Today more and more businesses are eager to take advantage of remote workers to reap the financial benefits. The problem with the concept of having traditional 9-5 offices set up remotely is a lack of information on how to handle operations for this scope of work. Today, we will go over some tips to show you how to transition over your business so you can have remote employees and how remote workers can increase business profits.
Transitioning the Office to Remote Locations
Working in different locations required an introduction of new tools that allow business personnel to connect during the day. Microsoft Office 365 was a cloud system that simplified email administration and allows employees to use Lync (Skype for business) to communicate with each other internally. But it’s more than communication tools that businesses need when they have remote employees, they need dedicated internet service and accounting tools that help businesses monitor their employee’s timesheet software. Other important aspects of your remote employees are:
Partial Office vs. Full Remote: Some of your employees in specific departments may need to come into the office several days a week for important meetings and collaboration. You may have employees working remotely full time across the country who don’t necessarily need to come into your office as it may not be important. Nonetheless, it is still important to have virtual conferences with these employees at least once per quarter to make sure everyone is on the same page with what they are working on.
Meeting Scheduling: When you schedule a meeting with remote employees try to use video interfacing so you can receive visual feedback. Sometimes a worker might misunderstand an idea and with visual feedback you might be able to solve this problem giving the worker a more detailed explanation, so they understand.
Use the Same Tools: It’s important for your business that all of your remote employees are connecting to their meetings, using email, or using accounting tools with the same software. It’s also important to have a backup software for communications as sometimes problems may occur.
Work under Simplified Rules: Following simple, disciplined rules should be the common standard in any business practice, and this should be no different in the remote workplace environment. If a remote employee needs a quick answer to a question, then using such tools as Lync should be used, so the whole question is covered in its entirety.
Remote Workers Lower Costs and Increase Profitability
The benefits of hiring a remote employee can be various as it allows you to tap into talent from around the US whereas before you might be limited to hiring whoever lives in your immediate area. Having remote workers also allows you to go beyond the normal 9-5 working hours to increase production for your business. Remote employees also allow you to limit your office space that will naturally bring down overhead expenses for your business. It’s also possible to hire remote independent contractors under a 1099 saving you money from healthcare benefits as well as other taxes.
Conclusion
Hiring remote workers can help you save money while giving your business the chance of hiring talented people outside the normal area of your business. It’s not always an easy step to get prepared for the transition to having remote workers. With the right tools for communication and accounting timesheet software your business can join the trend of businesses that see the potential of remote workers moving forward into a new era of how business is done.
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Originally posted on September 29, 2015 @ 6:20 am
