Open up a World of Talent

From start to finish, Broadlight Global is a reliable and effective partner in building successful remote teams.

Published on
March 29, 2023
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What About Building Remote Teams?

The trend of building remote teams – be that nearshore or further afield – has become a go-to strategy for many organisations looking to scale their business and expand their reach. But making it work can be complicated. It requires thorough planning up front to make the best choice for your organisation.

Remote teams can work well, and while this approach has many benefits – like increased flexibility and cost savings – there are also potential challenges that must be considered. This includes maintaining consistency across team members, fostering a cohesive team culture, promoting wellbeing, and maximising overall effectiveness.

Planning, putting in place the right safeguards and integrating with your existing teams is key. Done right it can work very well and the availability of talent at competitive salary levels can increase significantly. Done badly and it can be an expensive and disruptive mistake that does not lead to the business benefits sought.

If an organisation has little or no experience setting up remote teams, having a trusted partner to provide advice, risk analysis, and opportunity analysis can be invaluable. At Broadlight, our team can help you to workshop the precise details. We approach staffing from a holistic perspective, considering your desired business outcomes and leveraging technology and resources to achieve those goals. By prioritising early planning around key factors such as location, time zones, skill sets, and labour laws, you can set your project up for success and avoid any unpleasant surprises along the way.

If you're planning a new project or initiative, it's important to consider a range of key factors early on. Here are just a few things to keep in mind:

Have an ambassador as the first boots on the ground.

Unless your senior management or leadership team are relocating to the chosen geography you need a local ambassador who is going to be the conduit for the management team and who is going to deal with any issues that arise in situ. In addition, it will be necessary for senior management to visit fairly regularly. It’s important to show a presence and connect the remote team to the rest of the organisation to avoid- creating silos. Efficiency, velocity, communication and wellbeing all stem from being a close-knit team, even if they’re working from afar.

Choose support wisely when planning your remote team.

There are many organisations that claim to be knowledgeable in this area, including local vendors. Some excel at planning but struggle with delivery, others can deliver a product but more often than not won’t deliver the business benefits sought. Choosing wisely is very important. If you are trying to get better value from a different geography, it pays to be conservative and risk-averse. The commercial engagement should be clear (avoid contracts with increases allowed part-way through), clear staging of outcomes should be known, and delivery against the plan should unlock rewards.

Research the true over-headed cost of building the new team.

You need to compare the true overhead cost against UK market rates, as well as factor in the HR and tax laws that apply. Also, consider the talent pool unique to each location and do your homework to understand historical data on salaries. Some regions are very rapidly changing which can affect your cost-benefit analysis in the short, medium and long term.

Plan ahead.

To summarise, building a remote team requires lots of careful planning and consideration. While there are many factors to weigh up, here are some important ones that we have learned through our experience.

Researching and Evaluating Potential Locations
  • Evaluate geographies against each other by comparing key factors
  • Research available talent in the market
  • Look into labour and employment laws
  • Consider working hours and patterns

Post-Location Decision
  • Choose a suitable office location
  • Plan out timelines for hiring
  • Evaluate the hiring process

Implementing Your Plan
  • Register the legal entity for your business
  • Benchmark success and establish review points to track progress
  • Clearly define commercials
  • Choose appropriate tools

Improving Over Time
  • Foster a culture of continuous improvement and establish shared ways of working
  • Measure productivity regularly to identify areas for improvement and ensure high performance

This is not an exhaustive list, and there may be other factors to consider based on the specific needs of each client. The more thorough you are, the more comprehensive and clear the plan, and the better the outcomes. The knowledge we have gained from building remote teams – both for clients and internally – is something we are eager to share. We have already navigated the challenges and risks so we’re well-equipped to help guide you towards success.

To ensure successful outcomes for our clients, we have discovered two critical factors. Firstly, we leverage our in-house engineering team to screen and vet potential remote employees. Secondly, we conduct assessments that evaluate both technical and soft skills in collaboration with our clients. Moreover, we embrace a OneTeam philosophy to build cohesive, high-performing remote teams.

From start to finish, Broadlight Global are a reliable and effective partner in building successful remote teams. We have a track record of delivering outstanding, long-lasting results for our clients, and we look forward to continuing to build successful remote teams with our partners in the future.

