5 Proven Benefits of Creating Remote Jobs in Education

Originally posted on https://workmonger.com/remote-education-jobs/

Offering remote roles isn’t common practice in the education space. In many cases, and especially in more traditional institutions, structuring roles as remote never really cross the hiring team’s mind.

Has your team tinkered with the thought of offering remote education jobs? Have you considered the possibilities and potential of creating remote opportunities? If not, what misconceptions or objections are holding you back? We ask because you could be causing your organization to miss out on great talent!

When you expand job functions in the education sphere and make them more flexible, the caliber of talent you can hireincreases and improves. As a hiring manager, that’s what we’re aiming for!

If you’re on the fence or simply curious about how beneficial telecommuting jobs can be for your education organization, you’re in the right place. In this blog, we explore common misconceptions of remote work, workforce stats concerning remote roles, and five proven benefits of creating remote positions for potential employees.

Let’s dive in!

Credit: Gallup State of the American Workplace 2019 Report

As experts in the education space, we understand some roles require high-touch, in-person engagement. Principals and Instructional coaches are an excellent example of this. However, that isn’t the case for every role.

Defaulting to in-person jobs may seem like the best option, especially if you’re basing your recruiting efforts on common misconceptions about remote employees.

You may wonder if offering remote roles to some employees and not others will pose an issue and upset teammates. Or you may assume remote workers will be less productive when research shows that the opposite is true.

As such, it’s easy to see why many of our talent teams adopt this “We’ve always done it this way” mentality and default to making all of the positions in-person roles.

We get it. 

We understand why an organization might be hesitant to allow remote employees. We were too when we were considering a remote team. John (our CEO) initially wanted to build the team in Austin. In addition to the organization and job responsibilities, he felt the positive aspects of Austin would attract candidates and convince them to consider relocating. After all,  Austin is forward-thinking, exciting, affordable and one of the fastest-growing cities in the country.

He also believed in-person roles were the best way to build and maintain a strong organizational culture. Nevertheless, in the end, he decided to go the remote-team route, and here’s why.

First, John received an increase of qualified, diverse candidates by offering the role as a remote option. Second, when presented with the option of working remote or relocating to Austin, team members opted for the remote role. Third, John was able to find and hire talent far faster by making the roles remote-eligible. And fourth, WorkMonger saved costs by not needing to rent office space. In the end, it was a clear decision.

Below are a few national trends and statistics that back up the claim that remote positions are on the rise.

• Global WorkForce Analytics reports that the remote workforce has grown by 140% since 2005.
• That’s nearly 10x faster than the rest of the workforce or the self-employed.
• Gallup research reveals that 33% of workers would switch jobs if it meant getting a chance to work a more flexible, remote schedule.

Our WorkMonger JobSeekers are no exception; they too show a preference for virtual roles. Here are a few statistics we’ve gathered based on surveys our users have submitted.

• 78% of our WorkMonger JobSeekers are open to virtual roles.
• Our WorkMonger JobSeekers are 18% more willing to work on the weekends if the role is offered as a remote position.

If you’re open to remote workers, then you have more access to eager WorkMonger education management professionals.

More people are open to working remote, rather than relocating. As a matter of fact, most JobSeekers prefer to work where they live (no surprise!). If you’re only offering the job to local candidates, even if you’re in a major US city with millions in population, your available talent pool is significantly smaller than if you were to consider remote applicants.

Now that we’ve covered a little about why remote work is gaining steam, let’s take a look at a few advantages to pursuing this possibility within the education industry.

Want to cut costs and increase productivity at the same time? Remote work can help get you there.

Research shows that employers who allow employees to work from anywhere can save up to $11,000 per year per employee.  As a whole, employers offering at least part-time telecommuting flexibility collectively save $44 billion each year.

In addition, when you eliminate the possibility of excuses such as “My car wouldn’t start” or “Traffic was awful”, you’ll notice that employees clock in on a more consistent basis. In fact, studies reveal that 69% of employees reported lower absenteeism when allowed to work in a remote capacity.

At the same time, you’ll notice a difference in your in-house budget as well. With fewer employees taking up office space and using physical resources, you’ll slash your office overhead cost.

Worried that your workforce will slack off if there’s no one there looking over their shoulder to make sure they stay on task? Don’t be. Findings from one recent study revealed that 77% of employees claimed to be more productive when working remotely. But that’s not all.

• 23% of remote workers say they’re willing to put in extra hours to accomplish their work-related tasks.
• Remote workers are 13% more productive than their in-office counterparts
• 65% of workers think they would be more productive at home than working in a traditional office environment.

Keep in mind that remote roles also eliminate the need to compensate for high cost-of-living and relocation packages! When you don’t have to pay for travel time, real estate agents, closing costs, moving fees and more, it will surprise you how much you end up saving!

