Staff in fast-growing regions of the world such as the Philippines and in South America are earning more working from home for international companies than they could ever earn on-shore. And the rules for work have changed for good.
At the dawn of the post-pandemic era, office workers have woken up, stretched their limbs and shrugged off the remnants of painful memories “Traffic jams, long commutes on crowded buses and trains, unhealthy and expensive lunches in the city CBD” recalls Winston Ong, CEO of leading global outsourcing company BruntWork, about his usual workweek prior to Covid19. “For someone who requires focus to be productive, being accosted by co-workers in an open plan office was a particularly painful experience.”
Ong is a self-confessed “home worker”. With decades of experience in digital marketing, his tasks consisted of work that he could always accomplish from any location with an Internet connection and a phone. And in recent times, all the companies he worked for had a portion of workers located overseas as employers realized the considerable talent pools available in countries like the Philippines (where wages are significantly less than first world countries like the USA or Canada).
Over 100 hundred million employees are working from home and many will never go back.
Employers are scrambling to figure out what that means for their balance sheets, office leases, fit-outs and corporate culture. And many savvy business owners are seeing the opportunity to cut costs by relocating back-office roles to cheaper international jurisdictions.
Since the pandemic, Ong saw a future where companies simply did not offer workers an office to go to, which begged the question “what comes next” for businesses that sell products and services online in an increasingly globalized world.
“The world is changing. We are at a turning point where the technology is ready, employers are ready, customers are ready and staff are more than ready to redefine the interaction between life and employment. For some time my partner and I had been planning extended trips living overseas, and I realized the best way to help people live their perfect life was to lead a company revolutionizing remote work in the post-pandemic world.”
At the dawn of the new era of work from home, managers and entrepreneurs are waking up to an amazing realization. Jobs that were reserved for office workers can actually be done better from home and there is no longer any requirement to hire locally.
Indeed companies can hire nationally, or indeed internationally to find the best candidates for a particular role, no matter the location. And in the process, companies can dramatically increase productivity and most importantly, profitability. Ong suggests that the average company can cut 70% out of their labor bill by moving to remote first, and hiring from international labor pools such as the Philippines.
The chance that many workers are ever willing to commute on a regular basis again in the future is zero. It’s too inefficient. And while workers and employers are somewhat split on where they stand on the question of remote toil, the COVID-19 pandemic has permanently shaken up the working world; no society is going back to the pre-COVID normal.
To support what could be droves of workers sticking to distance-labor instead of returning to offices, BruntWork recorded revenue growth in excess of 700% during the pandemic and provides a solution to quickly get remote workers embedded in any company as quickly as possible.
“I knew we were onto a winner when our business model morphed from SMEs looking for one or two virtual assistants to listed companies looking to outsource entire sections of their operations. The growth has been simply explosive.”
What’s ahead for BruntWork? Per its CEO, the company would like to grow its staff by five-fold this year. And unsurprisingly, BruntWork intends to hew to its remote roots, meaning that it won’t be looking for workers in a single geographic region. The staff it intends to hire for companies will be in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. The company will also build out more enterprise-friendly features allowing it to target larger customers.
About Bruntwork
Bruntwork is an outsourcing company that is an expert at building cost-effective, efficient and scalable operational teams for businesses wanting to grow fast and effectively. Since 2010 we’ve recruited and trained hundreds of staff to work in The Philippines on behalf of our clients. We’ve deployed specialist teams across most operational functions including; Telesales for both inbound and outbound campaigns, Multi-Channel Customer Support, Data and Analytics, Digital Marketing, Digital Content Production, and Web & App Design.
Contact: Adam Pisk
Email: adam@bruntwork.co
Phone: +1 (877) 319 3837