Get in touch to talk about how we can support you and your organisation.

Contributors
No items found.

What About Building Remote Teams?

The trend of building remote teams – be that nearshore or further afield – has become a go-to strategy for many organisations looking to scale their business and expand their reach. But making it work can be complicated. It requires thorough planning up front to make the best choice for your organisation.

Remote teams can work well, and while this approach has many benefits – like increased flexibility and cost savings – there are also potential challenges that must be considered. This includes maintaining consistency across team members, fostering a cohesive team culture, promoting wellbeing, and maximising overall effectiveness.

Planning, putting in place the right safeguards and integrating with your existing teams is key. Done right it can work very well and the availability of talent at competitive salary levels can increase significantly. Done badly and it can be an expensive and disruptive mistake that does not lead to the business benefits sought.

If an organisation has little or no experience setting up remote teams, having a trusted partner to provide advice, risk analysis, and opportunity analysis can be invaluable. At Broadlight, our team can help you to workshop the precise details. We approach staffing from a holistic perspective, considering your desired business outcomes and leveraging technology and resources to achieve those goals. By prioritising early planning around key factors such as location, time zones, skill sets, and labour laws, you can set your project up for success and avoid any unpleasant surprises along the way.

If you're planning a new project or initiative, it's important to consider a range of key factors early on. Here are just a few things to keep in mind:

Have an ambassador as the first boots on the ground.

Unless your senior management or leadership team are relocating to the chosen geography you need a local ambassador who is going to be the conduit for the management team and who is going to deal with any issues that arise in situ. In addition, it will be necessary for senior management to visit fairly regularly. It’s important to show a presence and connect the remote team to the rest of the organisation to avoid- creating silos. Efficiency, velocity, communication and wellbeing all stem from being a close-knit team, even if they’re working from afar.

Choose support wisely when planning your remote team.

There are many organisations that claim to be knowledgeable in this area, including local vendors. Some excel at planning but struggle with delivery, others can deliver a product but more often than not won’t deliver the business benefits sought. Choosing wisely is very important. If you are trying to get better value from a different geography, it pays to be conservative and risk-averse. The commercial engagement should be clear (avoid contracts with increases allowed part-way through), clear staging of outcomes should be known, and delivery against the plan should unlock rewards.

Research the true over-headed cost of building the new team.

You need to compare the true overhead cost against UK market rates, as well as factor in the HR and tax laws that apply. Also, consider the talent pool unique to each location and do your homework to understand historical data on salaries. Some regions are very rapidly changing which can affect your cost-benefit analysis in the short, medium and long term.

Plan ahead.

To summarise, building a remote team requires lots of careful planning and consideration. While there are many factors to weigh up, here are some important ones that we have learned through our experience.

Researching and Evaluating Potential Locations
  • Evaluate geographies against each other by comparing key factors
  • Research available talent in the market
  • Look into labour and employment laws
  • Consider working hours and patterns

Post-Location Decision
  • Choose a suitable office location
  • Plan out timelines for hiring
  • Evaluate the hiring process

Implementing Your Plan
  • Register the legal entity for your business
  • Benchmark success and establish review points to track progress
  • Clearly define commercials
  • Choose appropriate tools

Improving Over Time
  • Foster a culture of continuous improvement and establish shared ways of working
  • Measure productivity regularly to identify areas for improvement and ensure high performance

This is not an exhaustive list, and there may be other factors to consider based on the specific needs of each client. The more thorough you are, the more comprehensive and clear the plan, and the better the outcomes. The knowledge we have gained from building remote teams – both for clients and internally – is something we are eager to share. We have already navigated the challenges and risks so we’re well-equipped to help guide you towards success.

To ensure successful outcomes for our clients, we have discovered two critical factors. Firstly, we leverage our in-house engineering team to screen and vet potential remote employees. Secondly, we conduct assessments that evaluate both technical and soft skills in collaboration with our clients. Moreover, we embrace a OneTeam philosophy to build cohesive, high-performing remote teams.

From start to finish, Broadlight Global are a reliable and effective partner in building successful remote teams. We have a track record of delivering outstanding, long-lasting results for our clients, and we look forward to continuing to build successful remote teams with our partners in the future.

Get in touch to talk about how we can support you and your organisation.

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