Still having doubts about hiring remote developers, and uncertain whether it’s the right choice for your engineering team?
The shift to remote really isn’t as daunting as it seems.
From a boost in productivity to lower overhead costs, the benefits of hiring remote team members are tangible.
But don’t take my word for it.
I dug into studies and stats to understand why many companies — including Stripe and Coffee Meets Bagel among others — have decided to go remote with their dev teams.
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1. Remote developers are more productive
Software developers’ self-rated productivity is more strongly related to task variety and ability to work remotely.
“What Predicts Software Developers’ Productivity?,” IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering
“Remote work allows me to work in the environment and at the time I am the most focused,” says Ziad. He adds that being an Arc developer gives him the flexibility to organize his day in a way that he can work the most effectively. Remember that every individual is unique, and this translates to productivity levels across a 24-hour period, too.
If a software developer is most productive between midnight and 3 AM, then you may never be able to make the most of their talent if he or she is required to do a 9-5, or even 11-7 workday.
Try encouraging your team to work when they’re most “in the zone” — no matter the time of day. Instead of spending 4 hours waking up while completing a task at 10 am, they may be able to easily run through it in 2 hours at 1 am. This ends up being a huge benefit for you, both if you’re paying a developer per hour and increasing the speed of completing a project.
Read More: Good vs Great Developers: How to Tell the Difference & Hire the Best
2. No matter how niche your requirements, you can find the right talent
41% of employers say that talent shortage is an issue they face when hiring developers.
2019 Developer Skills Report, HackerRank
Great developers are in high demand. This makes it especially difficult to find one if you’re looking for a very specific tech stack or niche technology, such as a developer skilled in a bleeding-edge technology (e.g. progressive web apps) or someone to work on your legacy Fortran systems.
When opening up the option for remote developer applicants, you expand your talent pool significantly. This will allow you to recruit developers anywhere, including those who may not want to relocate for a role or enjoy the flexibility of working remotely.
3. Lower infrastructure costs
NVIDIA spent $370 million on their headquarters design to “to reflect their own unique personalities, to attract the best talent, and inspire employees to collaborate.”
Venturebeat
Appealing and architecturally designed workplaces, in a great location, and fitted out with the best technology infrastructure and systems are very expensive to build. Hiring remote means you don’t need to spend company funds on a physical workplace designed to attract talent (and keep them engaged).
Instead, hiring remote developers means they choose the place that makes them happiest to work, whether it’s a coffee shop, co-working space, home, or overlooking the beach in Spain. They bring their favorite laptop and reliable internet connection with them wherever they go — you don’t necessarily need to include these in your package either.
You save money and they get to choose their environment and tech infrastructure, so it’s a win for both parties.
Read More: How to Build and Maintain a Distributed Software Engineering Team
You can also try Arc, your shortcut to the world’s best remote talent:
⚡️ Access 350,000 top developers, designers, and marketers
⚡️ Vetted and ready to interview
⚡️ Freelance or full-time
Try Arc and hire top talent now →
4. Lower employment costs
Approximate cost of hiring a full-time developer with 5 years experience ($198,974) vs hiring a freelance developer ($107,400-$179,000).
When hiring a full-time employee instead of a freelancer, you need to take into account their salary and legally required benefits (Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, etc.), insurance (medical, dental, and life), PTO, retirement, bonuses, overtime, and employment training tax. These costs can really add up.
When hiring a remote team member, these expenses are in the domain of the person you hired. You can choose whether you’d like to add benefits to make your project more attractive, but there is no expectation to do so.
Compliance and payroll can be difficult, especially across borders. One solution we recommend is Deel, a platform that simplifies the process for you and is built specifically for a worldwide workforce. With Deel, you can onboard remote employees and contractors in just minutes, as well as manage payments to more than 150 countries and create locally compliant contracts. (For full disclosure, Deel is one of our partners. Learn more about our partnership and get a special signup offer exclusive to Arc clients and readers here!)
5. Experienced developers who work remotely are more motivated
After implementing Scrum, there is a significant difference in the motivation levels of experienced remote team members.
Motivation and Autonomy in Global Software Development, Global Sourcing of Digital Services: Micro and Macro Perspectives
When you empower remote developers with the right systems and a sense of autonomy, you’ll find they are more motivated.
The danger in hiring remotely is when you don’t have a solid onboarding process, or you are not prepared with the right systems in place to allow for fluid work and communications.
Leveraging cloud platforms like AWS or DigitalOcean will allow your developers to work without boundaries by adopting agile processes, and as a result will increase team cohesion, knowledge-sharing, and ownership. Modern communication tools (with automation) like Slack also help more experienced developers stay motivated and connected throughout a project.
Read More: Temp Agencies vs Freelance Platforms: Which is Better for Hiring Developers?
