The many advancements in the online world mean that businesses can change the way in which they hire. At one time, your employee choices would have been quite small. After all, you would have had to hire people that live near enough to your company to commute each day. Now, there is another way. Creating a talented remote workforce might be one of the best things you will ever do.
What is a remote workforce?
First of all, you may be wondering what a remote workforce is and why you should consider getting one. Well, you can either hire employees or work with freelancers online. Your remote staff members will work for you just like any other employee, but they will work from home each day. Once you have a solid team of people, you can use them to your best advantage. After all, it means that you can get the best people for the roles. If you want to expand fast, this option might be the best one for you.
Why should you consider this option?
Many people wonder whether this option is a viable one or not. Well, if you want to grow your company without moving to a large office, it might be perfect for you. If you worry that your staff will not be loyal online, you are wrong. When people have the flexibility to work from home, it means that they are more productive than usual. When you have a remote workforce, you have a chance to pick the best possible candidates for your team. You can hire staff from all around the globe. That in itself can be a massive advantage.
Pinpoint talented workers
When you hire people from the local area, you can only choose from a finite number of people. You don’t have to worry about whether people can commute to your office, and neither do they. When you start to look for your team, you can choose people from many foreign countries. That means that you get to pick from anyone, rather than the few candidates that live close. In fact, you can find the creme de la creme of workers. Fat Joe a Link Building Agency from the UK is a perfect example of a successful business using partly a remote workforce. They hire staff not based on their location but based on their talent which is admirable.
The hiring process
Often, the hiring process is the trickiest part of creating a remote workforce. Often, people find the best way to get staff is to post a job advert online. If you want to ensure that you get the finest staff members, though, you should try word of mouth first. That way, you will find workers who you know you can trust. When you hire staff, you will have a few interviews with them. Of course, if you plan to hire people from abroad, you can’t meet them face to face. What you can do, though, is have a Skype meeting with them online.
The perfect communication tools
When you don’t work in the same office as your staff, communication is key. You need to make sure that you use the best possible communication tools for your team. There are many options out there. Slack is one of the most popular. The system allows you to have many different ‘streams’ i.e. conversations about different subjects. If you get the app for your laptop, the messages pop up on your screen. Failing that, you may want to use another system, such as Google Hangouts.
Meet up with your team
Of course, it is not always possible to meet with your team. If the majority of them happen to live in another country, it will be difficult to arrange anything. If you have workers that live quite near to you, you could arrange a day when you meet with them. Team bonding sessions are always an excellent idea. Often, when you are communicating online, the relationship can feel a little cold. If you want to have a friendly relationship with your staff, meeting them will help. When you get to know people on a personal level, it makes things simple.
Be as flexible as possible
Sometimes, your staff will need to move away or take time off. You should treat your employees the same way you would treat any employee. If they are sick or need time off, you need to allow for that. You should also make sure that you can adapt to change. As a general rule, remote workers tend to be less reliable than other employees. If one of your team members decides to quit on the spot, you need to have an action plan. The more flexible you are, the more likely you are to succeed.
How are your management skills? Online managing is difficult to say the least. The fact that you don’t get to see your staff on a daily basis might make things hard for you. If your staff have an issue, you need to be there to solve it as soon as possible. If, for any reason, you are unavailable, there should be someone else around to take your place. That way, you can be sure that your staff get the level of support they need and deserve. Without your guidance, they will struggle.
Be an excellent employer
Finally, let’s talk about whether you’re a good employer or not. When you work with freelancers, you have the luxury of flexibility. If you choose to hire people on a contract, though, you need to make sure that they get what they deserve. That means that you should give them everything from holiday pay to a pension scheme. If you are not willing to do these things, it is best that you stick with freelancers for now. Be aware that some freelancers are notorious for their lack of loyalty. If you are ready to start building a team of workers, there’s no time like the present. Start searching for people today and expand your team.