Broadband Access Can Boost Rural Jobs, Remote Work
Excerpt from shrm.org
As working from home has become the new normal over the last three years due to the coronavirus pandemic, there’s now a greater need to adopt fiber broadband Internet services, otherwise known as high-speed Internet, in rural areas. High-speed Internet can make it possible for rural residents to find jobs and work from home, and employers may have better results hiring, onboarding and retaining workers in regions outside metropolitan areas.
According to an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation report, “Rural coverage usually lags behind urban coverage because rural areas are less densely populated and, therefore, more expensive to serve per household.” In 2019, only 62 percent of the U.S. population had adopted fiber broadband Internet service, even though 98 percent of households can access high-speed Internet.
The recruitment process for rural job candidates takes extra time and effort for businesses because they need to educate—and possibly support—those candidates for remote work, said Tonya Mead, CEO of Search Remotely, a remote company that recruits remote workers across the globe. Meanwhile, job candidates in metropolitan areas do not experience the same issues with Internet connections, so the recruitment process is smoother and faster than it is for rural populations.
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