Hiring Remote Workers vs. Local Workers | Turing Hire

There are times and situations when hiring remote workers is better for your company, while other times, the opposite is true. Part of being a good manager involves being able to differentiate between these scenarios and make the best hiring decision for the company.

To help you in doing just that, here is a brief guide as to what questions to ask yourself when it comes to hiring locally vs. remotely:

1. Table of Contents

   Toggle

   How long will I need this employee for?
   

   If you’re looking for a long-term employee then hiring someone locally and full-time is your best bet. However, if you just need to bring someone on board to complete a short-term project, you should consider hiring remotely. Remote workers very often operate as freelancers, meaning that they jump from project to project, rather than looking for full-time positions with companies. Due to this, if looking to assign someone to a short-term project, a remote worker will complete the job at a reduced rate, without any long-term commitments necessary.

2. How much money is in the budget for new hires?
   

   The number one reason as to why companies opt for remote employees over local talent, is the cost. Employee benefits, taxes, and so on, wind up costing companies a fortune for every new hire. These expenses can be avoided by hiring a remote worker. For one, remote hires and freelancers don’t require benefits. For another, if you’re hiring remotely from the global market, certain U.S. taxation isn’t a factor, saving you money in that department as well.

3. Are my current employees stuck in a creative rut?
   

   By working with remote workers, you gain access to a diverse group, including members from different disciplines and cultures, from all over the world. Diversity and different viewpoints often lead to innovative breakthroughs and new ideas among teams.
   Introducing remote employees to your existing teams can help spark some fresh, creative ideas and solutions so if your workplace needs to shake things up, hiring remotely may be the way to go.

4. Do I have the necessary tools to work seamlessly with a remote employee?
   

   You typically don’t meet your remote workers and because of this physical gap, communication becomes even more imperative than usual. It’s for this reason that tools such as Skype/ Google Hangouts, Slack, Trello, and Time Doctor become so important. These tools, designed to improve communication between team members (especially remote team members) can help you, as a manager, do everything from keeping in contact with remote employees to monitoring their work hours.
   Before hiring remotely, you should look into these tools and be sure that you know how to access and use them. This could make the difference between a positive experience and a negative one, when it comes to remote workers.

There are many benefits when it comes to hiring remotely, rather than locally. If hiring a remote worker seems like the best fit for your company, it is absolutely something to consider.

If you’re interested in bringing a remote software engineer on board, look into hiring through Turing. Turing matches companies with elite, pre-vetted remote software engineers. By accepting only the top 1% of applicants into our engineer database, (only after they’ve gone through a series of interviews, tests, and background checks), we can guarantee the absolute highest quality remote engineers in the world.

Visit our website to start building your remote team, today.