Are you looking for a way to lower corporate expenses without affecting the quality of work? Do you want to save on office space? Do you need to hire more productive and less stressed-out employees? If you answered yes to those questions, you may want to investigate how to find good remote workers.
Per a 2017 study by Global Workforce Analytics, “If those with compatible jobs and a desire to work from home did so just half the time (roughly the national average for those who do so regularly) the national savings would total over $700 Billion a year… A typical business would save $11,000 per person per year.”
The question is: how do you find good remote workers?
Here are a few tips that are sure to get you started on the right foot.
- Know What You’re Looking For
Before you go on and start interviewing, you should define what exactly you’re looking for. There are specific characteristics that successful remote employees have.
They are very disciplined and self-motivated. Their communication skills are advanced and they can easily understand what you’re looking for. They know how to make their work more productive with various tech tools. They’re highly responsive to messages. In an ideal situation, you’d want a worker who already has some experience as part of remote teams.
When you evaluate a candidate during an interview, pay attention to those aspects. Formulate the questions in a way that gives you insights in their productivity and self-motivation.
- Create an Attractive Job Posting
Posting a job is always a crapshoot, for lack of a better word. But it could also help you find some great diamonds in the rough. It’s important to be very transparent. You don’t want people guessing what this job really is. Everything should be as clear as possible.
The job posting should explain how many hours are expected per day/week. Emphasize the benefits of being able to organize your own time and work when you’re most productive! Include other reasons for applying. Tell them how cool your employer brand is, and link to the official website of the company.
- Know Where to Look for Remote Workers
First, you have to know what you’re looking for, and you need a great job description that would attract the best workers your way. Then what? You should know where you can find the best remote workers. It’s possible to get applications if you opt for the more popular job boards. However, people who are after remote positions are usually focused on platforms that meet their specific needs.
Target the sites that remote workers use when looking for jobs. These are only some of them:
- Upwork
- WeWorkRemotely
- Flexjobs
- Test the Candidates
When you’re reviewing candidates, it’s important to check out some of the previous work they’ve done. Go through their LinkedIn profile. Check if there’s a link to a blog included in their resume. If they didn’t provide samples along the application but they look promising, ask for those samples.
Don’t stop there. Even if you’re impressed by the examples of previous work, you should test how they would do on your specific tasks. Ask for sample work based on what they’ll be doing for you. This is a great way to both determine their motivation and see how they could perform for your company specifically.
Stay open for any questions as well. This is telling of their interest in the opportunity and performing your task correctly.
- Consider Using a Staffing Agency
If you find this process too challenging and you don’t have a HR department to delegate it to, you can always consider a staffing agency. You’ll hire experts, who will take the burden of the hiring process off your shoulders, so you can focus on your business while they search. It’s often tempting to maintain control and keep searches like this in your own hands. Ultimately, if you don’t have the resources in place to properly execute, outsourcing to professionals is an efficient option.
Remote Workers Are Great If You Keep Them Motivated
So you’ve found a great candidate turned employee! Fantastic! But the work isn’t over. A remote worker can make huge contributions for your company’s progress. Keeping them motivated, however, is another thing. Make sure that you provide an effective method of communication. Whether that means scheduled a daily phone check-in, communicating via IM or a weekly call, make a point to stay engaged. Just because you haven’t heard from them doesn’t mean no news is good news. Provide clear goals and expectations as well, and allow flexibility in how that work is accomplished. One of the benefits of having working remotely is that is enables employees to work when they’re most effective. If they don’t have to communicate with clients throughout the day, let them perform the work when it best suits them.
