This is one of those posts where I hope writing the news impacts reality rather than the other way around. Here’s why:
All the companies that appear to have a progressive corporate cultures lack one thing: flexible location jobs.
Now I’m not talking about the typical roles like medical transcriptionists or website designers. I’m talking about management and C-Level positions. After all, there are a number of decision-making jobs which have an impact on the success of an organization whose success doesn’t rely on where the person is located. Instead, the job depends on the ability of the person to coordinate the efforts of a team no matter where they or the team members are located.
Why would you want your workforce to be distributed you may wonder? Well, here are a few advantages to get you on your way to change:
1. Tap Into the Global Talent Market
We all know that different industries have strengths in various parts of the world. Production is probably ruled by China, Social Media by Canada, Entrepreneurship by Pakistan and the list could go on (and be debated hotly as well). So if you’re sitting all the way say in Argentina – why wouldn’t you want to tap into talent half way across the world for your business where people have had experience in a specific field? Of course you would but most likely you’d have a challenge getting people to move to you. This example applies to any country and any industry. Location independent positions let your reach talent you wouldn’t otherwise be able to tap into.
2. Be a Mover in the HR World
We all want our 15 seconds in the spotlight – or maybe even a permanent spot. Remember how Zappos had us all talking about how they got Holaracy working and whether it could work in frontier markets? If you could successfully create a few important location independent positions, you’d be the front runner in employer branding which would create big wins in talent retention. Double super benefits there!
3. Ease of Creating Systems for Distributed Teams
With the facilities that software such as Skype, Facetime, Asana amongst a dictionary of others provide us, it’s far easier for people to keep track of and coordinate with distributed teams. Once upon a time, the though of having a key team member in another city let alone on the other side of the world was absolutely unthinkable. Now however, the apps available to us (both free and paid) have broken barriers making it much easier to manage distributed teams.
Who’s Already On-Board?
I’ll tell you one thing – it’s not easy finding location independent jobs. But they exist, you just have to know how to find them. Take a look at these companies who have already launched themselves into the future.
PWC – They have a whole page on flexible location jobs. Granted they’re in a number of cities and not “anywhere in the world” but it sure is a strong start.
Cisco – It’s not surprising that an IT company would understand the importance of location independent jobs. They do limit to the United States for some of their engineering positions but it’s still way more flexible than others.
AT&T – All the “location anywhere in the US” jobs appear to be filled at the moment but again at least this Telecom giant is opening the field to its employees.
It’s time to break the barriers of 9 to 5 office jobs and expanding the flexibility offered to employees. That I think, is the key to the upcoming year – no matter where you’re located. People are generally more responsible now than ever before and have multiple ways to complete tasks off-site. As HR, we just have to have a little more faith in our people. Tell me what you think below and subscribe to the blog for more updates in the field of HR and follow me on Twitter to connect directly!