Remote working is rapidly becoming normalised across all sectors. A recent survey shows just how prevalent this style of working is today. A report from Digital Ocean, released in July 2019, surveyed a pool of 4,500 developers and found that 86% of candidates currently worked from home. This shift towards a remote workforce is something we are seeing reflected in conversations with candidates, as more developers put the ability to work flexibly and remotely at the top of their employer wishlist. Some are actively moving away from heavily office-based industries, like banking and Fintech.
However, not everyone wants to see their development workforce dispersed. Some argue that workers may become isolated, team communication could be impacted, and remote working makes it more difficult to accurately assess productivity or have visibility over common issues. These are all valid concerns. However, in a world that seems to be moving rapidly to remote working, can you afford not to consider remote talent?
We look at some of the key considerations for organisations considering remote working, below.
Remote working allows you to broaden your talent search
Engaging with a remote workforce allows you to look across borders for the best development talent, extending your search effectively around the globe. In areas where competition for great development talent is high, including tech hubs like London and Berlin, the ability to widen your net and broaden your talent search could transform your ability to reach exceptional candidates.
Remote workers may outperform on-site teams
Performance is always a key concern for organisations who are considering introducing remote working for the first time. The good news is that research supports off-site development teams when it comes to productivity. The most recent GitLab Global Developer Survey found that remote teams outperformed on-site teams, demonstrating “greater collaboration, better documentation and transparency and ultimately more mature security practices, compared to in-office teams.” Remote teams were also found to be 23% more likely to have good insight into what their colleagues were working on.
Does remote working work for start-ups?
There is some discussion around whether remote working is the most effective option for start-ups. It can be difficult, in the most embryonic stages of a business, to have employees who are distributed – conventional wisdom says that employees should be physically together to provide the most value in the development of a new product. However, this is being challenged by those start-ups who are leveraging remote teams to expand quickly. InVision – the digital product design platform – is a good example of a start-up that has taken remote working to the extreme, with 800 employees and no offices.
Only your organisation can decide if remote working is a feasible option for your development team. However, if you can find creative solutions to offer greater flexibility to candidates – even for a proportion of the working week – the benefits could be impressive, allowing you to access high-performing development talent around the world.
If you’re looking for exceptional technology talent or searching for your next role, Xcede's tech recruiters can help.
