As the first pandemic lockdowns took effect, many companies were scrambling to figure out how to make remote work possible.
After the lockdown was lifted, many of these companies felt that an “office-first” working model was no longer needed, especially in the digital marketing industry.
Institutional owners realize the cost savings of ditching the office.
Employees find the freedom of a one-minute commute to their desk.
remote work here to stay.
Your team may have recently moved completely remote, or you’re hiring the first of many remote SEO professionals.
Either way, there are a lot of factors you need to consider to make it a well-functioning team.
This is the first part of a series on how to build a fully remote team for SEO, and in the first step we’ll discuss planning and structure to set the stage for your success.
The structure of your SEO team
Your team structure will have an impact on your success in building remote teams.
For example, a remote SEO team in one country will have different considerations than a team spread across time zones.
Not all remote teams become remote in the same way.
As a result, individuals on these teams may have different expectations and experiences with remote work.
It’s important to keep this in mind when building or scaling a fully remote SEO team.
Types of remote teams
Remote teams operate in different ways, each with benefits and challenges.
National and International
A remote team with employees all in one country (or only one state if in the US) will be easier to manage.
There will be one tax law, one employment law and one public holiday.
For managers of SEO teams operating in one location, there are fewer administrative barriers, albeit remotely.
Managers of international teams need to keep in mind that there can be significant differences in how you treat your employees depending on their country.
Gathering Spaces vs. No Gathering Spaces
when created or Grow your SEO teamyou can give employees access to physical locations where they can choose to attend meetings and collaborate face-to-face.
Despite being completely remote for this purpose, some companies keep smaller office spaces.
Others choose to give their team memberships or perks of co-working space.
By giving your team members this option, you’re giving them the option to meet face-to-face or remain remote.
It also enables them to get out of the house and sit in the crowd (without the latte bill to go to the cafe).
However, offering this arrangement can run counter to the company’s completely remote-first culture.
Without proper monitoring, you may find team members agree to meet weekly in a convenient co-working space.
While this is not a problem, it is considered a hybrid model if team members are expected to meet regularly.
Again, this is not a problem if your team expects it. But if it’s not truly remote-first, it could add undue stress and eliminate the benefits of remote work for some workers.
How the company was formed
How the rest of your company handles remote work will also affect how your remote-first team is managed.
hybrid company
If the SEO team is completely remote but operates within a larger organization, which is not the case, you may see your team forced to visit the office more often than they would like.
This is especially true in hybrid organizations that offer both in-office and remote contracts.
Even if each team member has a remote-first contract, they may be required to attend other departmental meetings in the office.
This can be especially stressful for employees, and managers may need to help set boundaries and involve them in these face-to-face meetings.
You may find yourself as one of the few managers in your company to lead a fully remote team.
This can be a nice learning curve and allows you to help set parameters and guidelines, but it can also be a struggle.
remote company
Fully remote companies may be better equipped to meet the challenges of remote-first work.
When all of your employees are working remotely, companies need to excel at quickly dealing with video call fatigue, asynchronous work, and team building.
As the manager of an SEO team located in a fully remote organization, you will likely have a lot of support in managing your team well in that environment.
Rewards Notes
How you pay your team, benefits and compensation rules will vary by location.
Having a team spread across a state or country means that it may take some work and research to consider the best compensation structure.
compensation
How much you pay a remote team isn’t as simple a decision as it is for a team that’s all in one location. There are several factors to consider, which can complicate the payment structure.
The main complication is that you pay an SEO manager differently in one country than another.
This boils down to the difference in average salaries.
Skill scarcity in some countries drives Search Engine Optimization Salary up. Even think that SEO talent from one country is better than others.
All of this can lead to significantly different salary expectations for the same position among candidates from different countries.
Pricing Model
There are two main schools of thought when it comes to determining how to pay employees in different locations.
- Pay all employees the same amount, converted to their currencyregardless of where in the world they work (location-independent compensation).
- Pay employees the market price in their country their role (location-based compensation).
There are pros and cons to both approaches, and ultimately, it will be a business decision.
As a fully remote SEO team line manager, you probably don’t have much say in this.
However, it’s good to know the benefits and pitfalls because you’re probably the first team member to talk about it.
Location-Based Payments
Location-based wages can provide much-needed extra wages for employees living in high cost-of-living areas to make them comfortable in those areas.
It could also mean that hiring from certain countries is more economical for employers, increasing the attractiveness of candidates from those regions.
However, employees who pay different amounts for the same job can lead to dissatisfaction.
It can also contribute to a cycle of low wages in some countries, rather than helping to raise wages.
Location-independent payments
Paying the same salary for the same roles regardless of where employees live helps to achieve more equal pay around the world.
However, it could also mean that employees have very different experiences trying to live comfortably on those wages.
For example, a UK SEO professional’s £45,000 salary pays a vastly different size for accommodation in central London compared to the countryside in the north of England.
This can be the difference between renting and owning a home in a shared house.
This may become more apparent when looking at the cost of living in different countries.
Conversation about compensation
Note that in perfectly legal areas, employees may talk to each other about their salaries.
Whatever your route, be prepared to explain your salary structure to your team.
It may be better to have these conversations with your team when you hire them, rather than waiting for them to get frustrated that their salary/living standards are worse than their colleagues doing the same job.
benefit
In addition to base salary, you also need to consider the benefits of a remote SEO team.
Again, this may not be as simple as giving every employee the same benefits.
There may be differences based on local laws and taxes.
Focus on remote work
You can tailor the benefits you offer to fit the unique needs of remote workers.
Think about what your team might be lacking by not having regular access to co-working spaces.
The lure of free coffee and a pool table is never really enough to lure SEO experts into the office, but there are things that remote workers miss out on.
Consider social, community or health benefits that may be more important to team members working remotely.
E.g:
- Co-working space membership.
- Social club/event membership.
- gym membership.
- Volunteering Day.
- Weekly takeout/grocery budget.
equipment
Just giving your team a laptop might not be enough to get them working from home.
You may also want to provide perks for setting up your home office in a comfortable, ergonomic way.
They will know what works best for their home environment.
For example, being able to buy a room divider that separates their room area from their desk and work equipment could do wonders for them work-life balance.
Giving them enough money to buy a proper desk, second monitor, and separate keyboard can be an important benefit.
As SEO professionals, we spend our lives online.
To do our job well, we need a stable internet connection.
This is something you should discuss with your team when hiring them.
For colleagues working from home for the first time, this may not happen.
Varies by location
A key consideration is the difference in how benefits are treated in different regions for legal and tax purposes.
For example, the UK has regulations on employers providing workplace pensions
Providing a pension is not a benefit unless the employer contributes more than the amount required by law.
Minimum finance charges may vary in other countries.
How these benefits are taxed also varies by location.
What may seem like a perk for employees in one country can be a huge tax burden for another country in the rest of the world.
If your company is building a fully remote team for the first time in an area with different laws, seek advice from an international recruiting and compensation expert.
necessary benefits
In some places, benefits are more needed than others.
For example, the benefits of private healthcare in the UK are often seen as a benefit.
UK citizens have access to free healthcare provided by the government.
A health insurance plan can help with access to private health care, but not providing it won’t prevent them from receiving health care.
As in the US, a good health care plan is much more important to employees in other countries.
When considering what benefits to offer your fully remote SEO team, it’s impossible to have one size fits all.
In my next column, we’ll continue this series with an in-depth look at the legal considerations for building a remote SEO team, as well as communication and collaboration skills to help you succeed.
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Featured image: Josep Suria/Shutterstock
