Over the last few years, many companies have been choosing to hire remote team,
and this trend has dramatically become more popular after the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. According to a survey in 2021, over 55% of the businesses across the globe are already benefiting from remote working. Businesses are now moving toward remote hiring as it has become the future of the work, and it provides several benefits to the business as well as the employees.
When you are looking to hire remote staff
, you may have a question in your mind: whether you should be hiring remote employees in other countries
or the same country where your business operates? For the past ten years, Eastern European countries have gained massive popularity among small businesses and multinational organizations as the most preferred destinations to hire remote staff
. Countries like Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Estonia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Romania have become attractive outsourcing destinations.
Hiring remote teams from Eastern European countries offer several benefits to small, mid-sized, and large businesses equally. Here are six benefits an eCommerce business can avail by choosing to hire remotely from Eastern European countries:
Access to a bigger talent pool
The major benefit of hiring remote talent from Eastern European countries is that these countries have a strong base of education, and you will get access to a bigger talent pool. Sourcing the right talent for your eCommerce business can be easier when you have a larger talent pool at your disposal. Eastern European countries are filled with highly skilled and experienced talents. Eastern European countries always have a strong education system, and many domain-specific universities and colleges provide technical specialties to graduates every year. Hence, there is a wide range of technically skilled graduates produced every year by colleges and universities of Eastern European countries.
Research by Manpower Group revealed that almost 70% of US businesses face problems while looking for the right talent for their business. Many businesses also have suffered from low quality of work or the inability of the remote team to think independently. If you struggle to find the right talent to handle your remote tasks, countries in Eastern Europe can be your go-to destination. With a better education base and talent pool in these countries, you can find a highly talented remote team that can handle your eCommerce business efficiently.
Stable connectivity and IT Infrastructure
For working efficiently, your remote employees will need stable internet connectivity and the latest infrastructure, and these are the strongest characteristics of almost every European country. Moreover, these countries will not experience hurricanes, slow internet connections, and extensive power failures.
According to the global broadband testing agency, Ookla, the internet connectivity in Eastern European countries is highly stable, and the average internet speed in these countries is also very high. The average speeds of some of the Eastern European countries are:
- Ukraine: Download speed of 41.27 Mbps and Upload speed of 41.66 Mbps
- Belarus: Download speed of 38.93 Mbps and upload speed of 32.49 Mbps
- Romania: Download speed of 129.82 Mbps and upload speed of 98.61 Mbps
- Serbia: Download speed of 36.15 Mbps and upload speed of 15.87 Mbps
- Hungary: Download speed of 37.31 Mbps and upload speed of 12.37 Mbps
While speed is important, the more important thing that a remote employee needs is internet stability, and internet connectivity is highly stable in the countries in Eastern Europe. An internet connection of 100 Mbps will be useless if it disconnects frequently.
Strong work ethics
Eastern European people exhibit several character traits, including honesty, determination, integrity, go-to attitude toward work, and ability to relate closely to the western culture. When you look to hire remote staff
from Eastern European countries, a remote employee from these countries will be honest with you and only promise what they can deliver. Remote employees from these countries have strong work ethics, and this is one of the major traits that an employer looks out for in a remote employer.
Given that the work will be remote, it is important that the personality characteristics of the employee are appropriate to remote work ethics and his job responsibilities. You will find remote employees from Eastern European countries to be determined, honest, and ethical in their work. Another essential character trait of Eastern European employees is their work-life balance. Remote employees from these countries have a better work-life balance than employees from western countries. Hence, you can hire remote staff
from Eastern European countries that are determined, honest, not easily distracted, and have a go-to attitude toward work.
Compatible time zones
If you have a business in the United States, working with Asia-based remote workers can be difficult, especially when they work in their time zones. It may be hard to find a convenient time to work with remote workers based in Asia. However, it can be easier to set a suitable time to work and talk with an employee from Eastern Europe. If you work with remote workers from Asian countries, they would have finished their working hours before the working hours in your time zone starts. You may have to find a remote worker that works according to your time zone in such a case. With Eastern European hires, you will have ample cross-over working time to work together.
The time difference between the US and India or the Philippines is around 10-14 hours whereas, the time difference between the US and most Eastern European countries is only about six hours. If you hire remote team
from Eastern European countries, you will have cross-over working hours between your time and your new remote hire. This will give you time to plan and discuss the work you want to get done.
Economical option
By opting to hire remote team
, US-based eCommerce businesses can save up to 70% on employee costs. Due to the currency exchange rate and economic salary expectations of Eastern European remote workers, hiring from these countries can be highly economical. Labor costs can be more expensive in Western countries and countries with robust economies. This is because the overall cost of living in countries of Eastern Europe is far less than that of the US and other countries of Western Europe. Moreover, the cost of living also differs within the same country. For instance, the cost of living in Belgrade, Serbia, is about 50% more than the places outside the capital city.
Additionally, when you hire remote staff
, you don’t have to invest in office infrastructure and expenses related to the upkeep of your office. You will also not have to pay for the other expenses associated with full-time employee hire. This, combined with lower salary expectations of Eastern European remote workers, can provide your eCommerce business with significant savings compared to hiring remote employees in other countries
like the US, Canada, UK, etc.
Employee satisfaction
While most online working employees strive for remote work, the overall employee satisfaction will be higher. This may sound counterintuitive to many, but studies on remote employment show that employees’ productivity increases when they work remotely. Many engineers and developers also state that they can focus better on their performance and goals when they work remotely. This is because they are less distracted by synchronous communications, office noise, and other disruptions.
The 9 to 5 working hours are not the most productive time for many workers. When your employees work remotely, they can take intelligent control of their working schedule and work on their most productive hours. Creating their own schedule for work will make them more focused and productive in their work. This will improve not only performance but also employee satisfaction. Moreover, if the remote worker from an Eastern European country likes to work in later hours of the day, there are better chances that their working schedule will be in sync with your time zone.
Eastern Europe is developing as a new and reliable talent hub for businesses to outsource remote jobs. The region boasts a great talent pool, reliable connectivity, smoother weather conditions, better infrastructure, and affordable living costs to make them the preferred destinations to hire remote staff
.
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