Years ago, when we founded Transformify, all-remote companies were rare and remote jobs were ‘’reserved’’ for digital nomads who could afford the luxury to work and travel as their online businesses were location independent.

Traveling around the world, I met startup founders, forex traders, marketers, online shop owners, travel bloggers, Instagram influencers and digital business entrepreneurs of all kinds. It was a growing community of people who enjoyed their digital nomad lifestyle. 

Transformify expanded to 150+ countries, but I still rely on the network I’ve built back then when we enter new markets or need a warm intro to a potential client on the other side of the world.

Speaking of sales and business development, during the first few years, it was hard to convince businesses to create remote jobs. Managing remote teams was seen as a risky adventure and most managers were ready to go great lengths to avoid it.

Nowadays, the same managers are learning how to manage remote teams the hard way amid coronavirus outbreak.

Early on, we were warning businesses that remote work strategy needed to be an integral part of disaster recovery plans. However, the ‘’ disasters’’ we had in mind were of a different nature.  Earthquakes and talent scarcity in tech hubs like San Francisco, London, New York, Tel Aviv, Berlin, Paris and so on could disrupt the business of many tech companies. Tech startups were running out of cash prior to launching great products over talent shortage and ever-increasing salaries and rents. At the same time, talented software engineers, designers, digital marketing experts, product managers, etc. were unemployed in other parts of the word and deserved to be given a chance to learn and develop their skills with a fast-growing well-funded startup based out of Silicon Valley for example.

Having a remote team distributed across the globe allows providing quality customer service even if part of the world is hit by an earthquake which unfortunately happened in Croatia. The country experienced the worst of an earthquake and coronavirus outbreak.

As a member of the Digital Skills & Jobs Coalition of the EU Commission, Transformify has launched an initiative encouraging businesses to create temporary remote jobs for people who have been laid off amid COVID-19 outbreak. 

Businesses struggle a lot in times of uncertainty and contract jobs are an option that is beneficial for everyone involved. 

What happens if you ‘’marry’’ Remote Jobs to Corporate Social Responsibility?

The idea crossed my mind while speaking with people in their 50s who had lost their jobs due to Industry 4.0 and business transformation. It was hard for them to get a job in the small cities where they lived, relocation was not an option for many as they had families and mortgages. Digging deeper and researching corporate social responsibility (CSR) and diversity hiring programs took a few months, but it was worth the effort. It appeared that many companies would be interested in creating remote jobs and work from home jobs for people in need. These included people living in high-unemployment areas, post-war zones, refugees, people with disabilities, caregivers, work from home moms, victims of domestic abuse and more.

Creating remote jobs and work from home jobs for people living in high-unemployment areas is extremely beneficial to society. These people are often highly skilled and extremely motivated, as usually, just one family member has a job or even worse, everyone is unemployed. Remote jobs allow unemployed people to become part of the distributed team of an organization based elsewhere in the world. However, the salaries are spent locally, thus revitalizing the local communities. Small cafes, family-owned restaurants and artisan shops flourish. Instead of being abandoned, small cities are brought back to life thanks to the increasing purchasing power of their citizens.

What will be the scenario if all these people are left unemployed for a long period of time?

Welfare payments will stop sooner than later as these vary a lot based on years of experience, country, age and other factors. People will have no other choice than to emigrate or relocate to big cities which are already overcrowded, the infrastructure, public transportation and hospitals will not be able to support the exponential growth and provide quality services to the ever-increasing number of newcomers.

There are many remote work job boards, why is Transformify a Sustainable Platform for Remote Jobs?

To us, providing equal access to jobs and secure payment to everyone no matter the location, gender, race, age, ability or personal situation, is a mission. Encouraging businesses to create remote jobs and build distributed teams has a positive impact on local communities, helps send children to school and provides opportunities to highly skilled people who otherwise would have been forced to take any job if jobs are available locally at all.

No daily commute and fewer people relocating to overcrowded big cities help tackle carbon footprint and climate change.

Amid coronavirus outbreak, remote jobs and work from home jobs are no longer a ‘’perk’’, they are a necessity as many small businesses will not survive the quarantine and millions of people will be unemployed. It’s ironic, but the world needed a coronavirus pandemic to realize the benefits of remote work and distributed teams.

Although ‘’remote jobs’’ and ‘’work from home jobs’’ are often perceived as synonyms, there is a difference in a sustainability context.

Remote Jobs

Digital nomads, people who enjoy a work-life balance, people who want to live an environmentally friendly life as well as people who crave new social contacts and prefer working in cafes and co-working spaces are always searching for remote jobs. Remote work allows flexibility and location independence, less commute and quite often, a higher pay rate as many all-remote companies pay the same rates regardless of the location of their employees.

Work From Home Jobs

Unlike remote jobs, work from home jobs are suitable for people who need to work from home due to a variety of reasons. These could be people with disabilities, people less able to move, people who have been through a surgery that requires more than 6 months to fully recover, parents who need to provide for their families but at the same time have to juggle with school schedules, sport, language classes and other after school programs.

Work from home jobs are also addressing the needs of people who are required to stay at home in case of force majeure situations. Coronavirus quarantine is a good example as in some countries like Italy and France, people are allowed to go out only to do grocery shopping, visit a pharmacy or a doctor. As not all jobs can be transformed into work from home jobs, millions of people have been asked to take unpaid leave. Small and large businesses alike are planning massive layoffs and lots of employees have already received an employment agreement termination notice. Entire industries have been badly hit by coronavirus quarantine, and the only way to create work from home jobs for those people left without income is to look at their transferable skills instead of looking at their last job titles or their industry expertise.

Transferrable skills are those skills that add value to any industry and business, and these include customer support, conflict resolution, business development, telesales, digital marketing and the list goes on. A good example is an experienced hotel receptionist who speaks several languages and has years of experience dealing with difficult customers. Even though the last title is ‘’ Hotel Receptionist’’, s/he can be a good fit for a multilingual customer support agent role with Amazon, ebay, online retailers, online games producer or any of the businesses thriving during coronavirus quarantine.

Coronavirus pandemic is unlikely to be the last force majeure situation businesses will face going forward. Employees are likely to be asked to work from home for extended periods of time due to natural disasters and other unfortunate events. It is time to rethink corporate social responsibility strategies to include the creation of work from home jobs and remote jobs. Providing a source of income to people suffering the consequences of a force major event has an almost immediate positive impact which is not to be neglected.

Are you ready to create work from home and remote jobs? Start your 7-day Trial with Transformify now!

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About Transformify

Trusted by recruiters and job seekers from 150+ countries, Transformify HR Suite comprises of:

(i) Applicant Tracking System ( ATS)

(ii) Freelance Platform

(iii) Contingent Workforce Management Software

(iv) Diversity Hiring

(v) Employer Branding

(vi) billing & payments