Hire the Top 1% of Remote Staff

A guide to remote staffing and offshore staffing

Remote staffing is a simple idea. Instead of hiring someone who sits in your office, you hire a person who works from their own place and joins your team online. Offshore staffing adds one more detail: the person lives in another country. DigiWorks helps you find, vet and hire remote and offshore staff, handles the contract and monthly pay, and leaves the choice of who joins to you. This guide explains how it works, which roles suit it and what to plan before you start.

What remote staffing means with DigiWorks

When you hire remote staff through DigiWorks, the person joins your team and works on your tasks. You tell us the role, the hours and the tools. We find and vet candidates and bring you a shortlist. You interview them for free and decide who starts. After that, you set the daily work and the way you want updates, and we take care of the contract and the pay each month. You keep the relationship with your team member, and we remove the paperwork around it.

Remote, offshore and nearshore in plain words

The words get mixed up, so here is a short list. Remote means the person works away from your office. Offshore means they live in a different country from yours. Nearshore is a term some companies use for a country that is close to yours, with a similar time zone. A person can be remote and offshore at the same time, and most are. For your daily work, the more useful question is how many of your working hours you share.

Remote staffing, outsourcing and staff augmentation

These three are often confused. With outsourcing, you hand a whole task or function to a company, and it delivers a result. You manage the outcome, not the people. With staff augmentation, you add people to your own team and you direct their work, much as you would with an employee. Remote staffing with DigiWorks is closest to staff augmentation. If you want a specialist to run that process for you, see our staff augmentation specialists. For a wider look at the options, read our guide to flexible staffing.

Roles you can hire as remote staff

Many roles work well from a distance, especially those that happen on a computer. A virtual assistant handles email, calendars and daily admin. A software developer joins your sprints and writes and reviews code, and a front-end developer builds what your users see. A data entry specialist keeps your records tidy, and a virtual receptionist answers calls and greets customers online. Marketing roles, such as an SEO specialist or a digital marketer, work well this way too.

Where our remote and offshore staff are based

Our people are based in Latin America, Eastern Europe, South Africa, the Philippines and India. Each region gives you a different mix of time zone overlap, language and skills. Latin America often suits teams in the Americas who want shared working hours. Eastern Europe overlaps well with European hours and part of the US day. South Africa works for European teams and for teams that want a morning shift. The Philippines and India are useful for teams that want work done while their own office is closed. Tell us your hours and we shortlist people who can cover them.

Time zones and working hours

Time zones are the part new remote teams worry about most, and they are easy to plan for. Decide how many hours each day you need to share, for calls and quick questions. Many teams are happy with a few shared hours and let the rest of the day run on its own. Others want a person who works their full local day. Write the hours in the contract and the first week plan, so nobody is guessing. Short written updates at the end of each day help a team that spans several time zones.

Full-time, part-time and growing a team

You do not need a full team on the first day. Part-time starts from 20 hours a week, which is a good way to test a role and see how the work flows. When there is more good work than hours, you can add hours or add another person. Some owners begin with one assistant, then add a developer or a support person later. If this is your first remote hire, our article on remote staffing for founders walks through the first steps.

What the cost looks like

DigiWorks hourly rates start from $7/hr. The final rate depends on the role, the level and the hours, and senior people and specialist skills cost more. Each invoice shows the person’s pay and our fee as separate lines, so you can see where the money goes. Compared with a local hire, you also avoid the cost of office space, equipment and local payroll. Tell us what you need on the first call and we will share pricing for it.

How hiring remote staff works

1. Book a call and describe the role, the tasks, the hours and your tools.
2. We find and vet candidates, and bring you a shortlist.
3. You interview the candidates for free and choose who joins.
4. We sort out the contract, and DigiWorks pays your team member each month.
5. You agree the first week plan, give access to your tools and start working together.

The shortlist usually arrives within 7 days. You stay in charge of the daily work, and we are there if you need to change hours or the person.

When remote staffing makes sense

• You have routine work that eats your day and does not need your skills.
• You need a skill that is hard to find near you.
• You want people who cover hours when your office is closed.
• You want to add capacity without a long hiring process or a new office seat.
• You want to test a role part-time before you commit to more.

If the work must be done in person, for example in a shop or on a site, remote staff is not the answer for that task. It can still cover the online side of the same job.

Managing remote staff well

Good remote teams run on clear tasks and short written updates. Give each task a goal, a deadline and an example of finished work. Hold a regular check-in and use one place for tasks, so nothing hides in a chat thread. Judge the person by the results, not by how many hours they look busy. Say thanks when work is good, and give feedback early when it is not. These habits matter more than where the person lives.

Questions to ask before you hire

1. Which tasks will this person own, and how will we know they are done well?
2. Which hours do we need to share, and which can be independent?
3. Which tools will they need, and what access is safe to give?
4. Who will give them work and answer their questions in the first month?
5. What would make us add hours, or change the setup?

The clearer your answers, the easier it is for us to match the right person. If some are still open, bring them to the call and we will work through them together.

Mistakes to avoid

• Hiring without a task list, then finding the person has nothing clear to do.
• Ignoring time zones until the first missed meeting.
• Giving full access to every system on the first day.
• Judging the first week by speed instead of by how well the person follows your process.
• Leaving out feedback until a small issue has become a big one.

For help with daily admin, see our virtual assistants, or read about our virtual assistant services.