6. Availability around the clock (e.g. DevOps)
End users expect always on and incredible speed. To make that happen, tech companies need to match with continuous ways to track consumer feedback, fix bugs, and release the latest and greatest product.
Terminal
We live in a world in which end users are accustomed to instant gratification and immediate notifications. If Facebook is down, people expect to be notified on Facebook’s Twitter feed and the service to be back up in minutes, not hours. If there’s a bug in the software we’re using, then we need it patched now!
With the traditional workday, this is hard to achieve unless you have teams working the night shift. But why not consider working with remote developers? It’s possible to have a round-the-clock team, with an overlapping schedule or changeover meetings. This type of arrangement not only satisfies work schedules and end-users, but it also supports continuous development, continuous integration, and continuous deployment.
7. Avoid the pain of trying to sponsor a visa
There are a total of 85,000 H1-B (international) US skilled working visas, and it’s gamed towards tech giants.
Recent Changes To The H1B Visa Program And What Is Coming In 2019, Forbes
85,000 H1-B visas is not a huge pool to work with. If you’ve found your ideal candidate but they’re not based in your country (and you’re not a giant tech company), then it is likely very difficult to get that candidate into the country. This is due to immigration policy changes, which cause long wait times to bring in an overseas applicant, extra costs incurred to the company, and complicated legal hoops.
For many companies, this process simply isn’t worth it. Hiring remote developers, without relocation, makes the process infinitely easier on your end (and more cost-effective, too).
Read More: Hiring Developers Online: Freelance vs Recruitment Agencies vs In-House
8. Increased employee retention rate
By 2020, organizations that support a “choose-your-own-work-style” culture will boost employee retention rates by more than 10%.
Crafting Workspaces that Enhance the Employee Experience, Gartner
For millennials, in particular, employers are struggling to keep up with changing work/life mindsets. A Gallup report shows that 60% of millennials are open to new job opportunities, and 21% changed roles within the past year. Job security? They simply aren’t interested.
So how do you address this job-fickle workforce? One way that’s been proven to help is by letting these candidates choose how they work. If a developer wants to work remotely, then it can help keep them satisfied with their job and retain them longer.
9. Your company will be prepared for the remote work future
Automattic, Buffer, GitLab, Invision, and Zapier all have from 100 to nearly 1,000 remote employees.
Remote Workers and Nomads Represent the Next Tech Hub, TechCrunch
The future of work is remote — and that means you don’t need to relocate to a tech hub to run a successful business.
With an increasingly remote workforce, you should be setting up these systems now to remain competitive in the future. Don’t be the company that gets left behind because you are unable to attract the right talent to get the job done.
Read More: How to Conduct a Remote Technical Interview Successfully: Tools & Tips
10. Capitalize on to-the-point communication and collaboration skills
For more complex or personal ideas, (use) video conferencing platforms. On the flipside, it’s just as important to set up channels for friendly banter; tools like Slack or HipChat.
StackOverflow Talent
Developers are tools-based professionals. They’re adept at leveraging different software solutions to do different tasks and picking the right tool for the right job. What this means for you as an employer is that experienced remote workers are already used to a wide range of communication and collaboration platforms. And that means they understand the importance of soft skills like communication and professionalism that are essential to making remote work a success.
Time is money – and successful remote developers know how to effectively utilize the right software and channels to communicate with clients, cutting out extended meeting times, in-person conversations that drag on, and lead to improved coding and review processes, etc.
11. Capture the growing market of digital nomads
Over 4.8 million (US) independent workers currently describe themselves as digital nomads, a growing demographic worldwide.
Digital Nomadism: A Rising Trend, MBO Partners
Many of the world’s top companies allow employees a “gap year,” where employees are able to take time off to travel or move to a role at a different office, and be guaranteed their position when they return.
But with the growing movement towards digital nomadism, there are plenty of people quitting their day jobs to travel the world, freelancing en route to make ends meet, or launching their own businesses at the same time.
Capitalize on this movement towards global freedom by dismissing preconceived notions about “the workplace.” The senior software developer in your team might be living in another country, but he is also equally motivated to work hard on your project in order to support himself.
Read More: Remote Work Glossary: 50+ Words and Phrases on WFH & Virtual Careers
Ready to Hire Remote?
The benefits of hiring remote developers are hard to ignore as the notion of what is considered a workplace continues to shift. Nassim, Engineering Manager at Mailchimp, argues that “remote-first practices benefit everyone,” highlighting some inefficiencies in how teams (particularly ones without remote team members) work today.
If you’re looking to find the right developer for your team, learn more about Arc and how we can help you find the perfect fit for your engineering team.
You can also try Arc, your shortcut to the world’s best remote talent:
⚡️ Access 350,000 top developers, designers, and marketers
⚡️ Vetted and ready to interview
⚡️ Freelance or full-time
