The freedom to work from anywhere while still having a full-time job is a perk that many employers use to draw the best talent. This is just one of the many advantages of virtual teams.
To understand why remote teams are so desirable, here are a few more pros of moving out of a physical office.
The Six Advantages of Virtual Teams
1) Potential Employees are Everywhere
When an office is located in a specific city, employers and managers often have to convince their prospective employees to relocate. They not only have to sell their company but they also have to sell them on their location. In some cases, organizations might not even have the budget to relocate employees.
With a virtual team, managers can hire and let their employees work from just about anywhere, broadening the potential applicant pool.
With more options, managers could create a diverse team that is more talented and creative. Moreover, employees are usually more satisfied when they can choose where they live and when they work, creating less turnover within the company. This also saves money on training costs and creates a stable and more trusting team.
Companies such as Basecamp have benefited from this model, and the founders wrote a great book called “Remote: Office Not Required,” about those advantages of virtual teams.
2) Faster Turnaround with a 24-Hour Workforce
When an organization has a nation-wide or global workforce, managers can have access to team resources at all times using a follow-the-sun model. While this can pose difficulties with communication and finding common meeting times, it also speeds up turnaround on projects.
Coworkers will be able to pass-off time-sensitive work to each other when they are done with the workday. What may have taken them three days in a physical office could be finished in 24-hours with proper communication in a virtual team. While this takes skilled leadership and clear communication, it is one of the major advantages of a virtual team.
Also, if managers have clients all around the world, having employees who can interface at different times of day allows for more frequent communication across different time zones. Clients will not have to wait too long to receive an answer, which increases customer satisfaction in the long run. All in all, delivering products faster with open communication is hands-down one of the best benefits of virtual teams.
3) Lower Overhead Costs
Managers are often in charge of budgeting for their teams and have to choose what to prioritize. They often make choices such as spending on staff appreciation or a new printer. When a team is entirely virtual, many overhead costs could be reduced.
Office rent and utilities are eliminated. And even though there are some technological costs the company must take on, such as new software to communicate well and safeguard data on home WiFi, those costs are much lower than a typical brick and mortar office spaces.
In addition to this, managers do not have to scale pay to the standard of living of a particular city, making salaries cheaper in the long run. Instead of paying inflated wages for in-person workers in New York or Los Angeles, managers can hire people from other, less expensive places to keep the costs low.
In turn, employees get to save on their personal expenses, such as transportation costs and apparel. This simplifies their life and is much cheaper for them. Keeping the overhead costs low can mean more perks for employees, higher revenue, or more travel flexibility when it is needed.
4) Higher Productivity of Virtual Employees
This might seem counter-intuitive, but one of the advantages of a virtual team is that employees end up becoming more productive.
Although most employers believe that remote employees become less productive because of a lack of supervision or potential distractions at home, the reality is that employees end up spending more time working than they do when they are in the office.
This is due to the fact that virtual workers save time on commuting back and forth to the office, which helps them get more done. Moreover, employees are not constantly interrupted by other team members when they’re at home, so that also leads to getting more work accomplished.
Finally, the work/life balance and flexibility offered by remote work translates to happier employees, which also is heavily correlated with improved productivity.
This is also reinforced by survey data results that show that virtual team members feel more productive when working remotely.
5) Creates Equal Opportunity for Employees
Out of all the pros and cons of virtual teams, one of the best advantages is how they level the playing field for employees. Measuring productivity is a tricky thing to do when not in an office, so managers must carefully evaluate work, as that is all they have to go on.
As managers focus on performance evaluations, the potential for age, race, gender, and other forms of discrimination is significantly decreased. With this, managers will be able to cultivate a more diverse team, creating even greater creativity and new ideas.
Also, employees who may have struggled physically, making it to and moving around a physical workplace would have the freedom to work from home where they are already comfortable.
6) More Satisfied Employees
Although most of what employees look for in a company or job varies by generation, one common goal is to have more time to spend with their families. When employees work on virtual teams, they can live anywhere, keeping them close to their loved ones.
Moreover, they no longer have to commute to work. Changing anywhere from a half-hour to three hours a day, being stuck in a car to quality time at home is a huge benefit of virtual teams.
When employees need a break, instead of wandering around the office a bit, potentially distracting other employees, employees can spend a few minutes on their favorite hobby, hanging out with their kids, or cooking a meal at home.
The Advantages of Virtual Teams: Conclusion
Each one of these scenarios lends itself towards a more satisfied employee who would be motivated to work hard and go above and beyond their day to day duties.
Moving your team to a virtual model is not always an easy feat, but it is worth it. From having more satisfied employees to a broader talent pool who can work around the clock, virtual teams can increase productivity and success in all aspects of a business.
This is a guest post by Jennifer Clark.
