Marwan Abdelaziz Marwan Abdelaziz is the chief executive officer of Ureed.com Dell . Amazon. Xerox. SAP. What do these companies have in common? They have all shifted their models to be fully or 50 per cent remote, which means a global talent pool, increased productivity, enhanced performance and to top it all, reduced costs. In the past, an office was considered the cornerstone of any business. Nowadays however, and thanks to the pervasiveness of various technologies, the idea of having an office is becoming more redundant and less essential. More businesses are shifting their operations virtually to leverage the benefits of having a remote workforce. As the new remote norm emerges due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic situation, now more than ever, businesses are deviating from the traditional thinking that productivity is contingent upon set hours within an office environment. Instead, the new normal points to a direction for companies to adopt a 100 per cent remote model, or at the very least, outsource many of their business needs to freelancers. …but first, why hire freelancers when you can have a more traditional full-time workforce? Most well-established businesses struggle to embrace the change as it is more difficult to remodel their structure or change how they work. However, the reason why startups thrive in today’s competitive world is because they are flexible enough to work with freelancers. In fact, freelancers can offer flexibility to your startup as they can work around any of your desired schedules. Since freelancers come from all around the world, you will find that most of them can easily adjust to your time zone. They can be your on-call assistance and are typically ready and available online. Additionally, as a startup still experimenting with talent and struggling with onboarding, hiring freelancers is usually a more fitted solution as they are already familiar with your industry and require minimal supervision. This is unlike a full-time employee who still requires your attention for at least three months until they’re familiar with your system, and let’s face it, as a business owner managing a startup, you are probably spread thinly and already being pulled in too many directions. As your time is being consumed up by accounting, operations, planning, budgeting and other management needs, it’s time to look at hiring a freelancer to allow you to get more things done and focus on your core business tasks. When starting your own business, it is essential to keep your overheads to a minimum by ensuring that employee costs will not swallow up your whole budget. This is considered the main attraction of freelancers to business owners as their potential is proven when it comes to saving costs. Having a closer look at the cost comparison between hiring a full-time employee and a freelancer, employers are not entitled to paying additional costs to full-time workers including recruitment and training, taxes, fringe benefits such as medical insurance, paid vacation, equipment and office space. Where to find the right talent […]
