The remote job dynamic will lead companies to move from local to global hiring.
We know it. The United States and the United Kingdom are at the top of the world podium for telecommuting job offers. In the land of King Charles III, the trend is well and truly established. And it's not just about remote jobs from home or from a place imposed by the employer. Quite the contrary. Across the UK, "work from anywhere" is becoming a popular trend. In 2022, job offers for this type of work have increased by 48% according to the job search engine Adzuna.
More and more British companies are considering allowing their employees to do their jobs from the location of their choice: home, cafes, coworking spaces, holiday resorts... It's a great way to measure how far we've come. A real upheaval is underway. From a mode of work organization based on the presence of employees in the same space, we are now moving towards a distributed model (at least for white collar workers) where the physical presence of talent is no longer required. But there is more. The very location of talent is becoming less and less important.
Remote jobs: the globalization revolution
And what if this is where the real revolution in telecommuting lies? Not so much in the possibility to work remotely (and there are close distances), but in the ability to perform tasks from literally anywhere. Remote work breaks down geographical barriers. The dynamic is underway. From local hiring, more and more companies will move towards global hiring.
As a recent report published by Omnipresent notes [1], "In the future, anyone anywhere on the planet with the right skills and access to the Internet will be able to compete in a single global talent marketplace".
We're talking about a gigantic pool from which organizations will draw their employees wherever they are. "Companies are already losing out on great opportunities by sticking to a local/national/face-to-face style of working. Remote jobs, in theory, allow companies to attract and hire the best talent from around the world," says Argentine social scientist Tatiana Reuil on the World Economic Forum website.
This is because, when properly implemented, remote jobs can be a source of gains on both sides of the spectrum. They can benefit both employers and employees. "Remote work has opened up a world of talent beyond our borders. It allows organizations to find specialized talent that is hard to find locally and eliminates all the complications associated with offshoring. It also benefits employees, who can now look far and wide to find the right industry, organization or role for them," confirms John MacKinlay, CEO of fintech Caary Capital [2].
Macroeconomic issues
But the stakes go far beyond individual destinies. The remote revolution will also have huge macroeconomic implications. Take the example of North/South imbalances. For the Omnipresent report1, there is no doubt: telework will boost growth in the Indian subcontinent and sub-Saharan Africa, increasing their wages and reducing global pay gaps.
This means, however, that white-collar workers in rich countries will face new competition. This is a point to which we will have to pay attention, but for which one of the answers could be a permanent increase in skills coupled with hyperspecialization.
Whatever happens, one thing remains certain. The globalization of teams is underway. Hence the need for organizations to create flexible and innovative work environments in order to attract the best people and lead the best teams possible. This is a task that starts today.
1 "The Globalization of Teams" (2022)
2 From Hcamag.com (11/04/2022)