Remote work is a workplace model that allows staff members to work outside a traditional office environment. Although the technology required for employing remote workers has been available for a long time, the pandemic took what was once a “desirable perk” and transformed it into an “urgent necessity” almost overnight. Today, even as COVID seemingly winds down, many businesses continue to offer remote work options to attract hard-to-find talent in a tight labor market.
All that to say, remote work is now mainstream and growing in popularity amongst employees and employers alike. Employees like the flexibility and freedom remote work brings while employers enjoy boosted productivity. Though some companies felt hesitant about remote work at the start of the pandemic, data shows that the majority are willing to adopt a hybrid workplace model.
In May 2021, a Mercer study found that 70% of companies said they were planning to adopt the hybrid model. If your business is jumping on the remote work bandwagon, it’s essential to know how to hire these types of workers. Keep reading for our top tips for employing remote workers.
Tips For Employing Remote Workers
Although many aspects of hiring remote workers are similar to hiring in-person staff, there are several ways that businesses can ensure they are hiring the right remote worker.
#1 – Tailor Your Job Description & Posting To Remote Workers
No matter what type of remote role you are hiring for, your job listing can make or break your candidate pool. A good job description can either attract talented professionals or make them run for the hills. Beyond clearly listing the job role and requirements, your job description should explain why your company is a great place to work, emphasizing the unique benefits to remote workers.
For example, explain how your firm uses the best video conferencing technology, values communication, rewards productivity versus “on the clock hours,” and provides a flexible environment.
#2 – Cast A Wide Net
While hiring for an in-office position requires candidates to be local, hiring remote workers doesn’t come with such geographical restrictions. You can interview candidates from other states and even countries. Casting a wide net location-wise means you will have a more extensive selection of talent and have a better chance of securing the right person for the job.
Don’t be afraid of hiring international workers either; the process isn’t as challenging as it used to be due to Employer of Record (EOR) options.
#3 – Test The Waters
Hiring remote workers can feel risky at times; we get it. There is something comforting about speaking to someone in person, a luxury that isn’t available with virtual hiring practices. To alleviate any fears you have about hiring someone you’ve only interacted with via Zoom, you can integrate a (paid) test project into your hiring journey. By assigning a project, you can get a feel for a candidate’s communication style, workflow, timeliness, and productivity by giving them a role-specific task with a deadline.
What’s more, a test project will show you how well a candidate handles a remote job. Just because somebody is a great employee and knows their job like the back of their hand does not mean that they will function well in a remote environment.
#4 – Tweak Interview Questions
You should also consider tweaking your interview questions when hiring remote workers. As remote work requires ample internal motivation, superior time management, technological prowess, and extraordinary communication skills, it makes sense that your questions should reflect these qualifications. Some examples of great questions to ask remote candidates includes:
- What is your previous experience working remotely?
- What tools have you used to manage to work remotely?
- Have you used [insert software] before?
- How do you manage feedback and conflicts while working remotely?
- How do you stay on track with project deadlines?
Answers to questions like these will tell you about a candidate’s background and capacity for handling remote work.
# 5 – Ensure Your First Impression Is Impressive
You should strive to make an impressive first impression during your remote interviews. Keep things formal yet friendly and infuse your company culture into every facet of the discussion. Use video conferencing for a “face-to-face” interview, offer virtual tours of your office in real-time, and introduce them to other members of the company, so they get the full experience of an in-person interview through their computer.
#6 – Onboarding Remote Employees
Once you’ve selected the right remote employee for your business, you must ensure that you onboard them properly to avoid compliance and/or performance issues. Hiring remote workers means that all new hire paperwork and training must be done virtually. This can be a challenging concept for many companies at first. To help remote hires fill out their paperwork correctly, many businesses utilize mobile onboarding apps or virtual document management tools like DocuSign.
Additionally, onboarding often involves one-on-one meetings with the new hire’s manager, team presentations, videos, and much more so it’s essential that your organization invests in the best teleconferencing, presentation, and collaboration software possible.
Finally, give employees time to adjust to your communication tools, project management software, and more with a few trial projects so there are fewer hiccups in their first month of work. At the end of the day, your success depends on the quality of your workforce. Recruit and hire the best of the best with NexusCW. Learn more here.