Working on a Remote Recruiting Team is Better for Your ______
Fill in the Blank
It’s estimated that telecommuting has risen 79 percent since 2005, and 2.6 percent of the American workforce is now composed of remote workers. The percentage would be even larger if it took into account the workforce that telecommutes part-time. In fact, 24 percent of the U.S. workforce reported teleworking at least part of their workweek in 2012, and the percentage has likely increased. Teleworking encourages a positive work/life balance, and it allows employees to have a more flexible schedule, which is why so many employers are offering this style of work to take place within their organizations.
In fact, a recent survey from PGi found that a compelling amount of employers are offering telecommuting technology to employees to help them work remotely. Ninety-one percent of employees in the PGi survey stated that their company had issued them laptops, and 62 percent of employees reported employers had issued them cellphones and/or smartphones. Not only are employers providing the hardware, they’re also granting access to telecommuting tools. A full 75 percent of employees have access to Web conferencing tools, and 76 percent of employees have access to company data via the organization’s virtual private network.
While employers are granting access and providing the technology needed to work remotely, workers are finding that telecommuting doesn’t decrease the opportunity for collaboration like one would assume. In fact, recruiting teams of all sizes can benefit from telecommunication technology, whether they are part of a large corporation’s recruiting department or a small staffing company. Let’s fill in that blank:
Working on a Remote Recruiting Team is Better for Your Career
Working remotely can be better for your career because it can increase productivity, which in turn improves your opportunities for career advancement. On average, a teleworker produces 43 percent more business volume than their colleagues who work in the office. An astonishing 70 percent of employees report that their productivity increases when working remotely, and supervisors are noticing that increase too! In fact, 20-40 percent of supervisors notice that teleworking employees are more productive and are able to complete tasks at higher quality and in less time. Beat that, cubicle-dwellers!
Working on a Remote Recruiting Team is Better for Your Health
Think about all of the stress you feel getting ready for work and getting to work. From the time you smash your alarm clock against the wall, to the moment you slam on your brakes (honk your horn, maybe even throw a mini-tantrum) in early-morning rush hour, your morning can be completely full of stress.
Now, if you worked at home (on your own schedule) you could wake up peacefully, have an extra hour of sleep, and avoid the catastrophes that entail getting to work. Amazingly, 82 percent of teleworkers report experiencing lower stress levels. Sixty-nine percent of teleworkers report missing fewer workdays, and 80 percent feel like they have higher morale when working from home.
When your physical health is better, your mental health is better too. Lower stress levels and higher morale combine to make you a happier and more mentally sound employee in general.
Working on a Remote Recruiting Team is Better for Your Environment
Yes, remote working is better for your work environment (as mentioned above), but it’s actually better for our entire environment. Just think: if more people telecommuted, fewer people would be driving to work, which would decrease the amount of cars on the road, which would reduce traffic and all of the hazardous toxins that destroy our air. Currently, telecommuting reduces U.S. total vehicle miles traveled by 53 billion annually, and if the entire U.S. workforce telecommuted, then 2 billion gallons of gas would be saved annually. Imagine how much our environment would benefit from a telecommuting workforce.
Being a remote worker is better for your health, your career, and your environment. With 80 percent of employees considering remote working as a job perk, and 72 percent of employers reporting that offering the option to work remotely has a high impact on retention rates, it’s obvious that working remotely is a smart choice for all of us. Whether you’re part of a large or small recruiting team, recruiting remotely is possible.
Do you recruit remotely? If so, are you a full-time remote recruiter or part-time remote recruiter? Feel free to share your experience with us in the comments!
