7 Tips for Hiring Remote Employees to Strengthen Your Team

Is your organisation looking to hire remote employees?

According to statistics, 30% of employees work exclusively at remote companies. Hiring remote workers won’t just give you access to a larger talent pool. It will also help you keep the talent you acquire. 

According to survey results, 74% of employees say they are less likely to leave companies where they have remote working opportunities. 

The takeaway? Building remote teams can increase productivity, give you access to a wider talent pool, reduce employee turnover, and streamline overheads. 

And the secret to realising these benefits lies in your hiring process. Hiring remote employees isn’t the same as in-person hiring processes. Continue reading for 7 tips and hiring practices to implement for securing top-quality talent. 

1. Create Effective Job Descriptions

If you want to streamline your talent acquisition strategy and target the right remote employees, well-formulated job descriptions are key. 

Rushed, uninformative job descriptions aren’t going to attract the talent you’re after. Instead, your hiring team may be flooded with applications from candidates who aren’t a good fit for the role or your organization. 

To avoid this, job descriptions should be detailed, clear, and informative.

Make sure you outline all requirements. Detail what skillsets you’re looking for. Include information on your company culture and communication expectations.

The more information you provide, the easier it will be for candidates to make an informed decision before applying. This reduces time wasted screening applicants who aren’t a good fit from the start. 

For instance, are there set times remote employees need to be at their desks? If so communicate this. Statistics show that flexible scheduling the is number one benefit of working remotely.

The last thing you want is for most of your applicants to back out of the process halfway because they’re looking for a position with flexible work hours. 

2. Advertise in the Right Places

Besides creating effective job descriptions, you must also evaluate where to advertise when hiring remote employees. The recruitment channels you choose will influence the type and quality of applicants you attract. 

Platforms like LinkedIn and Glassdoor can be good options. You can also look into more niche job boards that target specific geographical locations or professions. 

3. Tailor Your Benefits Packages to Remote Workers

Flexibility is so prized among workers that employees are willing to sacrifice between 2.6% and 5.1% of their salary for it. Many would also trade certain benefits. 

As it happens, remote positions often come with the bare minimum of employee benefits. One of the reasons for this is geographical constraints. If you’re hiring remote employees in another country, it can be very challenging to offer things like employer health insurance plans. 

Fortunately, there are many ways you can put together an attractive benefits package that attracts top talent and enhances your company culture. 

For instance, if you can’t offer employer health plans, you can still support employee health by offering a monthly allowance for things like gym memberships or fitness classes. 

4. Communicate Closely With Candidates

One of the drawbacks to remote working models is the potential for communication breakdowns. There are more inherent barriers to clear, effective communication if you can’t meet with candidates face-to-face. 

It’s also a lot harder for candidates to establish a personal connection with hiring managers. 

Therefore, make it a priority to communicate closely with candidates. This goes for all applicants, both the successful and unsuccessful ones. 

Check-in with successful candidates frequently. Make sure they’re navigating the onboarding process effectively, and let them know they can reach out any time they have questions or concerns. 

For those applications that aren’t successful, thank them for their time and interest. A lot of remote employers simply “ghost” rejected applicants. 

5. Leverage Skills Assessments and Simulations

Evaluating job applications solely on resume information isn’t always effective. To ensure you’re hiring the right candidates, consider implementing skills assessments and simulations.

Skills assessments and simulations can help your recruitment team evaluate whether a candidate can operate autonomously under deadlines and produce high-quality work. 

Here are a couple of tips for creating an effective hiring assessment:

• Relevancy: Assessments should be relevant and mimic the work a candidate would complete on a regular day in their role
• Time constraints: assessments should be time bound and take less than 4 hours
• Compensate applicants: most quality applicants don’t have the time to work for free
• Consistency: provide applicants with the same assessments to ensure fair grading
• Timing: supply assessments to applicants in the final stages of the hiring process

6. Create a Thorough Onboarding Process

Effective onboarding processes are critical for any new hire, but they are especially pivotal for remote workers. Unlike in-office staff, remote workers don’t usually get the chance to meet other team members in person. They may never visit your head office. 

Because of this, it’s very easy for remote hires to never feel fully “part of the fold”. If remote workers don’t integrate into your company, this can:

• Reduce employee satisfaction
• Impact communication
• Reduce employee collaboration
• Damage company culture
• Increase employee churn

To avoid this, make sure your remote hires go through a tailored onboarding process. Place an emphasis on social integration and encourage new hires to:

• Introduce themselves to other team members
• Participate in meetings and virtual discussions
• Partake in teambuilding activities 
• Join in virtual watercooler conversations

7. Utilise the Services of an EOR

As you can see, hiring remote employees isn’t just a matter of posting a few ads online. If you want to attract the right talent, you need to tailor your hiring practices for remote employees. 

If you’re building a global team, hiring remote employees can also come with various challenges and compliance issues. For instance, you need to ensure that your organization is complying with local labour laws. 

If you need top-quality talent fast, it may be easier to use an Employer of Record. The right EOR can source pre-vetted talent in a short space of time. 

Some EORs also handle things like local compliance, payroll, and onboarding. 

Here at Bradford Jacobs, we understand the complexities of global and remote hiring. Which is why we’ve created a seamless process for hiring and keeping the best talent, regardless of location. 

We offer everything from employer branding to consulting, onboarding, and more. We take care of all legal processes and administrative issues such as local taxes and are available 24/7. 

Hiring Remote Employees Made Easy

Hiring remote employees can help your organisation expand across borders, reduce overheads, increase productivity, and more. 

But, hiring the right remote talent isn’t always straightforward. This is why many organisations choose to partner with an EOR. 

Would you like to streamline your remote hiring process?

We offer a comprehensive service that allows employers to find, hire, and keep the best people across the globe. By partnering with us you can remove administration and legal costs, and rest easy knowing you’re accessing the best talent. 

Contact us today to discuss your needs.