What is a remote workforce?

A remote workforce is a team that works for the same business but is not tied to a central location. Each member has the freedom to work from almost anywhere in the world as long as they have the necessary tools and resources to perform well in their role and meet the business’s needs. 

A remote team can consist of solely permanent employees who receive employment benefits, but it can also include freelancers and contractors. This flexibility allows HR teams to quickly fill labor shortages without committing to offering long-term contracts.

Depending on the business’s needs, a remote workforce may be required to work on a fixed schedule, such as the common “9 to 5.” However, the business may instead adopt a more results-driven structure in which the remote workforce can work whenever they want as long as they meet their daily quotas.

Remote work benefits employees in several ways:

• Increased flexibility: A flexible work arrangement is the third-highest motivator for employees looking for a new job in the U.S. Remote workers can request changes to their work hours, patterns, or locations.

• Reduced (or eliminated) commute time: Remote workers either travel to the office less or not at all. In a survey of workers from 207 different countries, remote workers saved an average of about 2 hours of commute time per week from 2021 to 2022.

• Improved happiness: The ability to work remotely increases employee happiness by up to 20%.

The key to hiring and retaining a great remote workforce is consistency. Provide a seamless onboarding experience and keep your remote team members in the loop to boost employee engagement.

Here are a few best practices for hiring a managing a remote workforce:

Offer competitive benefits packages

Use the compensation explorer in Remote to find out what people in different countries expect in terms of pay and benefits. This helps take the guesswork out of the hiring process and makes it easier to attract top talent. 

This portal includes a wealth of useful information, including the following:

• Median salaries

• Country selector

• Job title search

• Regional compliance requirements

Establish clear employment agreements and policies

Create a remote work agreement and policies that consider remote employees’ specific needs. Be sure to specify each employee’s role and duties, performance expectations, compensation and benefits, and tax requirements.

When establishing a remote work policy, consider the factors that can come with working outside of a traditional office. Your policy should address the following:

• Data privacy and security

• Social media use

• Confidentiality

• Intellectual property

• Attendance

• General code of conduct

Empower your remote workers with tools and technology

Will your remote workers use their own devices for their work? Or will you supply corporate devices to them? If you choose the first option, you need to ensure that every remote worker is using the same software and the same security features. 

If you’re supplying company equipment to them, you’ll need to preconfigure each device so that each worker can safely access their accounts via the same software.

Streamline your payroll

Managing a remote workforce’s payroll can mean dealing with multiple currencies, scheduling different pay runs, and complying with regional tax regulations. Hiring both permanent and temporary workers can also complicate matters.

Remote allows you to consolidate all your payroll data and processes in one place for timely payments. You can pay your remote workers in their local currency, schedule and monitor all upcoming pay runs, and even review detailed breakdowns of workers’ payroll costs, including their salaries, benefits, expenses, and incentives.