Three things to think about when starting a remote company
Thinking of starting a remote company? Here are three things you need to think about.
It might be the best time in history to launch a remote company. Thanks to the tools at your disposal (think Zoom, instant messaging and fast WiFi), you have all the solutions you need to technical problems that can make starting a remote company too costly or impractical at your fingertips.
If you have a great idea, a bit of money to invest, and above all, the dedication and tenacity that starting a new company requires, go for it! Just make you sure think about these things first.
1) The tax implications
Without overheads, your upkeep costs will be tiny compared to if you were renting an office; however, there might be tax implications to working from home. These could be good, or they could mean you’re not taking advantage of an important scheme that your local government is encouraging.
Without a doubt, it’s worth getting a small consultation with an accountant to learn about the tax implications in your area. There might be some other issues, too; for example, if you live in the US, you might have to pay taxes in your country as well as the countries that your remote workers are based in. It’s best to think about these things early so you can craft your business plan around them.
2) Communication and Cculture
Company culture is vital. When you do it right it can increase employee engagement, which has a direct relationship with profitability. It also increases employee retention and in general makes a company healthier and a nicer place to work.
You should think about the sort of company culture that you want to develop and how you can develop it. In this department, you already have an advantage over other more established companies that are learning to work remotely as you can craft your culture around the remote lifestyle – whether that’s with tools like Simpplr that facilitate communication via an intranet, or simply by proactive decisions like eating lunch together over Zoom, etc.
You should decide on your communication methods immediately and make sure they’re very clear to every employee.
3) Employment safeguards
One of the main issues with employing somebody remotely is that you don’t have a particularly great idea of what they are like as a person. When you have interviews with people in real life, you make the most of something that humans naturally have: gist processing.
This powerful form of processing alerts you to any potential problems without even thinking about it; however, online there’s a very real chance you won’t get this. You therefore need to think of employee safeguards. How can you make sure that this person is completely right for your company?
Consider having a probation period, which allows you to decide whether a particular employee is cut out for remote work as well as the form of high-performance remote work that you ideally want. You also need to carefully plan your onboardingand hiring processes in such a way that tests for the skills you require as well as the traits that you’d like to avoid.
