The labor market remains highly competitive. Despite the macro prospects, we continue to see unemployment levels reaching numbers close to minimum records with July at 3.5%,¹ which is even lower than the best months pre-pandemic, changing all the economic projections.

Ignoring the ability to hire and offer remote jobs won’t only be more challenging in the long run, as the active population continues to shrink and we continue to live in a word that offers more opportunities than ever (e.g., Uberization of services, remote jobs, internet of things (IoT), connected world, etc.). We come up with pain points when we mix macroeconomics and employees continuing to prefer remote work.

Remote Work Remains the Preference and Norm

According to the Teleperformance Business Insights Lab report 5 Key Trends for How Remote Work and Consumer Spending Have Changed Forever, more than 91% of TP employees prefer remote work or working-from-home due these benefits:

• 39% believe that it allows for an improved work/life balance
• 37% believe that it is good for their mental health
• 37% believe that they are more productive working from home

Based on these insights, companies that offer remote or hybrid (a combination of remote and in-house) options are and will be favored by employees and jobseekers.

The benefits of remote work extend to organizations, as many of Teleperformance’s clients experienced performance improvements and saw the advantages of remote work firsthand during the pandemic.

Given the overwhelming preference for remote work, the question becomes where can companies find talents, and how can they successfully get them onboard?

The Location-agnostic Approach

It should not be controversial to say that employees should be hired, and teams must be built on skill sets and experience, not on location, as thinking otherwise could be very limiting and unprofitable.

This is no longer rocket science, we as society understand today better than ever the work can be done “anywhere.” Humans care more about the quality of the service and less about its location.

Organizations that embrace a progressive and forward-thinking mindset but lack the infrastructure to carry out this approach can partner with a trusted and proven third-party service provider, as it makes more sense cost and operation-wise than attempting to do it in-house.

At Teleperformance we offer companies a hyper-agile sourcing model, our cloudshoring is a work-from-anywhere (WFA) approach where our clients benefit from the ability to combine talents:

• Onshore: Talent supporting clients in the served country
• Nearshore: Talent supporting clients in a near country
• Offshore: Talent supporting client in operations overseas

Through cloudshoring, companies bring real advances for their business, such as:

• Access to cost-effective service delivery locations.
• Access to unlimited hiring and access to a broad and skilled talent pool. ​
• Elimination of hiring frontiers
• Reduced lead time and higher flexibility for growth, seasonality, and unplanned staffing challenges
• Optimized efforts associated with partnership management ​by removing the need to interact with multiple suppliers
• Easier process integration and consistency across markets through our connected teams
• Creation of frictionless expansion strategies
• Unmatched business resilience with ​strategic geographical talent allocation​ (e.g., health crisis, natural disaster, or event strikes)

Whether the economy is booming or in recession, companies will always look for the best talent, sometimes only in areas served by offices. They must decide between the office and having the right talent to fill their gaps and demands. While returning to the office, in some cases, may seem a reasonable decision – as facilities are empty, while continuing to incur costs, and having everyone back satisfies the missing human connection – developing a work-at-home, best-in-class operating model, will offset those reasons with fair benefits in the long run.

The simplest way to qualify this statement is to ask yourself if you would not hire the best resources at the best cost you found in a location where you do not have an office to fill a specific need.

When the Return to Office Mandate Backfired

Three significant reports collectively portray a concerning situation: The Greenhouse Candidate Experience Report, the Federal Reserve's Survey of Household Economics and Decision-making (SHED), and Unispace's "Returning for Good" report.²

According to Unispace, nearly half (42%) of companies that enforced office returns experienced more employee attrition than expected, and nearly a third (29%) encountered recruitment difficulties. Essentially, they were caught off guard by these issues, despite anticipating some level of attrition.

This wasn't entirely unexpected. The Greenhouse report indicates that a remarkable 76% of employees are willing to seek new opportunities if their companies abandon flexible work schedules. Additionally, historically underrepresented groups are 22% more inclined to explore other options if flexibility is eliminated.

The SHED survey underscores the seriousness of the matter, likening the dissatisfaction of transitioning from a flexible work model to a traditional one to a 2 to 3% reduction in pay.

In the next installments, I will continue exploring the advantages of embracing remote work now that it’s still in its infancy and what remote operations entail, necessitating a solid partnership with an experienced and proven provider. See you in the next blog!

Sources:

[1] https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/unemployment-rate

[2] https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/the-damaging-results-of-the-mandated-return-to-office-is/454043