rEMOTE OR oNSITE?

Section 4: Challenges of Onsite Work

• Onsite workers have little day-to-day flexibility, whether it be due to the time their required to be on site, dress codes, or energy levels after work. This lack of flexibility can cause workers to feel a lack of control in their own lives, which can in turn reduce productivity or their drive to succeed. Not only is it important for workers to ensure they don’t over-schedule their day, but it’s also equally as important to ensure enough decompression time or time where nothing is planned so that there is no expectation or responsibility. 
• Businesses also have a responsibility to their workers to ensure that they feel satisfaction and appreciation in their day to day lives, whether that be by allowing for less strict rules/regulations such as dress code, flexible working hours, or time for lunches/breaks.

Section 5: The Hybrid Work Model

• This brings us to the hybrid work model. This is where businesses allow their workers to have remote days in conjunction with their onsite days. This will be either set days decided by the business, such as every Monday and Friday, or a set number of flexible remote days decided by the worker, which they can take at their discretion. 
• This work model enjoys the benefits of both remote and onsite work, and more companies now than ever before are embracing these newer work structures. It may seem like hybrid work is the best of both world, and for local talent that definitely may be the case, although the best work model varies between workers. Increasingly, young millennials prefer fully remote work as opposed to their older counterparts. 
• All that said, it’s important to highlight the main drawback of hybrid work – talent acquisition. Hybrid work requires potential employees to be located within a certain travel distance of the office location. For businesses in large cities, such as NYC or LA, this may not sound like a problem due to the vast population of these cities, but requiring onsite work in any capacity automatically removes a vast majority of potential workers from filling that position. The perfect employee may not be located in the city in which a business is based, and that must be kept in mind when determining what work model to decide on.

Section 6: Finding Remote Positions and Tips for Job Seekers

• Most online job search websites, such as LinkedIn and Indeed, have specific search filters for remote work, making finding remote positions very easy and simple. The difficulty comes from knowing your field and understanding how to search for your desired position. An Analyst position at one company may be called something else at another company, such as a Consultant or a Tester. The number one tip for finding remote positions is refining your search to include all possible variations of the desired job title, as well as expanding the search to include any positions that may have transferrable skills.

Section 7: Reevaluating Onsite Roles for Businesses

• Hybrid and Remote roles are becoming more and more important to potential employees. Reevaluating current onsite positions for remote or hybrid capabilities only serves to benefit business needs. Determining what critical responsibilities require an employee to be onsite and which can be accomplished with the same degree (or better) efficiency and reliability in a remote setting can not only open up potential areas for improvement within the roles already filled, it can also open up the potential to reinvigorate employees in those roles by helping them feel appreciated.

Conclusion

• It’s not hard to see why an overwhelming majority of workers desire some form of remote work. Times are changing and with an evolving workforce comes an evolution of business practices and models as well. Opening up more possibilities for remote and hybrid work not only benefits workers looking for the positions or already in the positions, but it also benefits businesses by allowing them to reevaluate the responsibilities and possibilities of a position. Doing so may reveal that a particular role may be better suited split amongst 2 roles, or that an onsite role that has been historically difficult to fill may be able to be filled remotely. Making those determinations are crucial to effectively managing a growing and evolving workforce, and can only serve to benefit all parties involved.

Do you have QA? Are you struggling to fill QA positions? Or are you curious about understanding how to determine what roles can or cannot be remote? Get in touch with us at ForgeQA and we can help!