The 12 virtues of having Virtual Teams

Now more than ever people are realizing the importance of not being confined to a physical space to work or run a business.  

This pandemic has forced everyone to adapt to remote working. One of the factors that have made adapting to the new mode of working difficult is -- acceptance, or perhaps in this case a misconception. A misconception that remote working is only a make-do and is not par with in-house operations.  

This is not true. This blog will not only explain why remote working is just as good with in-house operations but also why it is better. Here are the 12 virtues of a business can experience while having remote teams onboard: 

1. A litmus test for trust   

Remote working cannot work without having trust. This trust has to work two ways, both between the employees and the employer. Employers have to trust the efficiency and loyalty of the employees, while employees have to produce quality work and without having a constant-micro-managing-force over their heads.  

A remote working routine is a litmus test for the element of trust in the organization. When you have all your business processes running smoothly even when being distantly apart, says that there’s deep trust within the organization.   

2. Saves overhead costs  

A study by Stanford professor Nicholas Bloom, comparing remote teams and in-house members of the same company over two years, showed that employees working remotely found it easier to concentrate and were also less likely to call in sick or take prolonged breaks. More importantly, employers also saved an average of $2,000 per employee every year, and this was only the real estate costs!   

3. Have the perks of operating 24/7  

Online customer service tools like chatbots and live chat can help you provide customer support round-the-clock. Your visitors and customers can get answers to the most frequently asked questions through self-help articles. But since you have virtual teams you can have agents placed off-shore, where you can offer human customer support to people anywhere across the world, any hour on the clock.  

4. Psychological well-being of employees  

According to a 2018 survey of over 3000 employees conducted by FlexJobs, "97% of people say that having a more flexible job would have a “huge” or “positive” impact on their quality of life."  

Remote working mitigates the issue of not having a work-life balance. It allows people to spend more time with their families. It can help people explore more things in life. They can always be present for household chores and special moments.   

5. Reduced absenteeism  

Employees take days off because they are burnt out, are unable to commute to work on a particular day, have to attend to an unavoidable situation at home, or are not feeling mentally well to show up at work.  

One of the most effective strategies to mitigate all these factors that lead to absenteeism is to allow people to work from home. It is a known fact that virtual employees show a drastic level of decrease in taking the days off.   

 6. An exponential increase in productivity  

Stanford researchers meticulously measured the productivity of office employees and virtual employees of the same organization for over 2 years. The research found that remote employees not only outperformed the control group by 13%.  

Additionally, remote working professionals were more likely to put in a full day of work and were also able to have better concentration.   

7. Higher retention rates  

The same Stanford study had a finding on retention rates and remote working as well. The study found that employees who work from home were 50% less likely to leave the job than the ones who worked in the office. Remote working can reduce the retention rate of an organization by half.   

8. Increased employee loyalty   

When employees are happy and trust the management, it is natural for them to stay loyal to the organization, its rules, and its values. Even though how ironic it may sound it is true, a full-time remote worker will be more connected to the culture and people of the company than an in-house one.   

9. Creates a sense of ownership  

A sense of ownership is the most important and valuable element an employer can find in an employee. When employees feel taken care of, when they are happy, trusting towards the organization and loyal to the company values, a sense of belongingness emerges in them.   

10. Have a specialized cross-functional team  

Working with virtual teams gives you the benefit of having great talent on board from anywhere around the world. It would help you create powerful, cross-functional, lean, and mean teams. Since your talent will be positioned remotely you will be able to hire experts, with vast experience, at a very less cost.  

11. Less workplace compliance issues   

Incidents like workplace bullying, harassment, injuries to health and safety, etc. decrease drastically with a remote working environment. It does not mitigate 100% as even while working from home, the compliance rules still apply. In other words, employers are liable for some compliance issues like workplace bullying or sexual harassment which can happen online. But the point is the possibility of non-compliance is very less almost nada compared to when everyone’s sharing the same physical space.  

12. Happier customers  

Like Richard Branson, the CEO of Virgin Group famously says, take care of your employees and they will take care of your customers. We have found that remote employees not only engage with customers in a better manner but are also more likely to communicate with them 24 hours a day. They are also more patient and understanding of the customer.   

Conclusion  

It is time to break the traditional conditioning, in the way business is work and function. Now when we have a multitude of tools and technology that can enable us to work from a distance, we should implement more and more remote working for the betterment of everyone.  

TransForm Solutions is a leading outsourcing company assisting businesses in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and other countries. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, we have been providing remote teams with varied skills from SMBs and large companies for the past 18 years.  

Want to expand your team with world-class experts? Reach out to us on 732 829 6935 or mail us on [email protected].