As a business owner, one of the most challenging aspects of growing your company is building a great team. There are so many different things to consider. Where will they work from? What skills do they need? How much will it cost to hire someone? The list can go on forever. However, in this day and age of connectedness, we can access potential team members from all over the globe. We can build a team of talented people that can pull in experiences from all over the planet at a more affordable cost than a traditional in house team. Building a virtual team can offer huge benefits to anyone growing their business. But what are those benefits, I hear you cry? Well, fear not we have 7 of the best reasons you should seriously consider when building your team in the virtual world.
Time savings
One of the key aspects of running your own business is keeping track of your time and making the most of it. One of the benefits of building a virtual team is the amount you can delegate out to people who are really experienced in whatever discipline they have. You can get your marketing done or have your finances managed by someone else who has a huge depth of knowledge. This creates more time for you whilst not compromising on quality.
You also save money on expenses such as travel time or any unnecessary meetings. When you are working remotely, the face time you do have with a team member is focused and on message. No being pulled into a meeting room at the last minute for a chat about yesterday’s meeting. In fact, remote workers are actually more engaged than office workers. The potential time savings when you have a virtual team is almost reason enough to take the plunge, but there is more.
Lower cost
Another huge benefit of a virtual team is the cost savings. Firstly, there are huge savings around the office space you won’t need and all the infrastructure around that. The phones, the desks, chairs etc. All this money can be redirected into growing your business. Secondly, you can save money on hiring costs. Sourcing a Virtual Assistant is quick and easy. You will also save money on training. Dipping into a market full of highly qualified individuals means you can hire someone who fits but your skills profile exactly, no need to train them up. Another further cash benefit is when you are a growing business cash flow can be an issue, having a virtual team gives you more flexibility in when and how often you have people work for you. Virtual team members are more responsive and flexible to your business’ cash needs.
Increased productivity
Contrary to common belief, there have been various studies demonstrating that people who work from home are actually more productive than those working in an office. A study, carried out by Stanford Professor Nicholas Bloom, found that workers who worked from home were on average 13.5% more productive. That’s almost an entire extra workday a week. In the same Stanford experiment, it was also found that remote workers take fewer sick days and fewer holidays. They have more time to get things done and therefore provide you with an increased output.
Better employee retention
It is now received wisdom in the minds of people in the know that autonomy is the key to happiness and productivity in the workplace. By building a virtual team you are giving your team members that freedom to work to their schedules and plan their own work. This level of responsibility will only serve to build an employee’s satisfaction. The knock on effect of this type of workplace is that through your trust you will ignite greater loyalty from your team and thereby increase retention of your key talent.
Access to a bigger talent pool
When building a traditional team you can only really attract those who are close to you or prepared to move. This seriously limits who can apply for your jobs. When you compare this to the idea that you can access talent across the entire country, it almost feels like you are missing a trick. Why limit the talent you can have in your team when you have access to a pool of skills that is almost endless? Building a virtual team gives you access to expertise that you may never have thought possible.
Greater focus on output rather than time
In a traditional office setting, there is great emphasis on the time people spend there. If someone comes in 9-5 every day, as expected, that would be deemed a good thing. However, with a virtual team keeping track of your team’s time is not so easy. Therefore, you focus on what the output of any team member working virtually is. This is ultimately a much better metric for you to run your business on. Rather getting hung up on the number of hours they are working, you can really measure the progress they are making by what they are actually producing. This switch to focusing on outputs means you have a greater sense of the progress you and your team are making.
Greater scalability
As a business owner who is looking to grow, you may find that at times things can slow down or even speed up faster than expected. The benefit of having a virtual team is the unbelievable flexibility it provides for you. By building a virtual team you can scale things up fast, seriously fast. So, if things start to grow rapidly you don’t need to concern yourself with new offices, new infrastructure, you get on line find some talent and you are good to go. Scaling up has never ever been so quick and easy.
One of the challenges of a growing business is getting your team right. You need talent, productivity and manageability. Building a virtual team provides you with all these elements more than most people think is possible. In fact, they are more productive, engaged and flexible than a traditional team setup. So what are you waiting for? Start building your virtual team today.
Recent Comments