Gone are the days when employers and employees had to be in the same physical location in order to be able to work effectively and achieve all of their goals. Today, more and more organizations are allowing their employees to work remotely, not to mention that they hire entire international teams, with employees spread all around the world. There are a lot of studies showing that allowing employees to work remotely can lead to much higher levels of efficiency and productivity.

Building a successful remote team takes time, thought and planning, but it certainly yields huge benefits. Flexible work hours are no longer reserved for tech startups – in today’s age of global connectivity, entrepreneurs are able to hire the smartest, most competent people regardless of where they live. Without further ado, here’s how to choose, hire and motivate remote professionals and create a brain trust that delivers every time, everywhere.

Remote meetings have become an essential part of a workflow, or even the only way of communication in various teams across the globe. Thomas Oppong, Founding Editor at ALLTOPSTARTUPS pointed to a shift in remote working as one of 7 key business trends for 2016, because even “larger companies have been embracing remote workers, at least partially, including powerhouses like Apple, Amazon, Dell, Intuit and IBM”.