Virtual teams are everywhere today. Our projects have contributors from other local offices, office in other states or countries, and even have members from outside companies. This is business reality today. Dealing with teams that don’t all sit in the same site can be challenging, to say the least. But, despite the challenges, virtual teams are the best way to get things done these days. In fact, it is probably impossible to get a project of any size done without the help of at least a few virtual contributors.
In order to embrace virtual teams it helps to keep in mind the many benefits they bring to the team members themselves, but also to the employeer and our planet. Below is a list of the most significant positive aspects of virtual teams. If you’d like to see the benefits of being a telecommuter, which virtual team members often are, please visit our telecommuting benefits page.
The Employee
- Better assignments—If you are a proven and skilled virtual worker, you will have more options for projects within your company or department, as your work location won’t matter. You’ll be able to contribute to that cherry Sales improvement project in New Jersey, even though you are sitting in the company’s R&D lab in California.
- No relocation—If your employeer allows you to work from a distance for your new job, you don’t have to disrupt your life to relocate to another city.
The Employer
- Best talent—You can include in your team the best available talent, regardless of where they are located.
- Faster time-to-market—Being able to run projects virtually allows you to assembly the best people for the job quickly from the pool talent anywhere within your company or outside and to get started immediately, saving valuable time-to-market.
- Reduced travel and relocation costs—A team that can meet virtually doesn’t have to travel as often to work effectively together and thus department travel (air fare, hotel, taxi, meals) and relocation costs are reduced or eliminated.
- Lower impact on the environment—You can honestly say you are doing your bit to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by doing more virtually. Connecting via electronic means is much less impactful than driving and flying.
- More resilient workforce—A virtual team is less likely to be completely distrupted in the event of a natural or man-made disaster.
The Planet
- Lower environmental impact—By being able to work effectively virtually, project teams save greenhouse emissions because fewer trips to meet in person are required.
- More cost-effective use of space—There is less need to purchase new building space to expand a given location since existing space can be used where it exists, or lower cost locations can be used while the company downsizes more expensive locations.
