PeoplePerHour.com (http://www.peopleperhour.com/) – Europe’s biggest online business marketplace – today reported a 68 percent increase in the number of UK businesses hiring remote worker in the last 12 months.
The PeoplePerHour.Com small business review, which quizzed more than 45,000 businesses in the UK, found that 71 percent of respondents cited flexibility and cost savings for employing non-office based staff. Businesses claim they are saving 23 percent of staff costs due to this shift.
The review found that the move to remote workers is not a temporary fad caused by the recession and rising costs, with almost 70 percent of businesses saying they definitely plan to continue using freelancers in the next year.
Almost half of the businesses revealed that the lasting benefit to their business of the recession is learning how to harness technology and the web to work more efficiently and cut costs.
An astonishing 91 percent of business respondents reported that the quality of work done by remote workers is as good or better than full-time staff.
According to PeoplePerHour.com founder and CEO Xenios Thrasyvoulou these latest figures show that businesses are moving to remote working long-term.
“Our figures show that businesses that were forced to recruit remote workers to save costs due to the recession and rising prices, have found that the benefits are so appealing that they plan to continue to use freelancers from now on.
“UK businesses have found that the quality of work of freelance consultants working remotely is as good if not better than office-based staff as the financial incentives to do a better, quicker job are clearer. Not only that, but businesses have found the taking advantage of new technology, such as the internet and cloud working, means they work more efficiently.
“As a result of these changes, productivity of British business is increasing, quality of work is improving and the long-lasting effects will be a virtual work revolution,” said Thrasyvoulou.
Case studies:
Remotely financial
Ashley Morgan is the director of financial institution Henderson Morgan with a difference. All their staff work remotely.
“Henderson Morgan is an international business and we have offices in New Zealand, Belize and the UK. We are a fledging financial institution providing a range of account, merchant services and wealth management advice,” Ashley says.
“Unlike many traditional financial institutions with large bloated offices, all of our staff work remotely and we have successfully worked with freelancers on PeoplePerHour.Com.”
Virtual Jukebox
Adam runs a a virtual jukebox business with results that are real.
“Our business is called The Virtual Jukebox, we sell exactly what this is - a virtual jukebox. Essentially it's an internet radio player that receives requests from SMS and mobiles. We sell it to pubs and bars around the UK,” Adam says.
“So given we offer a virtual service, it made sense to keep it a virtual business. We started about six months ago, and it’s funded from personal investment so clearly it was in our interest to keep costs low.
“We've used outsourcing throughout each step of the way to get us to where we are, without the need for any staff overhead. This includes branding and design in the early stages, through to telesales once the product was launched. The whole business was launched and now running so far without having to employ a single member of staff.”
Water works
Danny Gillard and Niamh Walsh run a tourist business aimed at international and domestic customers. They offer guided kayaking tours with BCU Instructors seeing London from a unique angle.
To save costs they have the company’s administration needs are provided remotely by consultants on PeoplePerHour.Com.
Niamh says they use freelancers to keep costs low and remain flexible. They have increased margins and now operate a thriving business. They are able to run a ‘virtual business’ model due to advances in technology.
She says: “Exploring London by kayak is a great opportunity to see a unique part of the city using a sustainable form of tourism by paddle powered craft leaving no carbon footprint’s innovative idea.”
For further information, photos, interviews and case studies, please contact:
Sami McCabe
t: +44 (0) 20 3393 8277
m: +44 (0) 7789 777 440
e: sami@ubiquitycomms.com
PeoplePerHour.com Background Information
PeoplePerHour.com connects businesses with skilled individuals to get work done remotely.
The site serves the small business sector and has over 45,000 registered users growing at 15% per month, of whom 70% are micro-businesses (five or less employees) and 20% are between five and 20 employees.
The company started in 2007 and has been grown consistently, unabated by the recession. This growth has been fuelled by companies’ need to drive down costs and find more innovative, cost-effective and flexible ways of getting jobs done.
Main service categories on the site are IT& Web, Graphic Design, Telesales, Marketing and PR, Copywriting and Translation services.
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