A high cost-of-living, long commute times, or a lack of cultural diversity in your local community can be restrictive factors that discourage candidates from applying to your job.

Conversely, remote roles allow you to increase your candidate pool with an assorted group of qualified JobSeekers.

Our tip? Diversify the type of candidates you have access to. That way, you’ll have better talent, along with more talent to consider. Along the way, as you diversify your candidates, you diversify your company as a whole.

Going remote allows you to more easily cultivate a workforce that’s varied in the following areas:

• Gender
• Race
• Ethnicity
• Sexual identity
• Ability

You’ll also help prevent both sexism and ageism, judging from the following statistics:

• Nearly 30% of companies that enable remote work were founded by women or have a female CEO at their helm as compared to the top Fortune 500 companies, where only 6.4% of women hold CEO positions
• The percent of female and male telecommuters is almost equal.
• 64% of millennials would like the opportunity to work from home.
• Remote work keeps older workers in the workforce longer.

By offering remote employment options, you’re able to expand your reach to a wider range of candidates while innately creating a diverse talent funnel as well!

With remote jobs, you’re able to speed up the recruiting, interviewing and hiring process by using various online tools. One research study showed that organizations were able to hire 33% faster than their counterparts. This means less unproductive downtime on your end, as it allows you to make a hire and have them get up and running faster.

Not sure where to begin? Job boards such as TrulyHired allow you to spotlight your remote roles and find education management professionals faster.

In addition, you can save time conducting interviews and on-boarding with video interviewing platforms and digital onboarding systems. This is especially helpful when you want to reduce the possibility of canceling an interview due to traffic or inclement weather on the day of the interview. Likewise, virtual systems such as these reduce the time delays that can occur in hiring processes when you have to wait a few weeks before someone can fly in to town for an interview. Lastly, it also cuts down on travel costs often associated with in-person interviews.

Then, during the interview, you can focus more on the skills, experience and added value the candidate brings.

Are you a leader in the education space looking to recruit the top talent around? You can take the money you’d spend on overhead and tie it into the salary to have a competitive advantage over your competitors.

Because remote roles are of high demand, yet so rare in the education space, your role becomes more desirable to JobSeekers who value work flexibility. They’ll be enticed not only by the flexible work hours but by the earning potential, as well.

This helps you attract more top-tier candidates who are self-motivated, driven and ready to put in the work required to prove their value. As you recruit more workers of this caliber, your organization moves results in increased impact and greater organizational brand.

When you’re open to offering remote jobs in education, you’ll see an uptick in your workplace productivity and overall team morale.

Why?

Chart from Buffer’s 2019 State of Remote Work report

Being more flexible in your workspace setup allows you to find creative ways to develop your company. For instance, technology tools allow you to build a strong team culture, even if your team members aren’t present in person. These tools include:

• Slack (affinity groups)
• Google Hangouts (one-on-one meetings)
• Zoom.us (conferences)
• Loom (onboarding)

These tools can also help you strengthen organizational culture. Let’s review some industry statistics that back up this claim.

• An OwlLab study showed that employees who work from home at least once a month are 24% more likely to feel happy and productive at work.
• A Staple Advantage survey discovered 80% of their respondents reported a better work-life balance. In addition, 76% of telecommuters were willing to work overtime and felt more loyal to their company with the option for remote work and telecommuting.
• Another study from Flexjobs demonstrated that employees who work remotely have:
  • Fewer distractions (75%)
  • Fewer interruptions from colleagues (74%)
  • Reduced stress from commuting (71%)
  • Minimal office politics (65%)
• Companies allowing remote work setups improve their employee retention rates by 10%. Many employees value working remotely because many organizations don’t offer it. As a result,  they are likely to stay longer because they value this aspect of your work culture.

Additionally, remote education jobs allow your employees to save money on transportation, clothes, food, childcare, personal time, tax write-offs and more. While you’ll enjoy your savings, you’re also providing your employees with a more relaxed and flexible workplace that quells anxiety and promotes active, engaged work.

According to one recent report, 82% of telecommuters reported lower stress levels than their in-house counterparts!

For a visual representation of what it’s like to be a remote worker in the modern era, take a look at Buffer’s State of Remote Work report. Here, you’ll find insights on what it’s like to work this way, the perks that remote workers most enjoy, any challenges they face, their preferred work environments, and more.

We know remote won’t work for every role at every organization, but as a whole, our sector is missing out on tapping the remote work revolution.

We need to ask the question “Can we make this role a remote one?” with every job opening and push our thinking. Lean into trying out a few remote education jobs and see how it goes. You’ll likely be glad you did!

Are you ready to give this method a try once and for all? Once you determine which role you’d like to make remote, create it and post your virtual role with WorkMonger or TrulyHired!