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- You have to keep the remote employee engaged by ensuring that even while they remote they’re still a member of the team.
- Onboarding is key! But when you’re onboarding you have to ensure you’re doing it the right way.
- Your application mattes. Make sure that your application has a language that is welcoming and exciting, not just blunt and to the point.
Remote employees are awesome. You have this opportunity to really get the best talent for your organization. Limited to only hiring people in your area? No way! You get to hire from all over. So with that being said…why are companies still not getting it right?
The Candidacy
Hands down, the best part of hiring a remote employee is the fact that you have such a huge selection of talent. Work in Kansas City but want to hire someone in California? You got it! Work in Alaska and want to hire the best talent for your company, but that candidate lives in Chicago? No problem!
Hiring a remote employee means you have your choice of the best talent from anywhere on earth. Your ideal candidate might not live just up the street. Having the opportunity to hire a remote employee means you have the opportunity to find that perfect candidate. No matter where they are!
The Application
When creating an application have you ever thought about the fact that this could be the first opportunity you have to show off your company culture to potential applicants? Most applications are dry, and straight to the point. They want you to fill them out, provide info, and ask that you provide references (just so the potential candidate can call their buddy and ask them to be a reference for them). If your application isn’t different from anyone else’s, then what is that potential candidate going to say after reading it?
“Ugh, this company is just like all the others”
You don’t want your company to be viewed like that, right? You want to stand out, you want to seem different/better than all the other companies. Your application is the first opportunity you have to showcase that culture. Put questions in your application that are fun and make your applicants think outside the box. Here’s a fun question to consider “Do you think Big Foot is real? Please explain.” Seems kind of silly, right? But it works! It’s going to be a surprise to the applicant and it’s going to show the applicant that your office doesn’t always take things so seriously, but is able to get work done and have fun while doing it.
The point here is, your application is usually the first time your applicants get a view of the culture and type of company that you are. So you have to ask yourself this one question when creating your application…”How do I want my company to be viewed?”
Interviewing
When interviewing a remote employee there are a lot of different routes you can go. You can decide to fly them out to you to have an in-person interview, a skype or video call interview, or just conduct the entire interview over the phone. But which option is the best?
When interviewing for any position, you want to make sure that the potential employee will be a good fit for your company. But that potential employee is doing the same. There’s give and take in this process because if the potential employee doesn’t feel like your company is a good work environment or that it’s a good fit, you just lost out on great talent. Obviously, you don’t want that, so how do you do it? How do you show off your company culture and how awesome of a place your company is when you’re doing an interview for a remote employee?
You do that by allowing the remote employee to actually get a feel of the office and culture. A phone interview usually doesn’t cut it. Fly them in or have a Skype/video interview.
Flying in every potential employee who will be working remote can get pretty pricey, but if you can do it, more power to you! But for those companies that can’t, a skype or video call will suffice! Take the opportunity to have that face-to-face (well screen-to-face, but you get what I’m trying to say) interaction with them and show and tell them about the culture in the office. In an in-person interview the potential employee gets to walk around the office, meet people they will be working with, and get a feel for the company culture. Who says you can’t do the same during a Skype/video interview? Maybe don’t have everyone in the office come into the room, but why not have the team that the remote employee will be working with come into the room and meet the potential employee? It’s going to make that potential employee feel welcomed and excited to work with their future team.
Onboarding The Right Way
“The action or process of integrating a new employee into an organization” the definition is right there, yet, we’re still doing it wrong.
Onboarding a new employee, especially when they’re remote, isn’t just familiarizing them with how the company works and how they’ll be doing their job. So much more goes into it. Let this be the first opportunity for them to experience the culture, create relationships with their new coworkers, and see the company for more than just their 9-5 job. But when you have a remote employee how exactly are you supposed to do that and keep them engaged?
You Have Them, Now You Have To Keep Them Engaged
The header says it all. You’ve hired this new remote employee, but how do you plan on keeping them engaged? A lot of remote employees feel disconnected from their jobs and their coworkers. These sorts of things don’t happen on purpose, out of sight out of mind, right? There’s nothing you can do about It…WRONG!
There are plenty of things you can do to help keep your remote employees involved. First thing is, KEEP THEM IN THE LOOP ABOUT EVERYTHING. There’s a funny email, or a group message about something light, keep them involved. It might seem minor, but it really does go a long way. When you have events or company activities send them pictures, tell them that they’re missed. Just because they’re not working in the office, doesn’t mean they’re still not with the team. This goes for remote employees, and employees who work in the office, they want to feel appreciated. They want to feel like what they do matters. Make sure you’re showing that to not just your remote employees, but to all of your employees.
Why It’s Great To Have A Remote Employee
Still not sold? Well here are my top three reasons to integrate remote employees into your team!
- Bigger Selection of Talent – When hiring remote employees, you have your choice of the best talent from anywhere! The perfect candidate might not live in the same city as you do. The option to hire remote employees means you have the opportunity to find the ideal candidate for the position. No matter where they might be!
- Saves Money – When you have remote employees it gives you the potential to save your company a ton of money. Less people in the office means you save money on janitorial cost, electricity, and you won’t need to buy larger real-estate to support having more people in the office.
- Remote Employees Feel More Productive – This might be hard to believe, but remote employees have the potential to actually get a lot more done when they’re working from home. There are so many distractions when you’re working in an office. People coming to talk to you, parties and birthday/anniversary celebrations always happening, or just hearing someone near you having a loud conversation (Come on, quiet down, Jane) can all be major distractions in the workplace. These are distractions remote employees don’t have to deal with. With the lack of distractions, such as these, remote employees have the potential to be a lot more productive.
With all great things do come challenges. You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you? But going in depth over the challenges of hiring remote employees is a blog for another day. But if you’re too excited to wait, check out a past blog where I discuss just a couple of the challenges of hiring remote employees.
Closing Thoughts
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