Remote working and the expanding talent pool.
A sudden enforced shift towards remote working in 2020 brought plenty of challenges. Cultural, technological, and managerial shifts have allowed many businesses to adapt successfully to this new way of working. Business owners and managers have slowly become more and more comfortable with their people operating remotely and more independently.
This move to remote has brought with it many benefits, not least the confidence and capability to hire remote employees, opening a much wider talent pool, and tapping into skills that were previously out of reach.
Here are our top tips if you’re thinking about hiring remote workers:
1. Start Small
Going remote can be scary, so take small steps until you feel comfortable. There is a big difference between hiring a new team member based an hour away, and someone who is based across the country, or even abroad.
If it helps to make you feel comfortable then start relatively local, where it will still be practical to meet face-to-face quite regularly. You’ll quicky see that face-to-face contact becomes less regular, getting to the point that you may not need it at all.
2. Work on culture
When operating a remote and hybrid working model you risk ostracising your remote employees. Nothing will demoralise and isolate remote workers more quickly than being excluded from key decisions or important conversations because they weren’t in the office.
You can avoid these pitfalls by developing policies that encourage inclusiveness and promote remote-first values. Be sure to set these out during your onboarding process so that new starters can begin to collaborate straight away.
3. Dot the I's
Be sure to carefully consider any additional implications of remote work. You need to think about where your employees will pay income tax, particularly, but not exclusively if your team is based in multiple countries.
Your contracts of employment will need to be reviewed and must comply with the local employment legislation where your employees are based. If you are a small business you may want to consider partnering with an employer of record to handle payroll, taxes, and legal paperwork on your behalf.
4. Use the Right Tools
Tools like MS Teams, Slack, or Basecamp are vital if you want to replicate the close collaboration that sharing a physical space can give you. When it comes to managing human resources, a Human Resource Management System (HRMS) such as PolarHR can make a huge difference.
Emerging technologies like The Metaverse are in their infancy, but always keep an eye on these tools and what they could mean as they mature.
Finally
There are some amazing resources that will help you to define your vision for future-working. A fantastic book on this subject is "Remote – Office not required".
The CIPD also have some fantastic resources around remote and hybrid working, as well as free webinars that provide more in-depth information.
CIPD - remote-hybrid-working
Remote: Office Not Required
Microsoft Teams
Slack