Employees working remotely abroad

Millennials have different wants and needs when it comes to their work environment compared to the previous generations. Perhaps above all, they’re motivated by opportunities to learn and progress. It’s important to them that they have the chance to experience new things and meet new people who they can learn from.  

They also place a lot of value on flexibility, long for a healthy lifestyle and aim to balance their personal priorities with their professional ones. They’re not scared to move on either: the majority, six out of ten millennials, are likely to switch jobs if they don’t feel like their needs and expectations are being met.  

Sounds like a frightening combination, right? Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be, as long as you listen to the needs of the current generation and match their work environment to them. Sweet Spot provides a solution to this in the form of a remote professional experience abroad.  

Interested in how working remotely abroad can benefit both your employees and you as an employer? Let’s take a look…

Working remotely abroad: where work, adventure & development meet
Sweet Spot offers remote professional experiences in Barcelona. In a nutshell: an experience where work, skills development, relationship building, and adventure come together in a perfect balance. Now, what does that look like exactly? Your employees live and work abroad for one to five months, meet like-minded professionals, and carry out their usual day-to-day responsibilities from fully equipped co-working spaces.

Best of all, they’ll follow one of our unique development programs, under the guidance of certified professionals, to facilitate and accelerate their personal and professional growth. This provides an unforgettable experience where they’re given the opportunity to excel both personally and professionally, returning home reignited with renewed motivation and energy.

Attract talent, retain them and increase their productivity
Our remote professional experiences are specifically designed in such a way that investing in them helps employers to become ‘millennial-minded’. How? By ticking off all the elements that millennials long for in their job:
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▶️ Workplace flexibility
▶️ Development opportunities
▶️ Experiencing new things
▶️ Meeting new people
▶️ Improving their work-life balance

As a result, investing in our remote professional experiences will show that, as their employer, you listen, you care, and are attuned with their professional and personal needs. This will greatly benefit you in three significant ways:
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1. Attracting new talent
Flexible working conditions, travel opportunities and the chance to grow aren’t merely nice perks when it comes to the millennial generation – they’re essential. When looking for a new job, all these factors are taken into consideration – and not just a little.  
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‍80% of people said that when deciding between two similar jobs, they would turn down the role that didn’t offer flexible working conditions;
‍70% of millennials in Western Europe would like to do a work placement abroad during their career;
‍59% of millennials have stated that opportunities to learn and grow are extremely important to them when applying for a job.

2. Retaining your most valuable talent
Following the same line of logic, offering your employees the flexibility to work remotely abroad and providing them with sufficient development opportunities will keep them engaged and satisfied. In turn, this will do wonders for your staff retention rate:  

Companies that allow remote work enjoy a 25% lower employee turnover rate compared to those that don’t offer that option;
‍67% of jobseekers have quit a job due to a lack of available learning and development opportunities;
‍61% of people have left or have considered leaving a job due to al lack of flexible working practices.

3. Increasing productivity
One thing we have learned throughout the pandemic, which might have come as a surprise for many, is that the productivity of remote workers has increased. However, there is way more to it than measuring their productivity based on day-to-day tasks.What’s far more significant is the fact that remote workers suffer fewer burnouts and take fewer sick days. With a flexible workplace policy, employees have a better, healthier work-life balance and suffer from less stress as a result. This reduces anxiety and stress within the workplace, while boosting employee engagement and job satisfaction. Again – the numbers don’t lie:  

‍77% of people say that remote working has improved their overall health and wellbeing;
‍80% of remote workers say they are happy with their job, compared to just 55% of on-site workers.  

If this is already true for working remotely in general, imagine how their work-life balance would skyrocket when employees find themselves in a relaxing environment which allows them to completely disconnect after work.

To sum up, investing in remote experiences abroad for your workforce will provide a positive boost to your perception and reputation as an employer, give you an edge over your competition and keep your employees happy, healthy, and productive.


The difference between a good employer and a great one
Now, you might ask yourself, if working remotely abroad is the solution, isn’t it enough to simply allow your employees to venture overseas if they so choose? We can’t deny that this would be a step in the right direction but it won’t win the war for talent – nor will you have a markedly positive impact on your employees’ mental well-being.
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Why? Well, the reason is twofold. First of all, an increasing number of (mainly tech) companies are embracing the concept of working remotely abroad. So how do you differentiate yourself from competition? The key is to make your reputation, or brand, as an employer stand out – and offering your staff the remote professional experience from Sweet Spot is just the way to do it.
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Secondly, proactively facilitating this experience will give your employee the final push and confidence they may need to take on this adventure. In return, your company will enjoy the benefits we’ve explored throughout this post.

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