Does The "New Normal" Mean It's Time To Invest in Offshore Working?

The beginning of 2020 was already marked by the huge unemployment rate. 190 million people had lost their jobs before the spread of the pandemic. This could be compared to the damage caused by the 2008-2009 world crisis. Yet that crisis spared more people than the coronavirus. 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, almost 11 million people in America were unemployed in December 2020. Around 16 million persons said that they lost their jobs because their employers shut down or lost their business last year. Tourism, consumer, and education sectors suffered the most, while energy, financial, and tech companies struggled the least during the coronavirus. 

The companies and employees who survived coronavirus resorted to working from home. In 2020, the percentage of people who worked remotely all the time was only 16%, according to Statista. Most people chose to work either from home or decided to mix remote work with office work. 

Nowadays, 90% of workers not only mix the two types of work themselves but are also likely to recommend working from home to friends in 2021. It sounds appealing to business owners since they may save on office rent and employee maintenance. But, is it so in reality? 

This challenge is considered to be the biggest among employees. 47% of the respondents said they struggled with managing at-home distractions in 2020. They have to take care not only of themselves but also others including spouses, kids, pets, and other family members. 

You can get distracted by your neighbors who decided to fix something in their apartment during your business call. Then, you fight the temptation to lie down and work from the bed which makes you sleepy in no time. You aren’t surrounded by your coworkers which is why you may sometimes lack the motivation to work. 

This is considered to be challenge #2 after managing home distractions. I have already mentioned coworkers and the lack of motivation when they aren’t around. These two challenges come hand in hand, in my opinion. When you’re part of a team, you get inspired by the results of your colleagues and want to work harder to beat them. 

This is what scientists call “being inherently social”. The study published by NCBI states that human social behavior is important for our health and survival. When we communicate with one another, our brain releases a high level of oxytocin which increases trust in others. Moreover, the lack of communication prompts the development of most psychiatric disorders. 

When your employees work in the office, you see what they’re working on and monitor how much time they spend on a certain activity. This way you make sure they meet the goals that you set for them and do their best to achieve great results in certain projects. 

With the spread of the pandemic, managers became limited in terms of performance evaluation. Many companies decided to adopt time-tracking tools both for in-house and overseas teams to be in the loop of what they’re doing. Although it’s the most viable solution to succeed in time management, dishonest employees may use it to fake their real results, and thus bring damages to their companies. 

Any work that can be done 100% remotely should be offshored. Offshoring is a business practice that involves moving part of your company’s operations abroad. For example, you might hire an engineering team to develop an app or a marketing team to promote your product. 

Companies usually choose developing countries like Ukraine as remote locations. This way they cut the costs on employee maintenance. Aside from cost-efficiency due to lower rent prices, taxes, and salaries, you might also get access to the most talented employees abroad who will move mountains to get the job done as you want it. 

Be sure to jump into the offshoring boat in the next few years! The study conducted by Korn Ferry shows that 85 million jobs will go unfilled by 2030. The US alone will face a shortage of 6 million workers and lose around $162 billion if they don’t fill this gap quickly. 

Analytics Insight revealed what industries suffered from a skills gap in 2020 and will probably face this challenge in the following years. These are AI, robotics, big data, IoT, cybersecurity, augmented reality, virtual reality, and others. Luckily, offshoring has it covered.

Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital which was singled out by Big 7 Travel, boasts of the biggest IT talent pool in Ukraine. The leading Ukrainian IT community shared that 37% of all the developers in Ukraine live in Kyiv, and 29% of them have 3-5 years of working experience. 

Another reason to offshore to Kyiv is because of the cheapest Internet in the world. Atlas & Boots established that the average cost of the Internet is around $6 per month in 2021. This is important for remote workers to have a cheap Internet connection since Internet bills sometimes eat up a huge amount of budget. 

Last but not least, Kyiv is famous for its low salaries. Junior JavaScript developers in Ukraine earn around $8,500 per year, while Senior JS developers make around $50,000 annually. As you can see, the salaries drastically differ from those in the US.