6 Things to Think About Before Hiring Remote Employees

Before you go on hiring remote employees, there are certain things you need to think about and plan for in order to be absolutely sure you’re ready for such a step. Here is the list of six extremely important things you need to keep in mind before hiring a remote team.

Why should you consider hiring remote employees?

With technological advances and new ways of communicating, business owners and HR specialists now have a lot more options to choose from when it comes to hiring new employees .

➡️Download our guide to learn more: The Ultimate Guide for Finding Qualified Candidates in 2019 !

In fact, flexible hours and workspace is one of the key workplace trends in 2021.

The idea of hiring a remote team seems appealing enough – the pool of potential candidates is much larger than it is in the case of looking for in-office workers.
Plus, more work gets done without additionally crowding the office space. Everybody wins!

What do you need to consider before hiring remote employees?

However, before you go on hiring people from all over the world, there are certain things you need to think about and plan for in order to be absolutely sure you’re ready for such a step.

We’ve made a list of six extremely important things you need to keep in mind before hiring a remote team:

1. How to monitor remote employees?

OK, so let’s say you’ve hired a team of people who are going to be working from home. You have given them assignments and now… you wait. Yes, there is absolutely no way for you to know if they’re doing the tasks or how far along they are. For all you know, they could be watching YouTube or taking a nap.

Luckily, there’s a little thing called employee tracking software . This tool will give you insights into whether your remote workers have logged in, which apps they’re using, how much time they’re spending on certain tasks and so on. Whichever one you choose, the remote employee monitoring software will make your job much easier and more data-driven.

Without remote computer monitoring software, controlling your remote team would mostly rely on guesswork and trust. And even though you should trust your employees, having all the data compiled by an objective entity will not only ensure that you are in the loop about what your employees are doing, but will also help you assist them in becoming more productive.

➡️ Learn 5 cool tips to skyrocket your remote employees’ productivity !

2. How to ensure impeccable communication with your remote employees?

We’re witnessing the process of communication becoming more and more digital almost by the minute, not only in the workplace but also in our private lives. Therefore, figuring out how to communicate with your remote employees should be a no-brainer.

But because it’s such an easy and obvious matter, it’s often overlooked. Before you hire someone who’s going to work from home, make sure you’re on the same page when it comes to communication.

Things to consider include means of communicating (e.g. over the phone, on Skype, via a messaging app, on your own work platform and so on) and frequency of reporting and checking in (is it going to be once a day, every two hours, when a task is finished or something else).

3. What about the time zone?

This can potentially be an issue if you choose to open your doors to anyone from whatever part of the world they come from. While this can open up so many opportunities, you need to have a plan on how to deal with different time zones before you start the hiring process.

Some employers opt for fixed working hours which correspond to their office working hours. If you go this route, you need to clearly indicate this to the candidates before you hire them.

Alternatively, you can implement flexible hours, in which case you need to have some form of remote workers time tracking solution.

4. How to allocate tasks?

Having a remote team may sound great, but what employers often tend to lose sight of iswhyyou need remote employees in the first place. Are all of your teams going to work from home or just certain teams? And which ones? Which tasks and projects should you delegate to them? The important ones or the less important ones? The ones that take time? What about client correspondence?

The answers to these questions will depend on a number of things and they are completely up to you, but we can’t stress enough how crucial it is to think about them and make a solid plan before you take on any additional staff.

If you’ve chosen to implement remote worker monitoring software, you can use it for work allocation purposes too. Because you know how efficient each employee is, regardless of whether they’re in-office or remote, you’ll be able to know how to delegate effectively.

5. How to onboard your remote employees?

Before you do any hiring, you need to have a clear onboarding process and guidelines . If your new employees can’t come to the office for onboarding, you have to figure out a way to best provide all the necessary information online.

Think about the format – whether it’s going to be in a file, live video chat, over the phone, introductory video or a combination of these. Also, think about the information you’ll have to provide. Clearly tell them what you expect them to do and when, and make sure you introduce them to the remote monitoring software if you choose to use one. Also, you shouldn’t forget to give them the opportunity to ask any questions at the end.

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6. How to ensure great remote team dynamics?

In order for your team and business to run smoothly, the working atmosphere should be considered and optimized. Although this might seem a bit intangible and more up to the workers than up to you, you should give your best to maintain employee satisfaction and motivation on high levels.

This needs especially careful approach when it comes to remote workers. If you have both in-office and remote teams, often times it happens that they never meet and never communicate with each other which can lead to your remote team feeling left behind and alienated from the rest of the company. Add to that remote employee monitoring, and you get a demotivated team with no friends inside the company.

In order to avoid this, you need to explain the purpose of the remote employee monitoring tools, ensuring them it’s a matter of productivity and not spying. In addition, tell them that you’re at their disposal if they need anything (and then actually be there). Last but not least, encourage them to visit the office if and when they can and make sure to include them in all team building activities that you organize.

How to successfully hire remote employees?

Deciding to hire a remote team is a big step for a business and it needs to be conducted with care. The most important thing is to have a plan of action. Set up everything – from monitoring to communication channels to onboarding – before you take on additional staff. Making sure your remote workers are well informed and included is going to ensure their, and consequently your success.

➡️ If you’re ready to take the next step, make sure to learn what to look for when hiring remote employees .

About the author

Kristina Valjarevic is a Content Writer at Workpuls . With an MA degree in English, she loves all things written but she especially enjoys writing about workplace productivity and time management.