How does hiring Remote Developers reduce Development Costs?
The global workforce is rapidly shifting towards remote and distributed teams. According to a Gallup poll, over 43% of employees work remotely at least some of the time. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend dramatically. Even companies that were previously reluctant to allow remote work have transitioned employees to working from home.
Several top myths about remote developers include being more efficient than onsite workers, their management needing to be more robust, or the notion that remotely establishing a team culture can be hard. However, research indicates remote developers are more productive due to reduced distractions. Any management issues can be addressed through the application of well-refined practices. Furthermore, investing in team bonding activities as well as collaboration tools can foster a robust remote culture.
While challenges are certainly associated with managing a distributed workforce, the benefits often outweigh the difficulties. Hire the best remote developers that are experienced and can significantly boost productivity while reducing the development costs for businesses.
Having said that you might be wondering how’s that actually possible. So let’s look at how it can be possible.
Hire Remote Developers for enhanced cost efficiency
Access to Specialized Talent and Larger Talent Pools
One of the biggest advantages of building and managing a remote development team is accessing specialized talent across geographies. You gain access to a global talent pool by keeping your search open to developers in your city or country. This is incredibly valuable for finding developers with expertise in newer or less common programming languages and frameworks.
Rather than competing for local talent with other companies in your area, you can hire the best developers for specific roles regardless of where they live. This results in building a stronger and more capable engineering team.
Access to worldwide talent also allows hiring remote developers from countries with lower living costs. This translates into significant cost savings compared to hiring locally since you can pay competitive local salaries in countries with lower average pay.
Increased Productivity from a Focused Work Environment
Numerous studies have found that remote developers are more productive than their counterparts. Knowing when to hire dedicated remote developers is the key. Some of the factors contributing to this boost in productivity include:
● Fewer distractions: Remote workers avoid the disruptions inherent to office environments — conversations, meetings, workplace politics, noise, etc. This allows them to achieve greater focus and flow.
● Flexible schedules: Remote developers can work at times that has been decided mutually by both. Here the developers tend to opt for a time that match their personal chronobiology and energy levels. This helps them to balance focused work with breaks. Also, whenever there is an urgent requirement they can happily pitch in with a few extra hours to get the product out on time.
● No commuting: Eliminating back-and-forth commutes frees up several hours in a developer’s day. Reduced fatigue and stress further improve productivity.
● Results-focused work: A team of remote developers tend to take greater ownership of work and become more results-driven. Based on their experience and expertise they do not require a manager all the time looking out for them. Thus, Output becomes a bigger priority than Facetime in an office.
Several tools and practices can further boost the productivity of remote teams. These include asynchronous communication, documentation, project management software, virtual standups, and collaboration apps.
Cost Savings Beyond Salaries
While lower salaries are an obvious cost benefit of hiring remote developers, several other factors result in major cost savings:
Infrastructure and Office Costs
With a remote engineering team, you avoid physical offices and infrastructure expenditures. This includes:
● Rent for office spaces, meeting rooms, cafeterias, etc.
● Purchase of office equipment and supplies
● Utilities like internet and electricity costs
● Food, snacks, and amenities for employees
● Office administration, maintenance, and management costs
Infrastructure costs associated with developers can be a huge recurring expense for technology companies. Even 5–10 remote developers eliminate the need to expand your physical office space. All this will be taken care by the company you hire developers from.
Reduced Travel Costs
Distributed teams reduce the need for costly business travel in multiple ways:
● No travel costs for interviewing candidates located out-of-state or overseas
● Remote meetings over video chat instead of flying team members for face-to-face meetings
● No travel reimbursements or expenses for remote employees visiting headquarters
● Less travel for training, team building, sales meetings, etc.
Hiring experienced developers team from a development service providing company makes it a lot easier for the businesses. Tools like Zoom, Webex, Skype, and GoToMeeting facilitate seamless remote meetings at a fraction of travel costs.
Higher Retention Saves Recruitment costs
Several studies have found that remote work culture has higher job satisfaction rates and thus are less likely to quit. The dedicated developers working remotely appreciate the flexibility, lack of commute, and better work/life balance. The developers are thus motivated to give their best resulting in better productivity.
