Workforce From all Around the World
The freelancing has allowed us to find employees from all sides of our globe. If you looking for someone special for the project, then you will find them, freelancers are the biggest and most diverse workforce on our planet. The internet has opened the doors to millions and millions of freelancers that can offer you high-quality services.
Times when your only option for finding an employee where people who live in your vicinity are far gone. Now the internet is your oyster with an endless amount of potential employees.
Most of us have a habit to work with our own work hours which are specifically tailored for us and our timezone. But now comes the question. When it comes to employing freelancers, should you consider someone who lives in the different time zone? And if you choose so, which are the advantages of employing a freelancer form the other timezone? And which are disadvantages of the same?
In this article, we will give you 5 advantages and 5 disadvantages of employing freelancers from different time zones. So, without further ado let us jump into it.
5 Advantages of employing freelancers from a different timezone.
We will start with beneficial sides of employing freelancers from other time zones and why you should do so.
1. You can find more freelancers with a higher level of expertise
Yes, you can find freelancers in your own time zone who have a high-level expertise on a given subject. But opening yourself to freelancers from all across the world you will get a higher number of capable and knowledgeable people who can finish the project in the way that you have to imagine it. Probably faster and more efficient than people from your company. And the way in which you can do that is by checking the expertise of every freelancer that you will potentially employ. So you know that you are getting a freelancer that is perfect for the task on hand.
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2. Projects can get finished much faster
If you are working only with people from one timezone, then you and they have only approximately 8 to 9 hours of work time. But when you employ freelancers form other timezones, they are the workforce that can pretty much work 24/7 if you spread the work to freelancers who are all living in different time zones. Your projects will be done much faster. If the project is completed then you should probably employ more than one freelancer. That way you will get a project that is more refined and finished in much less time. And as we all know, time is money.
3. You can focus on your own expertise
Outsourcing projects to the freelancers all over the world will allow you to focus on the parts of your business that are closely connected to your own expertise. While freelancers will work on project or part of the project that are not really in your realm of expertise. Yet another benefit is that freelancers are usually more capable to do the project on their own than your employees. You should always look for a freelancer that is capable to work on a project in a professional matter, and that can do an exceptional job.
4. Saving the money
In most cases, when you employ the freelancers to do some tasks for your company you will do it because of two reasons. First one is that you probably don`t have enough hands on deck to finish the job in time. And another one is that you want to save some money. By employing the freelancer to do the task on hand, you will definitely save some money, And if you are employing freelancers that are from some other time zone, there is a chance that they will ask the much lower amount of money than most other freelancers that live in your timezone. Because economical state in some parts of the world is quite different than in others. But cheap definitely is not always the best option. You should look for the freelancer with best price/quality ratio.
5. You can have a workforce that can work around the clock
We did mention this at some other point in this article, but now we will dive a little bit deeper in it. Employing freelancers from all around the world will allow you to get the work done every single day around the clock. Which will boost the productivity of your company and save you some extra change. The best way to incorporate this is by finding out in which time zones do freelancers work, and then spread the work equally to a freelancer from all different time zones.
5 Disadvantages of hiring the freelancers from other timezones
Nothing in the world is black or white, it is mostly grey. Same goes for employment of the freelancers that are working in different time zones. And what are those disadvantages of employing people from different time zones? Well, we will tell you now.
1. Communication
When you are considering to employ the freelancer from the other time zones you should ask yourself. “Could I have enough time to explain to them what I need? Think about it this way. You will probably spend at least 8 hours of your day in the company, then all the time that you spend on traveling back to your home, and on top all of that you will have to talk to a freelancer who is living in a time-zone that is 8 hours behind or in front of your own. This can cause some serious problems when you are trying to have a swift and productive conversation. It could take a few hours until you receive the message from them, and that could go on for days on end until you finally get your work done. The way in which you can fix that is by employing the freelancers that are at maximum 3 to 4 hours further away from your timezone. And they should be able to answer your emails in 12 to 24h max.
2. Language barrier
When you are considering to employ the freelancer form different time zone, there might be much more problems then you anticipated. One of them is low knowledge of written and spoken English. Yes, there are many freelancers that are not native English speakers who can produce really amazing content. But, as you go further and further away from your own time zone in a search for that perfect freelancer. You will also realize that many of those freelancers are not fluent in English, some are not even capable to write a meaningful sentence in English. That way you will lose your precious time and money. You should always look up what kind of language knowledge they have. Luckily, that kind info can be easily found on freelancing websites like Upwork and etc. And by yourself if you speak fluent English.
3. Deadlines
Getting a fixed deadline is quite easy when you are working with a freelancer who is in the same timezone as you. But when someone’s clock is showing 2 pm, and yours 4 am, that could cause some potential problems, Yes, they might do the project exactly as you wanted it, but if you have a strict deadline and they can`t deliver the finished project on time due to differences in time zones. Then this type of work should be only left for a freelancer who is in the same timezone as you, as the chances that they will meet that strict deadline is much higher. The way you can fix this is by setting fixed deadlines to the freelancer, and by looking the reviews that this particular freelancer has. How fast is his turn-around and etc.
4. Cultural differences
You could say that every time zone in the world has its own culture. That is why when you are choosing a freelancer, you should always look for one that is not only closer to you timewise, but also culturally. It may happen that freelancers from far away countries might see your project as immoral by their own cultural standards, or they will just have a different work ethic. Which is in many cases is not beneficial for the companies who are caring about the quality of their service and profit. Explain the project in full detail to the freelancer so there would be no confusion later.
5. Quality of the project
As the time zone changes, so do the type of people who are able to work on them, and who are willing to give their all to do the job as perfectly as they can. We all already know that some employers won`t even consider employing freelancer who is not from same timezone or cultural and lingual background. We all have seen many freelancing gigs that are only for people who are native English speakers, or who are living in the same time zone as the employer. And who could blame them? Some of them had had negative experiences with freelancers from other countries and those who are not native English speakers, mostly with freelancers from India or Pakistan. Luckily, on the platforms such as Upwork, you can see what exactly expertise do they have, how good is their knowledge of English and how good are they as a freelancer.
Globe of opportunities and troubles
Freelancing is still pretty new profession which needs to put roots in the ground and establish itself as a real titan in the business industry. We all have a lot to learn about what does work, what doesn`t. Why you should employ some freelancer and why you should avoid some as a plaque.
Don`t get us wrong, employing freelancer from different timezone has definitely some interesting benefits. But it also holds some dangers that in best case could cost you just a few bucks, but in worst it might cost you the future of your company.
If you will ever consider employing a freelancer from different timezone you should always evaluate how many benefits you will receive and how many potential problems you might face. It all comes to is the risk level, is it low and if potential return is high and beneficial for you and your company.
The best way to go with it is to give them simple tasks first, which are not of big importance to your company. And then, if the all goes well. with time, you can continue to give them more demanding projects which will, in the end, allow you to reap all the benefits of the employing the freelancers from another time zone.
Give it a try and then you can find out why some companies are employing those freelancers and why some are avoiding them as the deadly disease.
