Melbourne, Victoria Australia 
Are you considering hiring remote IT employees to support your business but don’t know the benefits and challenges you might face? It’s a common problem most employers face when considering their options for their business processes.
Thankfully, you no longer have to worry about where to access accurate information regarding remote IT employees. The information provided below gives an honest comparison of the pros and cons of hiring an employee within a remote contract.
Based on the information provided, all you would have to do is keep your company’s interests at heart. Depending on your company’s capacities, needs, and availability. After concluding your findings and understanding of remote IT professionals, it will be easier for you to decide whether or not hiring a remote developer is the right choice for you.
What are Remote IT Employees?
Before hiring remote IT employees, it’s best to know what kind of work setup these employees have. Unlike traditional employees, managing remote employees can only be done through consistent communication on the Internet. This is because remote employees will be working from their homes and possibly in other countries aside from your business.
Some remote workers prefer applying directly to a company or offering contractual hire. Meanwhile, others are covered by a third-party company that recruits them to work for other companies for a duration.
The Pros of Hiring Remote IT Employees
There are many advantages to hiring remote IT employees. Not only do remote work benefits attract skilled professionals to continue their employment with you, but there are also legitimate benefits that the company itself will acquire. Below are four of the major reasons to hire remote IT employees.
Access to a Larger Talent Pool
The first of the pros and cons of remote working for employers that we will discuss today is the talent pool. A big advantage is having access to the global talent pool that onsite employment does not offer.
A big concern for many companies is the lack of employees specialising in their needs. This increases demand and higher salary grades for the employees they’re hiring due to overwhelming tasks. However, finding an equally talented professional who can speak and understand your language in a different country is possible.
By opting for remote workers, you will find yourself with more applicants who can meet your needs in an efficient time. It’s even possible to find specialists that are rare in your home country.
Cost Savings
One of the biggest reasons companies prefer hiring remote IT employees is the cost savings. It’s one of the main benefits of hiring remote workers for employers since you get cost-efficient results.
Any startup looking to find a way to maximise their capital funding efficiently would be interested in this benefit. Not only does it reduce costs to your business processing, but it also creates an opportunity for your brand to reach global standards.
Increased Productivity
Many employers worry about remote work productivity. Concerns come from the inability to see their employees working. However, the truth is that productivity doubles when working from home.
This is especially true with remote IT employees who can access their work laptops during extreme emergencies if needed. Not only that but having a healthy work-life balance brings out an innovative and fresh mind for employees to participate in solving problems within the company.
Employee Satisfaction and Retention
When hiring remote IT employees, expect that they will be with you for a long time. Should you excel at managing remote employees effectively, your employee retention rate will likely remain high.
Being able to save costs from commuting, lunches, gasoline, or even parking is a great benefit to remote workers.
Environmental Benefits
Environmentally speaking, remote working benefits the world’s health in general. Because employees remain home to work, the emissions caused by commuting or driving greatly decrease.
The same can be said for employees eating outside. Those to-go boxes that many people use to take their food to eat at the office and throw away also cause harm to the environment. Now that remote work is trending, this waste has been significantly reduced.
The Cons of Hiring Remote IT Employees
While all the pros of remote working sound great, there are also challenges management and employees may face. Following the pros and cons of hiring contract employees are setbacks and transitions one may become overwhelmed with.
Communication Challenges
It’s to be expected that remote IT team challenges have a lot to do with communication. The downside of remote working is that you cannot simply approach your employees and co-workers for things.
However, if you are truly determined to make remote working a viable option, it’s important to keep main communication channels open such as an instant messaging channel to be utilised for work and casual discussion.
Security Concerns
Security concerns are also a setback when hiring remote IT employees. Unlike with onsite equipment and data, employees can use their work laptops and proceed with their tasks at hand.
But what if one of their accounts was taken over by an illegal criminal? The problem with these skilled cyberhackers is that they can take your data and blackmail you, sell the information, or commit identity theft.
Non-disclosure agreements and enhanced security practices are advised to prevent any worst-case scenarios regarding your company’s private data.
Management and Oversight
Management oversights are also a big challenge. Some managers find it difficult to work with their remote workers and can even go so far as to micromanage them or ignore them completely.
Ensure you have a high-quality and professional group of employees without suffocating them with bad management. Instead, learn more about the best practices to engage your employees and remove high turnover weight.
Technical Issues
The most concerning challenge of hiring remote IT employees is the technical issues. Unlike other companies that can simply knock on the door of their office workers, technical setbacks can only be fixed by IT professionals. But how can you reach out to your remote workers if you can’t see them physically?
The quality of your data depends on how well each member of the collaboration did and how many productive commands were met. In terms of emergencies, IT specialists should be ready to be called at random should a crisis occur.
Cultural and Social Isolation
Culture shocks when hiring remote IT employees are also a common challenge. Aside from technical issues, management strategies, and communication errors, isolation due to cultural differences can occur between employees.
Every single person grew up with a set of traditions common to their homeland. Even their humour and interests vary depending on how they were raised. This is something that most people tend to forget to meet halfway in general.
This can lead to repeated misunderstandings and isolation due to the differences between your employees and remote employees. Ensure consistent team building and keep in contact with employees to retain a relationship with your remote employees.
Best Practices for Managing Remote IT Employees
There are many benefits, challenges, and solutions when hiring remote workers. This is why strategies for managing employees hired under a hybrid work setup should be implemented to prevent any avoidable issues from the beginning.
Listed below are four examples of solutions to challenges that one might face once they have hired a remote IT professional.
Effective Communication Tools
Communication is a big factor, as we discussed the challenges of hiring remote IT employees. Ensure that your communication lines always remain open and available during your shift and can be easily accessed.
Messaging applications such as Slack, Skype, WhatsApp, or Viber can be a great platform to create your communication lines. It’s also important to check in on encouraging a task-managing tool during collaboration.
These task management tools help employers and managers delegate tasks and check through their progress throughout the week. It can also be used to let employers know that their project was finished.
Robust Security Measures
Another big problem is remote team security. Just as we discussed before, cybercrime has become a popular method for blackmail, identity theft, and more. Some cases even involve members of the team itself.
Hiring remote IT employees comes with a risk of having your information spread about. Thankfully, non-disclosure agreements, multi-factor authentications, and access controls allow limited room for any remote employees. That way, your security is 10 times more effective than simple trust.
Regular Check-ins and Performance Monitoring
Regularly checking in on your employee’s performance is also part of hiring remote IT employees. You can check their performances and their progress or challenges from their mouths when monitoring them and calling them for a team meeting.
Also, never forget to be empathetic and understand their concerns without giving off a condescending tone. It is crucial to become a listening ear to the challenges your employees face regarding tasks effective immediately.
Fostering a Positive Remote Work Culture
Lastly, but certainly not least in managing or hiring remote IT employees is to foster a positive environment for them. Remote work culture isn’t a new thing but it is gaining traction and popularity due to the global lockdowns of 2020.
That is why many businesses are slowly transitioning into work-from-home setups. Unfortunately, this does not erase overworking, stress, or unhealthy boundaries.
Ensure a quality workplace for your employees to continue being more motivated to their tasks and retain their contract with you.
Conclusion
Now, you know all you need to learn about hiring remote IT employees. Take the time to absorb all the information given to you before you make your decision on whether or not remote workers are suitable for your company.
If they are, we have great news for you! Contact us today to hire your new remote IT employees who are ready to assist you and meet your company’s needs!