Lower developer turnover reduces expenses associated with hiring and onboarding, such as:
● Recruitment costs for finding and vetting candidates
● Costs related to lose in productivity as new hires ramp up
● Training and management costs for new hires
● Costs associated with delayed projects due to departures
Retaining your best remote developers avoids these replacement costs and disruptions.
Challenges of Managing Remote Teams
Despite the many advantages, managing remote engineering teams does come with some unique challenges, including:
● Communication barriers: Lack of in-person interactions can lead to miscommunications. It’s important to over-communicate through documentation, meetings, chat tools, and video conferences.
● Project management: Juggling projects across distributed teams in multiple time zones requires experienced project managers. Tools like JIRA, Trello, Asana, and Wrike help.
● Security and compliance: Sensitive customer data must be handled securely in remote work environments. Technical solutions, along with security policies, are required.
● Different work styles: Remote developers have more autonomy over when and how they work. Managers need to accommodate different work styles and evaluate performance more objectively.
Despite these challenges, thousands of development teams have demonstrated that distributed teams can function cohesively and deliver great results. You can build an incredibly talented and productive remote engineering team with the right processes, tools, and management practices.
Best Practices for Managing Remote Developers Successfully
For best tips to communicate with development teams, you’ll want to approach them like you’re all together, working toward a common goal. It’s not just about throwing orders around; it’s about fostering collaboration and understanding.
Communicate Goals, Deadlines, and Expectations
Ensure your remote developers have clarity on priorities, deadlines, and performance expectations. Set clear guidelines around work hours and availability. Overcommunication through documentation is better than assuming things are implicitly understood.
Invest in Collaboration Tools
The right software tools go a long way in keeping remote teams connected. This includes messaging apps like Slack, video chat platforms like Zoom and Google Hangouts, project management systems like Jira, and documentation tools like Confluence. Automation and chatbots can further streamline remote processes.
Build a Strong Culture of Trust and Accountability
Trust that your remote developers will fulfill their responsibilities while holding them accountable for projects and deadlines. Have them report on progress and blockers regularly. Foster direct communication and responsibility.
Enable Seamless Onboarding for Remote Developers
Onboarding your dedicated remote developers requires meticulous documentation on guidelines, tools, systems, and processes. Enable them to speed through checklists, training, and mentoring rapidly. Have them shadow other experienced developers in the team initially before working independently.
Facilitate Informal Communication and Team Bonding
Remember to consider the importance of relationship building and team bonding. Enable daily standups and water cooler chat through team chat channels. Organize occasional offsite get-togethers and team outings for face time.
Monitor Productivity Rather Than Activity
Avoid micromanaging remote developers based on activity metrics like keystrokes, commits, etc. Focus more on evaluating their actual productivity and output. Quantify progress through project management tools.
Standardize Processes and Best Practices
Document standardized processes around your technology stack, tools, code testing, security, documentation, etc. This enables consistency across remote teams. Support developers through mentoring programs.
Evaluate Different Collaboration Structures
Consider grouping your remote developers into dedicated product teams rather than functional teams. Or try more collaborative organizational models like Holacracy. Figure out what works best for your project.
Key Takeaways on Leveraging Remote Development Teams
Here are some of the key highlights of successfully leveraging remote engineering teams:
● Access specialized technical talent globally and choose from large talent pools
● Boost developer productivity by facilitating focused work environments
● Realize major cost savings on office infrastructure, travel, and employee costs
● Overcome communication and management challenges through best practices
● Invest in collaboration tools and project management systems
● Focus on productivity outcomes rather than activity metrics
● Build a culture of accountability, trust, and transparency
● Onboard remote developers effectively and mentor them
● Facilitate informal connections and camaraderie among teams
The benefits of building distributed development teams outweigh the challenges involved. With the right processes and management structure, remote developers can significantly boost productivity while cutting costs.
The future of work is increasingly remote — adapting to distributed teams can give your business access to world-class talent and enhanced productivity. You can choose Prismetric to be your tech-partner and select the best dedicated developers based on the expertise and experience you require to build your product.
