Remote work arrangements are no longer ‘good-to-haves’ for many professionals and business owners in today’s workplace. Companies are now adopting remote working arrangements to offer people better flexibility over their work schedules, allowing people to work at times when they are most productive and not at the expense of their other commitments.
Flexi and remote work arrangements also allow companies to attract a wider talent pool and to retain talent for their businesses. This strategy to attract and retain the best talent is especially pertinent in sectors facing skills shortage, such as in the technology field.
As a business owner yourself, you and your team might already be working from home at least one day a week or remotely in different locations. Your team might be made up of members in various geographical locations and time zones and would rely on electronic means such as Skype, WhatsApp or even email to communicate. Such a virtual team arrangement was unheard of in the past, when the Internet economy had not yet mature as it has now.
Thus, given the relatively recent debut and popularity of remote work and virtual teams, managing a virtual team can entail various pros and cons.
Pro 1: Increased Productivity
One advantage of managing a virtual team is having a potential increase in employee’s productivity. The saying that many professionals do their best work when they are not in the office may hold true to a certain extent. Happier employees with more flexibility would likely translate into increased productivity at work.
With the prospect of the daily commute to work removed, some team members can channel in their best hours of the day into delivering quality output as opposed to being stuck somewhere in the city traffic on the way to work.
Besides, technological kits in the market such as Trello and Slack can cater to virtual teams and increase productivity due to their emphasis on teamwork collaboration, knowledge sharing and project management.
Instead of relying on tiresome email chains that could reduce office productivity, these technological kits encourage more focused collaborative work that cuts out on the clutter of office gossip and unnecessary conversations at work.
Pro 2: Talent Retention
A key feature of managing virtual teams would be that you can better retain talented team members if their circumstances change and they need to relocate.
Your virtual workplace system can retain this team member of yours, thus helping you save money and time on hiring and training a new team member.
Pro 3: Widening Your Talent Market
Besides retaining existing talent in your business, having a virtual team enables you to attract more skills that were hitherto unavailable. You can hire more experienced employees both within and beyond your industry as well as hire people who do not wish to relocate to where you physically are.
You will also have greater access to talent (geographical wise) because of your virtual team arrangement can and this can potentially help make your business more valuable the long run.
Pro 4: Cost Savings
Without an office, you can save a great deal on office rent and hence save on one of the largest overheads for many small businesses. Providing some allowances for your virtual team members to set up their home offices may also be only a fraction of the total costs of setting up your own brick-and-mortar office space, especially in space-scarce Singapore.
Pro 5: Serve A Wider Range Of Clients
With a virtual team across locations and time zones, your business can also serve more markets across the corresponding locations and time zones your team members operate in. You can also provide round-the-clock customer service via an international phone line and thus reach a wider client distribution.
Read Also: 4 Things That Small Business Owners In Singapore Should Know Before Paying Salaries
For every business decision that you make, there are usually both pros and cons that you need to consider. Here are some disadvantages that you should also consider before deciding whether or not to introduce virtual teams into your business.
Con 1: Communication And Teamwork Issues
Despite the abundance of useful virtual collaboration tools available, not all team members on your team are necessarily experts at using technology to facilitate international communication. To a certain extent, you can only be as effective as the least technology savvy individual in your group. That’s because the last thing you want happening is to have miscommunication due to technology.
Con 2: Difficulties In Time Management
A global team can present you with a host of challenges in organizing international virtual meetings given that your staffs are in different time zones. Without empathy and robust leadership skills, you will find it an uphill task to coordinate your team.
Con 3: Less Visibility In Work Outcomes
Sometimes, your employees might be keen to know how other employees are performing on the job to see where they are in their roles. As a manager, you have to take steps to increase transparency in work outcome measures.
For instance, you might have to spend time investing in project management software tools that enable more quantifiable work outcomes and objectives to motivate your team to do better and to know how they are performing.
Con 4: Lack Of Team Cohesion
A somber consequence of a poorly managed virtual team would be a lack of cohesion among team members. When different team members have different goals, your team output can suffer from confusion, lowered team morale and poorer quality work. Thus, you would need to be an effective manager in establishing a clear-cut vision and mission for your team to ensure clarity dominates your team dynamics.
To Go Virtual Or Not?
This post is not to claim that virtual teams are the best way forward for your business. Neither does this post claim to show that the pros outweigh the cons of virtual teams.
Whether virtual teams are right for your business depends on how you evaluate the situation and your business needs to see if they are feasible.
Read Also: Can Freelancing Be A Sustainable Long-Term Career In Singapore?
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