What Does Flexibility Mean For A Remote Workforce?
4th Jul 2022
63% of candidates want remote work according to our data on Flexa, compiled from tens of thousands of searches over the past year. Yet only 25% of companies offer remote working.
It is clear that freedom and choice matter hugely for candidates, yet companies are not yet keeping up with demand.
For the 25% of companies that are offering fully remote working, let's see what it looks like for them.
Remote working does not mean flexible working
Just because a company is fully remote it does not automatically mean it’s flexible. If you’re stuck at your desk 9-6pm it’s not very flexible, regardless of your location.How companies be fully remote and flexible
We have found that remote companies are very often some of the most flexible companies, here are some ways of how they are doing it.Freedom of location
Freedom of location is number one.
Being remote should naturally come with the ability to travel and work from anywhere that you feel like working. Given the tax and legal implications of hiring from anywhere, there are two ways that companies usually approach this:
Firstly, by hiring from anywhere within the country that the company is legally registered in, but allowing employees to work from anywhere for a defined number of days each year. This is usually around 45 days in order to avoid double tax liabilities, but it varies by country.
Secondly, by using an employer of record, such as Deel, to employ someone outside of the country that the company is registered in. This means that you are able to hire people that reside almost anywhere in the world.Flexible hours
Remote companies are also usually excellent at offering flexible hours, as their employees tend to work across multiple different time zones. Depending on the geographical spread of employee locations, companies may set core hours or even abandon set hours completely, moving to total asynchronous working using tools like Slack, Loom, and Google, to minimise meetings and synchronous meetings.
Flexible companies also often embrace different working patterns, including compressed hours, embracing part-time working, or a 4 day working week. Although, we have not seen incidences of this increase in remote companies versus hybrid companies.
Company benefits
Flexibility doesn’t stop at time or location. When a company doesn’t have an office, your company benefits take centre stage, as there’s no office to be able to offer free drinks, massages, or team lunches in.
Here are some examples of the benefits remote companies are offering:
- Paddle’s Airbnb stipend to encourage employees to travel and work from wherever they want.
- Capdesk’s incredibly generous family leave, which includes fertility and adoption leave.
- ByMiles’ mental health support through Spill and free professional coaching too.
- 45 days of paid holiday here at Flexa Careers.
- Dog friendly environments to improve staff happiness and morale.