In a recent study, 47% of employees who worked from home moved during the pandemic. Sky-high rent in cities like San Francisco and New York have driven remote workers to other parts of country – and business owners have to decide if hiring across time zones is worth it.

One small business owner shared his reasoning for hiring employees outside of his city: 

“In the field of digital marketing, I hire people outside of my city, and around the world all the time, depending on the skills I need. Challenges include aligning work hours across time zones, and communications.” -Dennis Consorte, Small Business Consultant & Expert at Digital.com. 

Another business expert shared the pros and cons of businesses hiring from different locations: 

“The pros are you are not limiting the talent pool to your geographic location, which means you can find a talented team member from virtually anywhere. The main con is that you physically can’t sit in a room to brainstorm and work through issues that you may have with a particular client. Zoom video calls are great, but there’s nothing that beats in-person meetings.

A business should definitely consider hiring people that can work remotely. Often, those people can be more efficient and effective (no water cooler gossip, no distractions from coworkers, etc.) If their home office is set up properly, I’ve found that team members that work from home actually get more done in less time.” -Sherry Bonelli, Marketing Professional & Expert at Digital.com.