The Mobile Workforce Is Here to Stay

A survey from PwC predicted that the number of mobile employees  will grow by 50 percent by 2020. Mobile work  lends itself to a better work-life balance for employees and has brought productivity gains to companies who have implemented it properly. As a company with virtual workers in nine states, we at Visibility Software  have seen the true benefits of having a mobile workforce.

Quality and Productivity

Your workforce has always been in the office. Now that the organization is changing size, you’ve given some thought to branching out to other locations while letting employees work remotely. The current team has done well in the office, but you’re a little worried about how remote work will impact employee productivity and the quality of work.

Productivity is a consistent area of concern for recruiters and HR pros, especially in regard to teleworkers. However, allowing employees to be a part of a mobile workforce can in fact boost productivity and work quality: 82 percent of job seekers  say they would be more loyal to employers if they offered flexible work options. And as we know, more loyal employees tend to work harder.

Flexibility

Your organization is based in Los Angeles. Your sales team member position has been open for a few months now, and no local job seeker seems to fit the bill. Your recruitment team decides it’s best to start considering candidates outside of the tri-state area. After innumerable hours of screening and interviewing candidates, you’ve found the one, the candidate who most matches your “ideal candidate” persona. The only problem is: she lives in Oklahoma City.

Luckily for you as an employer, the growing ease of workforce mobility does not require that the new hire relocate to the corporate office. With the right tools and the right mentality, employees can work just as effectively from a “mobile office” as they would from the physical headquarters. American companies have been the earliest to adopt this flexible work style — in fact, 90 percent of organizations already approve of these mobile work styles. This mobile workforce ultimately saves organizations in travel and relocation expenses, and makes it easier to find the right talent.

Characteristics

It has been a struggle for you to hire a new sales team manager, but you finally found the one in New York City. Now you have to consider the cost. Do you want to spend the money to relocate them? Or do you trust in their personal characteristics and skills enough to allow them to be part of your mobile workforce?

It takes a certain type of person to be able to work from the solitude of their own home office. The lack of personal contact and supervision can make it rather difficult for some employees to successfully work from home. However, there are some characteristics that make some workers better suited to be a part of the mobile workforce than others. Sam Morris, product marketing director at Attachmate, says the three top qualities of employees that work especially well in mobile positions are :

●      Mobile employees constantly update their statuses.

●      Mobile employees use a variety of tools and applications.

●      Mobile employees are almost exclusively results-oriented.

It takes a certain kind of employee to be exceedingly successful as a part of the mobile workforce, but almost any employee be a productive telecommuter, as long as they have access to the right tools and training. Companies who adopt the mobile workforce see the benefits to corporate accounts (e.g., fewer relocation expenses), employee loyalty, employee productivity, and retention.

The highly beneficially, increasingly popular mobile workforce is here to stay — so take advantage of it today!