6 Things to Consider Before Hiring Remote Talent
Published: 2022-08-16 05:41:00

The coronavirus pandemic has touched every walk of life. As a result, doing things has changed, and these ways have become the new normal.

An Upwork study found that 22% of the American workforce will be working remotely by 2025.

Remote working or employees working away from the office is one of these new normals which has become prominent in almost all the industries.

In the recruitment domain, Hiring remote talent is a new challenge. Companies are looking for suitable talent to fit into this new work model.

Remote working is not something new, but it has evolved into an almost new concept in this era of advanced technology. The advanced platforms such as CodeMonk makes hiring remote talent a bit easy and complicated at the same time. 

We’ll discuss all such things in this article, including ‘how to hire remote talent.’ So stay with us till the end.

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## **Why Hiring Remote Talent is a Profitable Trait**
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Remote working is quite lucrative and beneficial not only for the companies but also for employees. Employees get many perks, including the freedom to work from anywhere and anytime (for some companies), Save time and money as there is no need to commute, and overall a more autonomous position.

99% of the workers who worked remotely during the pandemic would like to continue working remotely.

We all know this employee perspective of remote working. But what about companies? 

But many people wonder if hiring remote workers is beneficial for the company or not. So let’s look at some benefits of hiring remote workers for the companies.

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- **Cost benefits** - Allowing your employees to work remotely or from home reduces the cost for the company as there is less need for office space and perks. The company can save a lot of money.

- **Increase in productivity** - Studies have shown that employee productivity surges in remote working. Employees achieve a better work-life balance, increasing their efficiency and will to complete their work.

- **Talent options or better hiring** - Recruiters can choose from a global network of professionals when hiring remote workers. They can even hire people from different countries as employees can work from anywhere.

- **Decrease in attrition rate** - Remote workers are generally more satisfied and happy as they can maintain a better work-life balance. So many remote workers seldom switch jobs or companies. Better employee retention is good for the morale of the whole company.
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- **24/7 employees** - A huge benefit of hiring remote talent is that companies can have active employees at any time of the day or night. For example, ‘round the clock’ customer service becomes easy when you have remote workers in different time zones.
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- **Less need for training** - When hiring remote workers, companies can find people with good experience and skills who are unwilling to relocate. These professionals already possess the desired skill set and don’t require much training.

## **6 factors to consider before hiring remote employees**
As we have seen how remote work can be good for the company, It is crucial to be very careful when hiring remote workers. Just as every coin has two sides, there are many advantages and disadvantages for recruiters in hiring remote workers compared to hiring regular office workers. 

Let's take a glance at some factors to consider before hiring remote employees:

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## **1. What makes a good remote worker**
When tackling the question “How to hire remote talent?” A clear understanding of what makes an excellent remote worker is essential. Here are some attributes that make an ideal remote talent. 

- **Strong communication skills** - A remote worker needs to have impeccable communication skills to ensure success in remote work. Since these workers are not physically present at the office, communication between different stakeholders must be clear and smooth.
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- **Discipline** - Discipline is an essential virtue for everyone, and remote workers are no different. Since there is no one to enforce discipline in remote workplaces, a remote worker needs to maintain self-discipline to follow schedules and complete targets on time.
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- **Adaptable and flexible** - Many adjustments have to be made to ensure smooth working in remote working. An ideal remote worker needs to have flexibility and adaptability to achieve goals and maintain workflow.
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- **‍Prior remote working experience** - It will be best to hire someone with some experience in remote work. An experienced remote worker will already be familiar with the required lifestyle and don'ts for successful remote work.

## **2. What will be the onboarding process**
Many feel onboarding is a simple task of welcoming new hires. 

However, this is far from the truth. We need to recognize the long-term impact the onboarding experience could have on employees. It gets a bit trickier for remote working as many remote workers may not physically come for the onboarding. 

Here are some key points to help create successful onboarding programs for remote workers 

- **A great start** - As well begun is half done, the first day for a new remote employee can be a game-changer. So we need to make sure to have a detailed plan for the first day. For example, an informal virtual mentor to welcome and answer the infinite questions that the recruit might have.
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- **Establishing relationships** - Since it will be difficult for remote workers to form associations or get to know other organization members, there should be provisions for interactions or some virtual meets to enhance the employer-employee relationship.‍
- **Virtual tour** - A virtual tour into the company culture and setup will give a belonging feeling to the new virtual hire. With the latest technology like VR, this experience can be made fascinating.


