The world is fast changing and new advances in technology and communication have brought us all much closer. What these changes have also done is transform the workplace.
It first began with companies outsourcing work to offsite locations, often in other countries. Businesses also began to allow their employees to occasionally work from home. Employers and employees alike soon discovered the advantages of such virtual connections to their productivity, profitability and job satisfaction levels. All this has paved the way for the next major shift, one that has already been unfolding: remote contracting.
Access the global talent pool
It’s highly unlikely that the best candidate for a job will be available in the city, or even the country, that a company is located. Unless you want to handle visas and immigration, a long and expensive process, hiring these candidates as remote contractors is likely your only option.
Remote contracting allows any business to hire the best person for the job at hand, no matter where that person may be located. Platforms like wellpaid.io give companies access to this global pool of talent, finding the best candidate for the job beyond the area in which they operate.
Additionally, high-speed internet connectivity in many countries, including developing countries, along with modern cross-border payments systems and modern development tools, make it easier to work with talented professionals in any part of the world, allowing remote contractors to interact and produce deliverables in real-time to outlying clients.
The right price tag
Remote contractors can market their capabilities at a price that corresponds most closely to their skill set, knowledge and experience, instead of getting lumped into any company-devised pay scale. Prospective employers can now find the right person for the job, at the most competitive prices – whether that individual lives down the street or in another time-zone. This doesn’t mean that a remote contractor can expect to have a dramatic increase in income overnight. But being free of the policies (and sometimes politics) that usually govern compensation and promotions at any company gives an individual the flexibility to apply for contracts that they believe most suitably reward their efforts and experience. At the same time, companies are increasingly trying to more effectively get what they’re paying for.
It’s highly unlikely that the best candidate for a job will be available in the city, or even the country, that a company is located. All the more reason that remote contracting is the way forward. If you are looking to hire someone who both has the qualifications you are looking for and fits your budget, remote contracting will likely be the only option for you.
More perks than you may think
Signing up as a remote contractor allows you the flexibility to command your price, set your own work schedule and terms (at least to some extent), and stand to earn more than serving as a full-time employee at any company, if you regularly put your best foot forward with your clients. Moreover, unlike a freelance worker who often has to depend on the number of projects coming in, a remote contractor is hired by a company to fill a particular position for several months, sometimes even running into years. These jobs are also either full-time (40 hours per week) or part-time, which means that a remote contractor knows what they are getting into and can bank on a steady source of income that will not vary week-to-week depending on the workload. Since the individual contractor works remotely, the company also benefits by getting the most bang for their buck, by hiring the most qualified individual for their work requirement, irrespective of where that person may be based.
Certainly, some could argue that working as a full-time employee could possibly afford a comparatively higher level of job security. But that’s about the only advantage to being hired as a full-time employee. Most millennials grew up watching their parents struggle financially as regular nine-to-five workers for far too long to want that for themselves. At a time when bonuses and generous pay raises are rare, as economic conditions continue to be challenging in most countries, even that job security that one believes comes through a conventional nine-to-five job is slowly waning. Previous generations felt some reassurance that having worked at a company for decades meant that the same firm would stick with them through thick and thin. Unfortunately, in the wake of the recent global financial crisis that is no longer the case. As remote contractors, you can still have 40-hour work weeks, but on your terms, with an employer who will adequately reward you for what you bring to the table.
Round-the-clock operations
Time is money. Many companies are recognising that the use of remote contractors working in different time zones allows them to function around the clock – whether through a single individual or a team of contractors. Higher productivity means more business and more profits. Many remote contractors are also open to working on weekends and holidays (especially if it’s a national holiday in one country, but has no meaning to them because they live in another country). This allows a business operation to keep running, even on holidays, and can give firms that edge they sometimes need over their competitors. Many contractors also live in countries where the culture isn’t as focused on living for the weekend as some Western countries. In other instances, remote contractors are single people with no fixed commitments and are not opposed to working on weekends, as that affords them more flexibility during the week and higher levels of overall income.
Remote contracting gives companies an option they did not necessarily previously have – to jump from only working regular hours on weekdays to being able to explore the option of around the clock operations at least on weekdays, and perhaps even daily throughout the year, depending on the nature of their firm’s business. The major benefit of hiring remote contractors over freelance remote workers is that for a remote contractor, your firm is their only client and their sole focus will be to get your job done, rather than trying to multitask and balance projects from several clients at the same time.
Lower overall costs
Since remote contractors can somewhat tailor their work-life to suit their personal needs, they also enjoy a high degree of fulfilment, which in turn fuels their productivity levels even further. Contractors achieve a more satisfying work-life balance by working fewer hours to get the job done. Depending on the terms of the contract, the increased productivity levels allow businesses to choose to pay lower overall wages, with the contractor getting the desired tasks accomplished in fewer billable hours. Alternatively, a company can stand to get more work out of such motivated and efficient contractors, if such individuals are hired for a fixed number of hours each week.
A firm with a higher number of remote contractors will also have little need for staff members dealing with human resources and payroll matters, nor will the business have to worry about organising or feeding into employee-benefits plans when hiring remote contractors. Most platforms that link remote contractors with potential employers come with stipulated contract and payment guidelines. Another advantage with opting for remote contractors is that since remote contractors operate away from the office or workplace, there is no need for companies to provide ancillary services such as desks, computers, or parking spaces, which further adds to the cost savings tally.
At the end of the day, the future of contracting is via remote contractors because of the value this strategy offers both businesses and individuals. Nothing beats the ability to tap into a vast, global workforce and pick out the right candidate for you. We have the technology we need for remote, virtual relationships to thrive without the hassle of trying to overcome immigration hurdles to bring the best talent onboard your firm. Work deliverables of all types can be delivered to any client, anywhere in the world, in a matter of seconds through the wide variety of online tools that support such remote work relationships. Even if, for whatever reason, a prototype needs to be physically delivered to a contractor or client, that too can be arranged, in most countries, within a couple of days or sometimes (for the right price) even on the same day. All these advances in technology, communication and Internet connectivity are surely only going to progress in the days ahead, which in turn will continue to drive the shift towards remote contracting.
Obviously, contracting is not necessarily everyone’s cup of tea, far less choosing to do so remotely. But the gains for those who opt for this line of working and hiring is huge. The one thing to watch out for is potential policies and rules related to remote contracting—both for the contractor and hiring company. As remote contracting becomes more common, lawmakers are bound to step in, especially if they feel it is being used as a way to circumvent the immigration channels that an individual typically needs to pass through to work onsite in a foreign country. However, even if lawmakers start to regulate the field of remote contracting, it’s unlikely to cause too many changes to the remote contracting landscape, owing to the benefits being reaped by both hiring firms and contractors. In any case, it is worth educating oneself about the different rules and laws that govern remote contracting relationships, particularly if this becomes the major way either a business or individual chooses to operate.
At the same time, there is little business sense for firms to feel compelled to work with individuals found locally, when a far superior opportunity is often available through hiring a remote contractor. The best part is that through platforms like wellpaid.io, you can easily find the right fit for your needs – whether you are a business looking to grow or a contractor looking to work remotely and enjoy the freedom and flexibility that comes with such jobs.
