Why we believe in remote talents, and why developers are the safest choice to start the process with.

There is one sign that undoubtedly shows a business is successful: it is growing.

The first step towards that is building a well-functioning team, setting common goals, and cooperating to achieve them. As easy as it sounds, we can tell you it is not. The professional background, personality, dynamics, and attitude of a candidate must all match the corporate culture. Local talent pools are typically small, so there’s always a huge competition for the best professionals. Being in the industry for almost 10 years now, our recruiters often run into an issue: there’s the superb candidate, the profile fits perfectly, ready to start work, but… lives in a different country. Financing a relocation is way out of reach for many, and giving up previously set standards is a compromise you simply won’t want to make.

If there’s one thing the pandemic taught us it’s that we can overcome anything with creativity. According to a study by the European Commission, only 5.4% of the EU’s workforce had the opportunity to work remotely in 2019. However, the regulations, curfews, and social distancing rules created new opportunities. That barely 5% slowly crawled up to 40% in 2020 and is on the rise ever since. Companies like Google and Prezi campaign for hiring talents without binding them to a certain workplace, and we can say we fully agree. To go even further, our specialization in IT made it clear to us that developers are the ideal choice to introduce the trend to your team. Scroll further if you want to see why…

1. You can get access to the global talent pool

As we have mentioned, knowledgeable experts are extremely hard to find, both in the IT and business sectors. Thankfully, the majority of them are open to working remotely, and for this reason, speak either excellent English or the language of the area they are looking for jobs at. The Americanized culture of most central-European workplaces allow foreign employees to enter the teams without any language barriers, so if English is part of your everyday life at the workplace, you should have no problems finding your ideal candidate abroad. This way you can reach fresh graduates of a top university in tech or CEOs with experience in a different country (maybe from your future markets).

One of the reasons why IT has its own sector is because the skillset required is more or less the same, regardless of which area (business-wise or geographically) a professional is employed in. Writing a code requires the same “languages” worldwide, making it easier for employers to find the ideal candidate.

2. You can optimize working hours

Online calls or “meetings” are essential parts of remote life. We all became frequent users of Zoom and Google Meets lately, but sometimes we fail to notice how much convenience it can bring into our daily lives. If we look past the “can you hear me” and “does everyone see my screen” mantras, we can finally start to see freedom. Parents can keep an eye on their children themselves, errands must no longer be a rush in the evening, and stretching and breathing some much needed fresh air is something a remote worker can do without colleagues watching closely. The comfort of one’s home brings a more relaxed attitude and work ethic for many, causing the conversation to flow more easily and concisely. A more effectively organized daily timetable can also speed up the working process, reaching results quicker with less stress.

In some businesses, it is best when part of the team is online 24/7 (take customer support or user experience for example). Having colleagues in even slightly different time zones provides an easy solution for all- wider coverage of the day for the employer, and ideal working hours for employees. Developers are no exception. Many servers and services require maintenance around the clock- instead of assigning night shifts to certain teams, you can choose experts from different time-zones. This way you are able to avoid friction between colleagues, avoid the possibility of making them feel underappreciated, and also have the coverage of your desired product all day long.

Time zones are nothing to be afraid of when it comes to either. Even 6-10 hours of differences can be handled with a tiny bit of time management because working hours can still overlap. European developers are free to join work in the United States and vice versa, it is up to an individual’s desires where they wish to work.

3. You can hire professionals with the same (or even higher) skill level at a lower cost

Have you ever thought about the things that are paid after each and every employee? In an ideal case, your firm takes care of the taxes, cafeteria, the fee of your equipment, and many other bonuses you enjoy. If one’s required to commute, some part of the cost of the transport may also mean additional cost for the company. Remote workers require no office space, no commute-money and no coffee, so they can save a lot of money for the business. If your business is located in the US, you might want to consider hiring from Europe too, as fees here are usually lower for the same (or even higher) expertise. Remote workers will only be paid for their knowledge, experience, and the value they add to the team. In many cases, IT professionals even prefer their own equipment already available for them, so it’s one less thing to worry about. The price of all of the things mentioned above can be spent on providing the ideal circumstances for each, some team building activities or other beneficial and prosperous practices.

4. You can maximize your efficiency and productivity

Giving such an opportunity to a new hiree indicates instant trust from the management, making them grateful and eager to perform their best. Providing responsibility in a more pressure-free way is essential for modernizing the ways employees are supervised. Encouraging a generation to be more proactive and mentally involved in the creation of their own tasks and management of their time allows each individual to oversee their workload, which leads them to present their results to their authorities in a more organized and comprehensive way. This saves hours of worthless communication for both parties, now free for personal use.

Developers are the epitome of all these: most of the time company leaders are not skilled enough to understand every problem IT professionals face, but often they are still trying to control them. Building trust can be the key to effective cooperation that focuses on results rather than close supervision of the way they are achieved.

5. You can expand your business network

Personal acquaintance is the most reliable way to interpret if a person is a good fit for a position. New colleagues add their circle to your company’s circle, potentially bringing you valuable relationships. In IT, these connections double in value, as people are familiar with their fellow colleagues’ skillsets (that might sound alien to HR specialists and CEOs), and can give you exact reference where they could be most effective for your business.

6. Sometimes you can increase motivation instantly

Behind every successful company are motivated employees. Providing them with everything they need to be able to work comfortably will keep them thriving for common goals and success. These days, many people choose to live a more laid-back, slower life, which initiated a trend for them to relocate to the countryside, either to avoid burnout or simply to breathe some fresh air. Many firms are losing highly cherished talent because they are not willing to adjust their sets of requirements to remote working. If you don’t want to fall into this trap, try setting your initial requirements more goal-oriented: developers should have an easy time adjusting to them, as most of their work is done either online or on a computer anyways, which makes them available the same way they would be in an office setting. Moreover, their concentration will not be interrupted by sudden sounds and requests, causing them to be more attentive towards small details.

To sum it all up, we hope this article gave you some insights into why we consider remote developers an excellent option for hiring locally or even globally. After all, it always comes down to finding the ideal person for open positions, who has the same goals, drive, and frame of mind as the company- and IseeQ is always here to help with that.

If you need help with hiring remote teams feel free to contact us at hello@iseeq.co