## 3. How would you monitor these employees

It can be a daunting task to monitor remote employees. It is quite plausible for remote employees to just waste time by surfing the internet or taking naps with a million distractions. So it becomes challenging for supervisors or managers to monitor these employees.

As every lock has a key, advanced technology has provided many solutions to this problem. There are many remote computer monitoring software available today. 

Cloud-based IT support provides the required tools for managing the remote workforce. Generally, remote monitoring software can provide data for:

- Login Hours
- Apps and websites being accessed 
- Time spent on various tasks 
Abundant data for root-cause analysis, problem management, incident management, etc. Now, these tools are not only used to find inconsistencies but also to assist remote workers.

According to several market researches, the IT solutions for remote working are expected to grow at an accelerating rate. So now would be the best time to invest in these amazing tools.

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## 4. How can you enable collaboration among teams

Collaboration among teams is vital for achieving goals. It applies to both onsite employees and remote employees. In simple terms, collaboration is working with others to produce results. 

Collaboration among teams poses a big challenge, especially if you have remote workers. For instance, if an organization has onsite and remote workers, the latter can feel left out or alienated and not contribute to their full potential. 

So, to avoid issues, here somethings that can be handy:

- Clear and concise communication channels need to be defined. Every employee should be well aware of these channels, and these should be easily accessible. 
- Every remote employee should have access to all the company news and happenings. This helps remote workers have a feeling of belongingness. 
- Remote employees should be encouraged for regular physical visits; It can be for meetings or even parties or get-togethers. 
- Arranging team-building activities and cross-team meetings regularly to encourage smooth communication.
 
These are a few ways that companies can improve collaboration among teams and reduce any kind of friction in the organization. The improved collaboration will boost creativity and help find innovative solutions to achieve organizational goals.

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## **5. How will you be able to manage different time zones**

Hiring remote talent across the globe gives you many advantages but at the same time creates an issue of managing employees in different time zones. This should be decided before hiring remote employees from different countries.

A standard approach of fixing work hours can be used, but it needs to be informed to employees before onboarding. Many employees might not be fine with working at an odd time of the day or night.

A flexible time approach where remote employees can choose the most suitable time as work hours. However, there should be some overlapping work hours for all the team members to facilitate coordination and cooperation. This depends on the nature of the job.

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## 6. What will be the task allocation process

When companies decide to hire remote workers, it needs to be clear with their needs and goals. For example, if a company plans to hire remote workers to save money or exploit global talent, it will be confronted with task and resource allocation issues.

Some ways which can help to tackle this issue are:

- **Automatic task tracking** - With the help of remote employee managing software, you can get a real-time update of what tasks remote employees are doing and when they need to be allocated the next one.
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- **Planning breaks beforehand** - Another problem stems from when employees ask for a break at different times. As a manager, planning for such vacations which will not compromise the project is crucial. Hence, they should ask employees to schedule breaks in advance.
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- **Setting Targets** - Setting work targets can help to manage time and resources. For instance, if a project needs to be delivered urgently in a short time, It can be managed with clearly defined work targets.
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- **Providing flexibility** - When hiring remote workers, trust is really important. Many managers keep remote workers on a leash with many status updates and meetings. Remote employees need to be given confidence and flexibility to work so that they don't get overstressed or discouraged.
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## How to successfully hire remote employees - wrapping up

The business world is changing fast, and we need to keep up. The remote working model has penetrated most industries across the world. This pandemic forced most companies to adopt this model.

As we have discussed, hiring remote talent can be very beneficial for your company, so if you plan to start or even continue, the points we've discussed will come in handy.

Before starting the hiring process, understanding all the points mentioned above is important. Make an optimal plan of action, including onboarding, task allocation, monitoring, etc., to get started.

To begin with the hiring process, get a thorough understanding of what qualities you should be looking for in remote employees and then move according to your plan of action.