Month: September 2022

How to build a remote team from scratch quickly and effectively

As more and more businesses start warming up to new ways of working, remote teams are becoming widespread. Needless to say, hiring remote teams is one of the best business decisions a leader can take today to keep pace with the changing corporate world. However, establishing remote teams also presents some peculiar difficulties. To ensure that you hire talented workers, engage extensively in their training, and actively seek to boost their morale, you must plan smartly. 

So, what does it take to build a productive remote team? Broadly, employers may ensure the following to build a productive remote working setup: 

  • A proven and effective hiring process
  • Open communication channels 
  • Productivity-boosting incentives 
  • A mechanism to measure and monitor progress

Hiring the right employees 

When you plan to hire remote employees, often the recruitment process will likely be remote as well. So you’ll need to adopt a different strategy than you would for employing regular employees. First of all, since your employees will be working alone for the majority of the day, recruiting self-motivated individuals is a wonderful skill set to look for. You can also look for employees who have already worked in a remote setup and are comfortable working and collaborating with remote teams. 

It often also becomes important for the business to hire individuals that don’t require to be trained extensively and can demonstrate proven expertise in the field for which they are being employed. Employers can test candidates by asking open-ended as well as specific questions to test both their attitude as well as aptitude.

Time-zone of your employees is another point to factor in. If you need to have in-person team meetings, target your geographical locations accordingly. On the other hand, if you’re looking to expand your team in a way that your business stays active 24×7, you can look at locations in time zones complementary to yours- this can also be based on where your client is located. 

For instance, we hire the right people to fulfil your business needs at the right time. Send us the tech team brief, and based on your requirements, our team will recommend the most suitable profiles. Once we receive a favourable response, our staff will present the profiles most compatible with the role.

Deciding your hiring model structure

One of the numerous benefits of remote hiring is to be able to choose staff members according to a project. You can choose to hire part-time employees, freelancers, full-time employees or mix and match in a contract-based setup. 

Decide the perks and benefits you wish to offer while also freezing the pay structure, schedule and modes. You can always take external assistance to help you manage the entire human resource planning for remote work. 

Based on the skills you need, the number of employees needed, and the length of the project, iView labs may assist you in finding the ideal tech team, and we’ll take care of the rest. 

Getting the tools right

Your business can employ a variety of remote work tools, in addition to MS Teams, Slack, and Zoom, to make these alternate work arrangements successful. For an added layer of security, you can also get dedicated white-labelled solutions customized for your business. 

To make remote-work easier, employers must also make sure that necessary tools, such as project management, time monitoring, and communication, are available to employees. Also, set sprint meetings to check on daily, weekly, monthly progress as and when required- having a SCRUM master could be quite effective in this case. 

And while you pick the right tools from those available in the market, also ensure you don’t overwhelm your employees with too many of these products. Security and privacy issues must also be taken care of with due diligence. The tools should work in assisting employees make their tasks easier and should not serve as an obstacle to speed and productivity. 

Maintaining high engagement levels

Remote employees are more prone to feeling isolated from the rest of the organisation. The impact of this issue on the business may be significantly greater if the entire team works remotely. Disconnected feelings can impact productivity and can lead to higher attrition rates, consequently impacting both top and bottom line. 

As a result, a business needs to invest in the right processes for engagement. Additionally managers, and human resources can take proactive measures to guarantee that workers are actively engaged, such as: 

  • Holding team meetings weekly or bi-weekly; 
  • Check-in with each employee one-on-one, especially those who live alone; 
  • Participating in enjoyable activities such as virtual games, quizzes or anything else that may foster a sense of teamwork. 
  • Rewarding milestones or sending a written note of appreciation to employees.

A system to monitor and track progress

As previously stated, implementing tracking tools is one method of holding employees accountable for respecting workplace standards. Building an integrated app that allows you to assign as well as track work can go a long way in building the right remote working culture. It should be easy for the higher as well as middle management to visualize progress towards a goal, set milestones and assess team and individual performance. This will lead to a streamlined and transparent way of working with business leaders feeling in control even when the organisation is scattered across geographies. 

If you are looking for a Technology Talent partner, we at iViewLabs will be happy to help. Just fill in this easy form to get in touch with us with your queries and needs. You can also write to us at info@iviewlabs.com and sales@iviewlabs.com. 

Why having a remote team makes good business sense

Without question, over the past year and a half, the workplace has changed significantly. Working from home all the time limits employees from seeing the subtleties of office interaction, such as birthday celebrations, water cooler chatter, or overhearing talks that could help you better understand the company. 

