The shift towards remote working is one of the most significant changes to come out of the last couple of years. The COVID-19 pandemic might have forced many companies to adapt to their employees working from home, but many are now choosing to continue remote working practices even when not required to do so. In April 2020, 46.6% of people in employment in the UK did at least some work at home, according to the Office for National Statistics. By June 2021, 44% of workers aged between 30 and 49 said they had worked from home in the last 7 days.
But what does this mean for the future of work? If people can work from anywhere, do you still need to hire people in the UK? Or should you consider outsourcing your remote staff to other countries?
The Drivers of Remote Work
It doesn’t take a genius to observe that the pandemic and the resulting restrictions led to many companies moving to at least partial remote working. However, it would have been difficult for this to happen without the technology that made it possible. As organisations started to move to remote working, everyone had to get to grips with tools such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and various other tech that they might not have used before. Remote working might not have been the first choice for many companies, but they soon got into the swing of things.
The Benefits of Remote Work
Of course, while we know the reasons many organisations began having employees work remotely, it doesn’t explain why they want to continue. The benefits of remote working for both employers and employees have convinced numerous organisations that it should be continued. Almost 29% of people reported greater productivity when working remotely, and the majority of people said they wanted to continue to work remotely in some capacity.
In 2020, 19% of businesses in the UK said they would switch to remote working completely. More than half of managers want to work in their workplace just one or two days a week and 40% said they would look for a new job if they couldn’t continue to work remotely after pandemic restrictions had been lifted. Employers can enjoy benefits such as saved costs and increased productivity when using remote working.
Outsourcing Remote Workers
If workers can work from anywhere using a range of tools and tech, is there still a need to hire people local to the organisation? It might be important to some businesses, but others can easily consider outsourcing to other locations. When it’s not important for your workers to be in the office, outsourcing can save money and drive efficiency.
Causeway Connect enables businesses to nearshore their workflows, using remote workers based in North Macedonia to reduce their costs and increase productivity. Businesses can save up to 60% compared to UK costs by outsourcing, and they receive a high standard with all of our remote staff. Dedicated remote staffing could change how you run your business.