Remote workers are an ever-increasing feature of the workplace. Be aware of these common hiring mistakes to develop the best strategy for hiring your remote staff.
Unclear expectations
Clear expectations about the job prevent confusion and misunderstanding between the company and the remote candidates. Unfortunately, employers often dump a whole bag of responsibilities onto a job description in the hopes of finding a prodigy who can handle an entire department. This sets both sides up for failure and disappointment.
There are three challenges to consider when managing remote workers:
- Time zones: Are you equipped to coordinate workers in multiple time zones? If not, perhaps a single workplace time zone should be established, regardless of employee location.
- Collaboration: How do employees collaborate on projects? How do you store and share information?
- Isolation: How do you ensure that remote workers feel like they are part of the team? How do you manage productivity and progress?
Address the Challenges
Addressing these challenges up front will put prospective employees at ease. Provide them with job details that outline the role’s core competencies, working hours, compensation and other relevant information. Communicate your preferred solutions to each of the challenges listed and set clear expectations from the beginning.
WeWorkRemotely provides a detailed Remote Job Posting Template that you can use as a guide to help develop your remote hiring process.
Understanding the candidate’s lifestyle will also help determine whether they are a good fit for the company. For example, do you prefer work to be done according to a specific time zone or location? That could be an issue for some international workers. What resources will they need access to? For example, not everyone has access to the same speed of internet or access to other local services. Excessive travel also could impact job performance.
Finally, assessing a candidate’s personality and mental aptitudes with a pre-employment test and interview will ensure that you have all the information necessary to make the best hiring decision.