Gone are the days when enterprises used to hire dedicated developers from the near-shore region for their software, application, and web development needs. With the advancement in technology over the last few years, remote work culture has been gaining strong momentum. In fact, the concept of working from home has become rampant with the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19). Businesses both large and small alike understand that remote working is the new normal where professionals will be working from remote locations and enterprises have adapted to this new situation since it not only ensures business continuity but also offers a host of benefits to businesses. Before diving deeper into the benefits you can reap when you hire software engineers from a remote location, it’s wise to take a look at some key statistics of remote working.
Before the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19), only 20% of professionals used to work remotely in the United States. However, this number rose to 71% after the pandemic outbreak.
Since the Covid-19 outbreak, there is a significant rise in remote jobs. According to a report, around 55% of businesses globally offer remote jobs in some capacity.
In a study conducted by Global Workplace Analytics, it was found that remote work increased by 140% since 2005.
A survey conducted by Flexjobs reveals that 24% of workers are willing to take a pay cut of 10-20% for working remotely since the flexibility of working from home is vital for them.
Professionals working remotely are 22% more content than their onsite counterparts even after working long hours.
A survey reported by Forbes predicts that by 2025, nearly 70% of the workforce will be working remotely.
Key Benefits of Hiring Remote Developers for SMBs
1) A Wide Pool of Talent
According to a survey conducted by HackerRank, 41% of employers admitted that picking the right talent is one of the biggest challenges faced by them when hiring professionals. Furthermore, nearly 75% of companies (3 out of 4) globally reported talent shortages in 2022 - a staggering 16-year high. What’s more concerning is that the global talent shortage could reach 85.2 million by 2030, as per the US Labor Department. This is where the need for hiring remote professionals comes in. One of the key benefits of hiring remote developers is that it eliminates geographic constraints, which means SMBs are not limited to local developers and can hire talented professionals from any part of the globe. In other words, remote hiring provides SMBs with a wide pool of skilled professionals and allows them to pick the talent that best matches their project requirements.
2) Hiring Remote Developers Lowers Development Cost
When onboarding developers from the near-shore region, businesses need to invest a significant amount of money in the company's infrastructure to provide employees with a well-designed workplace equipped with state-of-the-art technologies. Besides this, enterprises have to bear additional expenses on health coverage, electricity bills, internet, meals, refreshment, and other basic amenities. Fortunately, SMBs can lower operational expenses by hiring developers from remote locations. In other words, remote hiring allows enterprises to bear fewer overhead expenses than they would have if they build an in-house team.
Another important thing to note is that hiring in-house developers may cost you somewhere around $76,800 from the US region, $46,600 from the UK, $54,700 from Germany, and $6700 from India. On the other hand, hiring freelance developers may cost $70 per hour from the United States, $64 from the Middle East, and $49 from Asia. This clearly indicates that hiring freelance developers from the Asian continent would be cost-effective for SMBs.
3) Reduce The Attrition Rate
Remote hiring provides developers the flexibility to work from the comfort of their homes or any other location of their choice. In other words, developers don’t need to commute for hours on a regular basis to reach the workplace. According to a report, employees save around $4,350 by ditching the work commute, while some save up to $3,470 on eating out. Not to mention, the cost added up every time a professional join the office friends for happy hour, go out for a lunch, or grab a coffee on the way to work. In a nutshell, employees save a significant amount of money while working remotely. Furthermore, remote developers have the flexibility of working hours, which keeps them motivated, focussed, and highly productive. When developers are comfortable with remote working and more content with huge savings, they are more likely to stay with the same company, which in turn, reduces the turnover rate of employees.
4) Reduce The Workload of HR Professionals
When you decide to build an in-house team of software developers, the HR department of your company needs to undertake a host of additional recruitment tasks including job posting on multiple portals, organizing a series of interviews, conducting background checks, onboarding, and other manual and recurring activities that consume a significant amount of their time. However, when you hire remote developers from an offshore agency, this cumbersome and time-intensive process of picking the right talent has already been taken care of by the outsourcing agency. The only thing you need to keep in mind is that you partner with the right offshore agency. One of the easiest ways to ensure you partner with the best offshore agency is to begin your search from authoritative platforms such as Clutch, GoodFirms, G2, etc. that provides clients’ reviews and ratings. When you have access to clients’ reviews and ratings, you can easily narrow down your search and shortlist a reliable offshore agency from where you can hire software engineers best suited to your project requirements.
Summing Up
The demand for hiring remote software developers has been rising every year since it comes with a host of benefits to businesses. This may be the reason why SMBs are hiring talented professionals from the offshore region. If you are also looking for seasoned remote software developers for your project, you should religiously follow this comprehensive guide to choose the best talent right the first time.