive at home as they are in the office. Then the pandemic came along and everything changed.
Forced to consider different practices, companies embraced remote and hybrid options almost overnight, leading to the idea becoming widely accepted by companies big and small, globally. While it’s not perfect – with concerns around collaboration, creativity, loyalty and culture – hybrid work has proven itself successful from a productivity perspective.
As a result, in the US for example, 59% of workers are now working from home either all or most of the time, accounting for over two-thirds of economic activity. Additionally, 35% of American job opportunities offer the option to work from home five days a week, and 23 percent can do so part-time.
Initial hesitancy has been overcome by the advantages and opportunities found by businesses that got behind the tailwind. Companies are embracing the change.
Working closely with Starcircle clients that have made the change, I’ve seen what has and has not worked for companies around the world – and the benefits available to those who did it right.
The Benefits of Remote and Hybrid Work
Organisations have always had to struggle with targeting applicants from select geographies but this is not the case anymore. The best talent can be anywhere and tapped into from anywhere.
Where once, candidates often couldn’t or wouldn’t apply to jobs because they didn’t want to leave their city or country, now they don’t even have to leave their home.
A Wider Talent Pool
Starcircle itself was ideally set up for this approach; our technology and methodology is geo and role agnostic, enabling us to source candidates globally. Many of our clients have been early adopters of hybrid work too; hoovering up top talent that was previously outside their field of vision.
Through our work with our clients we have sourced in over 180 different countries, enabling our clients access to talent that would have gone unnoticed without a global approach. Consider the possibilities.
Diversity and Flexibility
Remote and hybrid work also cultivates diversity in the workforce as well as flexibility in working times. For example, at Starcircle, it helps us serve our international clients.
With a global client base relying on us, we offer a 24 hour support system and we have an international team with employees located in Ireland, Lisbon, Singapore and the USA. This creates a diverse workforce and helps generate new ideas from fresh perspectives.
Cost-Effective Solutions
When you only have candidates who work from the office, you bear numerous costs and overheads relating to the premises, a lot of which are less of a factor when you don’t have a large workforce in an office for 40 hours per week.
Starcircle has saved on electrical, rental and utility bills by avoiding having to open up an office in every country we operate in to all staff there every day. These savings can then be used to recruit more professionals and help the company grow.
You can also hire from cities or countries with a lower cost of living, which helps on costs without compromising on the quality of the candidates. The opportunity to hire talent globally will also open companies up to a much bigger worldwide presence and more inclusive hiring practices.
Loyalty and Respect
Flexible working arrangements lead to loyalty, as well as trust that goes both ways. An employee that feels trusted to get on with the job without a manager peering over their shoulder.
Feeling valued, believed in and respected leads to retention as a happy employee, and a study published this year revealed that remote and hybrid workers are 20% happier than their in-office colleagues. A further study proved that happy and content staff stay with their company longer, further saving costs on hiring and onboarding new staff regularly.
Hybrid working and recruiting are here to stay in one form or another, here’s how you can go hybrid without compromising productivity and performance.