What Is A Distributed Workforce?

There is a very thin line between the winners and the losers in business

. They are differentiated on the basis of how the barriers of location, time, and organizational policies are overcome while dealing with a distributed workforce. Any large corporation needs to balance expansion with the ability to effectively manage their brand across continents while still hiring employees to facilitate. A distributed workforce is a type of workforce where the businesses employees are scattered across the globe and unified through communication advancements and shared platform technology. These employees don't need to be direct employees. They can be contractors, freelancers, or overflow employees. If your business is expanding globally, or just expanding past what you can manage in house, how can you keep your team working as if they were directly under your managerial control?

Many factors have led to the popularity of the distributed workforce model. With freelance employees under a short or long term contractual requirement, business owners are able to minimize the cost and time involved in any project. With businesses that are operating globally, technology like video chat, shared desktops, and CRM software keeps even the most distant workers seem as if they were in your office. If you are using freelancers or salary employees in different locations, scaling your business as well as responding to customers is much simpler than it once was.

Challenges in a distributed workforce can be characterized by the following: time zone issues and cultural boundaries. If your employees are scattered around the world, time inhibits communication. For example, if your company is based in New York City, when you open your doors for the day your satellite office in Australia is already closed. Having a real time conversation is a challenge that needs to be overcome. Though there have been tremendous enhancements in the communication technology, nothing specific can be done about the time difference factor. To compensate, business owners can require a certain segment of the offshore office to work on main office time. For example, the Australian office may have 15 employees and the main office may require 5 of them to work on US time.

Cultural boundaries can also be a huge hurdle. While working across the globe, the firms face challenges that relate to culture, values, and organizational objectives. Some countries don't work on certain days of the week, end their work day early, and can have different holiday structures that can interfere with your business operations. To compensate, make sure that your employees understand your values and the days they are expected to work. With a project completion structure, your employees will need to understand that projects need to be completed by deadline no matter what extra hours may be involved. In the case where employees need to be available during certain hours, you need to make sure that the employees will adhere to your workday and holiday schedule and not the schedule of the parent country.

Carrying on a business with the help of distributed workforce is highly complex as well as challenging. The work gets scattered across the globe and thus it becomes very difficult for the firms to manage it well. The tougher it is for the business, the easier it is for the employee. What this means is that technology has truly enabled people to work anywhere and can create a workplace where the employee in your Ohio office can work just as efficiently out of their home in Milan. Technology has created a structure where the employees can be free and the business owner can keep their operating costs low.

by: VeronicaIsaac

POST COMMENT

What Is An Acceptable Hold Time A Windmill Powered Life The Proven Vortex Tube In The Profession Goyal Assignments Provided The Free Downloads - Cbse Question Bank Based On Cce Do Call Centers Always Need To Work Overtime? What To Do To Get Back With Your Ex Cover Letters Sorts Night Rejuvenation Resveratrol Skin Cream- The Natural Way To Have Glowing Skin Speech Recognition Technology In Call Centers Sigma 24-70mm F/2.8 Ex Dg Hsm Lens-for Fast Focus Response The Future Of Telecom Regulations Improving The Quality Of Your Call Center Le Store Sur Mesure: La Solution Pour Votre Intrieur