With 2021 drawing to an end, we reflect on the past year and look toward 2022,
wondering what to expect. So many uncertainties: How will Omicron or other new COVID
variants change the world? How will international supply chain issues, including a
worldwide semiconductor chip shortage, affect business? What about the Great
Resignation? And will workers who have now worked remotely, often for well over a year,
willingly go back to the office?
Some of these questions have no clear answers yet, but there are some clear business
trends we can help you keep on top of.
The shift away from the outsourcing of core company functions continues. Instead of
outsourcing major functions and projects, many companies are using outsourcing more
selectively: to recruit, vet, and contract with talent (see section 7, below). But companies
ARE still looking abroad for talent.
According to InfoQ, pandemic-related lockdowns and slowdowns in previously popular but
distant offshore locations such as India have spurred interest in nearshoring, or hiring from
locations in the same or neighboring time zones for teams that are partially or fully
distributed/remote.
Already trending before COVID, nearshoring provides companies with broader budget
options and access to a larger talent pool. At the same time, geographic and cultural
affinities enable nearshore team members to work together in real time, shoulder to virtual
shoulder, and build cohesive cultures.
In 2022, we expect to see Western European companies increasingly sourcing talent from
Eastern Europe, particularly the Ukraine. For US companies, according to international
business scholar Jerry Haar, “Real-time collaboration, cultural affinity, cost-effectiveness,
and a growing talent pool” make the Latin American / Caribbean region “the crown jewel for nearshoring operations."
Briefly, then, nearshoring:
These benefits make nearshoring one obvious, agile solution to challenges coming in 2022.
With the spread of Omicron, companies such as Microsoft, Meta (Facebook), Google, and
Apple have now told their employees to expect to continue working remotely into 2022.
And financial institutions such as Bank of America, Citigroup, and Charles Schwab have
reversed or delayed initiatives to get staff back to the office.
As companies gain experience with remote workers—and hiring managers themselves
adjust to working remotely—they recognize the advantages that come with hiring self-
driven, remote workers.
According to Deloitte’s 2021 Outsourcing Survey Report,
Not every employee is a great fit for remote work, but many thrive and increase
productivity when not burdened with a commute or workplace distractions. So it’s not just
employers who are learning to love remote work. The workforce is getting comfortable out
of the office—and it will be hard, if and when the pandemic recedes, to get everyone back
to cube life.
A December 2021 survey of 14,000 people across Europe shows that only 14% of workers
want to return to the office. And more than half say they have become more productive as
a result of working from home.
In the United States, Indeed surveyed tech employees who had worked onsite before
COVID-19 and then switched to full-time remote work. Nearly half (48%) now have the option to work from home, even though they weren’t doing so pre-COVID-19—and 95% of
those intend to do so. Six out of 10 say they would even take a pay cut to continue working remotely.
Reasons workers gave Indeed for planning to stay remote:
The tech talent shortage is no secret, and it’s expected to get worse in 2022. As offshoring, nearshoring, and location-agnostic staffing become more popular, companies compete globally for good candidates, who are often bombarded by recruiters.
Some workers prefer the stability of long-term employment, while others like the variety
that comes with project employment, moving from gig to gig. Some see the international job market as a good place to develop or improve skills that in turn make them more
marketable, such as fluency in English and experience with distributed teams.
Also, the tech recruiting industry is seeing some consolidation as bigger service providers
prepare for increased demand and investment forms angle for a piece of the recruiting
pie. Hunt Scanlon Media details some of the acquisitions in the recruiting industry here.
The bottom line? Finding exceptional software engineers and other tech professionals is
going to be challenging in 2022.
Offices with remote workers need to evaluate and, most likely, update their technology to
accommodate increased remote work.
One area that should be a priority is security. Cybercrime has been up to 600% since the
COVID-19 outbreak. Workplaces need to update security policies and make them easy for
home-based workers to follow.
What other tech is expanding?
According to Fortune magazine, companies are investing more in tech to facilitate remote work, as well as making tech offerings more inclusive and accessible. After all, not every remote worker is a tech wiz, and work-from-home doesn’t come with the convenience of an onsite IT support group.
Last, innovative companies will no doubt experiment with or implement platforms such as the metaverse (e.g., Horizon Workrooms) as substitutes for in-person officing.
New COVID variants and economic uncertainties encourage companies to grow a remote,
distributed workforce. But sourcing specialized talent is extremely time consuming. The
proliferation of resume pipelines means that you may get dozens, hundreds, even
thousands of applicants for one posted position. And bringing aboard the wrong person or
team can be costly and frustrating.
Increasingly, companies without a human resources department or with an already-
stretched HR department are turning to specialized staffing agencies such as BetterEngineer,
which recruits remote software engineers and builds teams.
BetterEngineer uses an augmented staffing model with a pool of 10,000+ nearshore and
onshore software engineers to help clients find the right fit as fast as possible.
Staff augmentation allows companies to choose from among highly filtered, well-vetted
candidates to find the right team or team members. Options include using SalsaMobi to
hire a new team member on a contract basis with terms that fit your needs
hire a new team member now with the option to make the hire a regular full-time employee in the future
hire straight to your team from day one
BetterEngineer can swiftly augment client teams with software engineers who enjoy working
remotely, because we specialize in our industry and maintain a robust talent pool that is
vetted for
Want to learn more about BetterEngineer? We’d love to learn about and fill your staffing needs.
Get started today.