What is a Distributed Workforce & How To Create Compelling Benefits

At AEIS, we understand that the way we think about work is changing significantly and distributed workforces are a big part of that. Guaranteeing the success of your own remote/distributed work program often requires you to prioritize compelling benefits and to keep a few key things in mind along the way.

What is a Distributed Workforce?

A distributed workforce, as the term suggests, involves a team of employees who don't operate within the traditional office environment of a business. This type of remote working situation became very popular at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but many organizations continue to embrace it because of the wide range of different benefits it brings with it.

What’s the Value of a Distributed Workforce?

When employees have the freedom and flexibility to work ow they want, where they want, on their own schedule, the most immediate impact has to do with an improvement of their own sense of satisfaction. People who get to enjoy these benefits tend to be more productive than others, which goes a long way towards improving the quality of work that they're able to do as well.

This also tends to have a major, positive impact on a business' ability to retain top employees, too. When people are already satisfied with their existing job, they're less likely to look elsewhere in the first place. Likewise, they may not be able to find a new job that offers the same level of flexibility as their current one - even if it does offer a higher salary - allowing this freedom to become a major competitive advantage for employers, too.

A distributed workforce is also significantly more cost-effective to maintain for organizational leaders. Some businesses have chosen to forgo a physical location at all to go 100% remote. Others do have a physical space, but it is far smaller than it otherwise would be if countless employees were coming into the office five days a week. The money saved on things like rent and energy bills alone can then be funneled back into other areas of the organization where it can do the most good. It could even be used to purchase laptop computers and other tech-driven resources that employees need to thrive.

Embracing a distributed workforce also allows a business to potentially hire top tier candidates for available positions from nearly anywhere. They aren't limited to a specific geographic region, and they don't need to then pay for costs associated with relocation and more. If the right person for the job is halfway across the state (or even the country), it doesn't matter - they can easily be brought into the fold and can still meaningfully contribute to the greater good.

In general, the major benefit of creating a distributed workforce can be summed up by way of the increased work/life balance that employees can enjoy. It is for reasons like these that a significant number of workers still say that they're functioning remotely for at least one day a week despite the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be winding down, and most restrictions have long since been lifted.

Everyone always knew that this type of remote work and the idea of a distributed workforce was on the horizon, it’s just that the horizon turned out to look significantly closer than most thought in the wake of the pandemic. Still, most people have gotten a taste of just what a distributed workforce can do, and it is very likely that anyone will be able to go back to the way things were - not that they would want to.

Tips for Creating Benefits for a Distributed Workforce

All told, a distributed workforce can and should become an essential part of the overall benefits package that you offer to employees. While you do so, you’ll have to make a number of important considerations like how you must not forget that employees who live out of state will now need PPO plans for medical insurance, along with any dental and vision coverage that you offer. HMO plans (with Kaiser being one of the prime examples) will usually only be viable for in-state employees. Even for statewide HMOs like Kaiser, there may even be remote areas in a state (like California, for example) that are outside of their service areas. Some HMOs may even only consist of just a few counties.

It is always critical to make sure that any PPO plan you select has a solid national network of providers so that remote employees in other states have access to quality coverage. These are a few of the benefits items that you should consider, which is why it is also always important to talk to professionals like the team at AEIS to make sure that all of your bases are covered.

 
In a larger sense, the major factor to account for when creating a distributed workforce has to do with the creation of rules regarding flexible working hours. Since people are no longer commuting into the office, they actually likely do have more hours in a day to get important work done. They also want to hold onto that well-earned freedom, so try to strike a balance.

Along the same lines, a distributed workforce will require various communications channels to be employed so that managers can keep in touch with the remote employees. Regular meetings to check in on progress should be encouraged at least a few times a week, for example, as should the use of various tools like Slack and Discord. Just because employees are fully or even mostly remote doesn't mean that some type of oversight still isn't necessary.

Another one of the benefits that you might consider for a distributed workforce has to do with remote work allowances. Obviously, the remote employees will be relying heavily on their own computers and Internet connections, which they pay for. After figuring out just how much money you're saving because you no longer need to pay for a larger office, consider funneling some of that money back towards the employees themselves to help get the ideal remote work setup off the ground.

Many organizations also prioritize health and wellness programs as a benefit for their distributed workforce. This makes sense from a few different angles. For starters, healthier employees tend to be more productive on average and do higher quality work. Secondly, when an employer goes out of their way to communicate that they value an employee's health, people tend to notice that. This again helps create a much-needed sense of community and culture even though people are spread out over a larger area.

Finally, it's important to prioritize things like employee development opportunities within the context of a distributed workforce. Remember that in addition to being able to hire people from virtually anywhere, employees can advance within the company with no geographic restrictions as well. This dramatically increases the number of opportunities for their own career advancement within the company, provided that those opportunities exist in the first place.

If you'd like to find out more information about how to create compelling benefits for a distributed workforce, or if you'd just like to talk about your own benefits needs in more detail, please contact AEIS today.