However, by hiring fewer people, a business may be able to reap numerous benefits. How? Think about a typical office situation: do you picture a bustling, active office, or do you picture some vacant desks while you wait for the new hiring of the following year?

According to a Standford University study of 16,000 employees conducted over a nine-month period, businesses can reduce their office space rent by roughly $2,000 per employee by simply making better use of the available space. 

Other advantages include 

  • Higher productivity levels
  • Lower real estate costs
  • Decreased absenteeism
  • Lower turnover

Employers should assess whether components of a role are best performed at home or in the office rather than how many days employees should be in the office. Creating a hybrid schedule can take many different forms depending on the role and industry. However, because the bulk of jobs in the future will be remote and hybrid, organisations must constantly enhance their operations. 

Wider talent base

Many people have dubbed the COVID-19 pandemic as the Great Resignation, which has devastated the global employment market. Over the previous two years, businesses and startups have had trouble attracting and keeping employees. Being an employer of choice is more crucial than ever since it is harder than ever to recruit and keep great individuals. 

The upshot has been a rise in wages and a sharp increase in labour market competition. According to numerous studies, firms can use a range of other tactics besides salary to persuade their top employees to turn down a job offer from a competitor. 

Greater flexibility, for instance, is thought by employees to be the second most important feature that would cause employees to reject a job offer from a rival company.  Successful businesses usually encourage remote work for all employees who are capable of it. Research from the previous 20 years has demonstrated that companies with strict regulations regarding remote work had greater output levels, employee engagement, and key performance indicators.

Smart savings 

One of the many advantages of contract and remote work for both organisations and people is cost savings. Businesses hire contract staff temporarily; they are not paid on a yearly basis. 

Similarly, companies are not obligated to invest significantly in staff training and development. Choosing remote and contract labour thus saves firms a lot of money.

Another way remote work may help businesses decrease costs is through executive mobility. Executives are free to work from their preferred locations. Because not everyone wants to stay in big cities due to higher living expenses, employees can move to tier II cities with reduced living costs. By building a diverse remote team and allowing staff to work in different cities across the nation and alter their salary accordingly, this move might save larger corporations thousands. 

Many large corporations, like Facebook, Twitter, and Stripe, have recently made headlines by announcing pay reductions for remote employees who choose to move to less expensive and centrally located places. Although one may disagree with this approach, most employees appear to be open to accepting salary reductions in exchange for additional effort.

Improved productivity outcomes 

Contrary to what is commonly believed, employees who have access to all of the modern amenities of home don’t actually result in lower production levels. Employees that work remotely benefit from flexible scheduling, a better work-life balance, and a more enjoyable working environment. In actuality, remote workers seem to be putting in long hours while still maintaining a better work-life balance and experiencing less stress. 

Furthermore, remote workers are putting in longer hours because extended in-person meetings and commute times are avoided. Remote workers have a better work-life balance, and finally, they are less stressed. Businesses may also profit from remote employment by permitting applications from around the world, attracting even more talent, despite the country’s extremely low labour costs. China, Brazil, and Romania are just a few nations that provide labour at a lower cost than India. 

The secret to happy employees

Employee feedback favours remote work. Several studies have revealed that the capacity to work remotely is substantially related to job satisfaction. Employee satisfaction, for instance, decreases as commute times lengthen, while an additional hour of sleep can improve workers’ all-around performance. On the other hand, unhappiness can lead to a reduction in sustainability and performance that is even more severe than in an empty office building.

Employees in remote positions “experience more positive effects on their daily work, are more engaged, and have a feeling of well-being more than those in non-remote positions with minimal flexibility,” according to a McKinsey study.

We are here to help

Coming back to our earlier question, can businesses genuinely save money by allowing employees to work remotely? The answer is unquestionably yes. Remote work is a fantastic alternative for businesses looking to reduce their costs, even after taking into account the additional investments required to set up an adequate remote office and technological infrastructure. It’s time for both employees and businesses to embrace the new workplace trends and think about the advantages of working remotely now that digitalisation is at its finest.

At iView labs, we often assert that while opportunities are unequally distributed, talent isn’t. For business owners trying to employ top talent, remote work is bridging that gap in a way that makes financial sense.

Whether you are a startup, an SME or a growing company, we help you to find the perfect tech team. All you have to do is send us a tech team brief outlining the skills you require, the number of people required, and the project duration, and we’ll take care of the rest.

If you are looking for a Technology Talent partner, we at iView Labs will be happy to help. Just fill in this easy form to get in touch with us with your queries and needs. You can also write to us at info@iviewlabs.com and sales@iviewlabs.com. Download the latest portfolio to see our work.