Companies all over the world are finding value in hiring for remote work. This means that HR departments in California are hiring new employees from Ontario, Canada, and Queensland, Australia. An HR department here in Oregon may work with a recruiter in Ohio and employ several people in Cleveland.
There is no limit to the number and variation of remote hires that happen daily in companies worldwide. This variety of new hires can, on one end, lead to greater creativity and more skilled employees in a company. On the other end of the spectrum, it can also lead to a very confusing hiring process.
The importance of processes in remote work
Regarding remote work and hiring, the importance of business processes cannot be understated. In companies with remote workers or even hybrid workers who work some of the time remotely and come into the office for the rest of the time, business systems are critical.
The result of a system is not the step-by-step guide itself. It is the completion of a task. When the system is in place, work is completed more rapidly than when an individual team member must reinvent the wheel each time they want to deliver a product or service.
Here are five benefits of systematization:
1. Makes actions repeatable so that leadership doesn’t have to repeat instructions.
2. Increases quality by building consistency.
3. Shortens the time of delivery.
4. Reduces bottlenecks.
5. Increases customer satisfaction.
While many business owners focus on the immediate ROI a process can deliver, there is a great benefit to systematizing the company’s internal workings. This includes building hiring processes.
How to build a process for remote hiring
The founder and CEO of Business Success Consulting Group, Adi Klevit, recently discussed the principles of remote hiring with the co-founder and CEO of Fireflies, Krish Ramineni. Krish had valuable insight to share with regard to hiring for a remote team. He shared that remote team members need to be:
1. Trustworthy
2. Self-starters
3. Team builders
4. Accountable
5. Motivated
Finding remote workers with these five attributes can be difficult, but it is certainly not impossible. Here is you can build a process to find the remote team members you need in your company:
1. Define the type of team player you want.
Write this down, discuss it with the team, and ensure you have the attributes you want in a new hire nailed down. The people you are looking to hire should all have these attributes so that you can use this personality profile as a guide throughout your process.
2. Write out the job description for every remote position that needs to be filled.
You will want a detailed description of what responsibilities your new team member will be filling. After all, you want to hire an accountable person, and they cannot be responsible if they don’t know what is expected.
Additionally, as you expand and develop this process, you can write out the job description of every remote position in your company. This will help you if an employee moves on to another company or you need to hire for the same position in a parallel department.
3. Map out the procedure normally taken to find and interview qualified applicants.
Even if you don’t usually hire remote applicants, it’s valuable to understand the steps your HR team took to get the team you already have. If you value your existing staff, you likely want to find more people like them to work in the team.
4. Modify the procedure to determine how the remote hiring process will differ.
Will you be meeting applicants over Zoom? Who needs to be involved in the remote interview process? How will the applicant demonstrate essential skills? All of these questions and more must be answered to effectively change your remote hiring process.
5. Try the remote hiring system.
Test the process to make sure it works. Are there holes you didn’t see when creating the system? Once you have found the gaps, modify the system to ensure it works in a test run.
6. Be open to upgrading your remote hiring system.
Business systems are dynamic. This means that they change and need to be upgraded. Include a review process to ensure your system is working – and find ways to make it better and more efficient.
Your goal is to build a business system that will hire effective, motivated, and responsible employees who work well in your team. Once you attain this goal, you should be able to continue to build your team and grow your business using a system you trust.
Are you ready to make your company more efficient with business processes? Get in touch today for your free initial consultation!
