Why hire a remote designer?

Recently I've noticed that a trend in the UK freelance market is to have freelancers work on- site, especially in my field - design. I'm sure there are valid reasons for this, some jobs simply cannot be worked on from a remote location for various reasons, such as data in paper format only or close liaison with other team members required.

All valid concerns, but for a large number of design jobs this will not be an issue, so why not hire someone who works remotely?

Many hiring managers seem to have the same concern about remote working as they do about allowing full-time employees to work from home. They cannot see or control what the worker is doing whilst they are working on the job. They may be worried about verifying the quality of the work done by someone they cannot meet in person. It means trusting that the person is working the hours they say they are. So it may make sense to hire someone who can work on-site.

Of course there are loads of great designers that do work on-site but there are many who for a variety of reasons prefer to work remotely and many of these are great designers too! Many combine parenthood with working remotely, as childcare costs soar and parents naturally want to be there for their children, especially during their early years, working remotely can make a lot of sense. Others may combine travelling the world or doing other jobs with being a remote designer or they may live in a rural location and not wish to relocate.

So what are the advantages of hiring a remote designer?

• They may have less expenses and travel time. Travel is expensive and although remote workers have overheads too, expensive travel is not one!
• You may be able to access specialised skills such as a designer who can design multiple language documents, take CAD files into other software or who specialises in presentations.
• Access to a wide range of different styles or other skills such as illustration or content writing.
• Most remote designers run their own businesses so tend to be highly motivated in what they do - you are only as good as your last job!
• Since time is money most remote freelancers manage their time effectively and often work when others don't, remote freelancing is not like working from home as an employee and if you don't do the work you won't be getting paid at the end of the month.
• Most remote designers are businesses and they take client data security very seriously, most will happily sign NDAs if asked to.
• Skype and Facetime have made face-to-face communication easier than ever and you can meet anyone virtually making verifying information much easier.
• A remote freelancer will likely have all the qualifications and experience of any other design professional, and often more.
• If you don't have a spare desk or computer for an on-site freelancer it may be easier to get someone who has their own. No more trying to get an extra software licence or login credentials for that extra person. Data transfer or information sharing sites such as wetransfer and dropbox make it easy to get any data, pictures or text to your designer once you've decided to hire them.
• You might need to access this service very occasionally or at short notice, or may need someone who can be on standby much of the time. An agency may not be able to source a freelancer who fits the bill and who can be on-site every time or at very short notice. You might not be able to hire the same freelancer every time which may be important if consistency within a project is required.

So, next time you want to hire a freelance designer, don't discount working with a remote designer, they may be the perfect choice for your business. And using the big freelance sites are not the whole picture of remote freelancing.