Are you thinking about hiring a remote worker? You need to be prepared. Having remote workers changes your workplace dynamic. Allowing an employee to work from home or remotely on occasion is very different than hiring a remote worker full time.
Remote workers can be very beneficial to your organization. They provide you with greater flexibility, lower operational costs, and it widens the net you can cast to find talent. But you need to be properly prepared to make it work well.
As a Toronto recruitment agency, we recommend these key ways to prepare before hiring a remote worker:
1. Adjust your ideal candidate profile
The skills, qualifications, and knowledge you are looking for in a candidate can shift when searching for ideal remote employees. Certain personality traits and skills are better suited to work in a remote environment. You may even want candidates to take a personality test to see if they fit and have the skills to be successful in working remotely. This can also affect the interview process and the types of questions you’ll use.
2. Review job requirements
Job requirements will naturally be somewhat different compared to hiring an employee to work in-house. Consider things such as travel requirements and communications expectations.
- Which job requirements will change? What will remain the same?
- Will the remote worker be expected to travel to the office occasionally? If so, how frequently?
- What are the communications expectations? Will there be daily calls? Will you video conference?
- Will the remote worker be required to log into the company server or work environment?
3. Tech capabilities
Having the right technology in place is a must. You need to have the right tools in place internally and be prepared to help the remote worker connect externally.
- What additional software and cloud computing solutions will you need to successfully add remote workers?
- What collaborative tools will you use?
- What will be used for project management?
- Will you use video, email, instant messaging?
- How will you provide these tools to remote workers?
- What if there are tech issues? How will remote workers troubleshoot these issues?
4. Internal processes
How these are done will change with remote workers. Remember, you simply cannot walk over to them and have a quick conversation about the project you’re working on. You need to think about how files and documents are shared and saved.
- What does the workflow look like for remote workers?
- What processes do they need to follow?
- What security measures need to be followed?
- How will you marry current processes with the new way remote workers will complete work?
More Tips for Working With Remote Professionals – From a Toronto Recruitment Agency
3 Tips to Successfully Onboard New Remote Employees
5 Tips for Hiring the Right Remote Workers for Your Company
4 Must Implement Strategies to Retain Top Remote Workers
IQ PARTNERS is an Executive Search & Recruitment firm supporting clients across the country. We help companies hire better, hire less & retain more. We have specialist teams of recruiters in Executive Search / Board & C-Suite, Technology, Media, Digital & Marketing, Accounting & Finance, Financial Services & Insurance, Cannabis, Startup, Data Science, Consumer, eCommerce & Retail, Operations & HR, Manufacturing, Supply Chain & Engineering, Legal & Professional Services, Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences, Non-Profit & Sustainability, and Sales. IQ PARTNERS has its head office in Toronto and operates internationally via Aravati Global Search Network. Click here to view current job openings and to register with us.
