Where have all the fax machines gone? Hundreds of skyscrapers across America’s largest cities house thousands of empty office units. Hallways await the rushing footsteps of employees and break rooms imagine the strong scent of coffee. For the unforeseeable future, offices will remain empty, unable to retrofit them for housing due to the placement of piping and other commercial build barriers.
Remote work, accelerated by global events, has fundamentally shifted the landscape of corporations.
Businesses are embracing virtual work environments as a cut to overhead expenses and incentives for attracting more dynamic talent.
As more and more companies commit towards remote work, talent placement strategies are evolving to meet the demands of this new landscape. Handled by Gwenn M & Co. Leadership explores effective strategies for virtual talent placement, offering insights into how organizations can adapt and thrive in the era of remote work.
1. Rethinking Traditional Job Descriptions:
Traditional job descriptions often emphasize specific qualifications and rigid job requirements. However, in the context of remote work, it's crucial to shift the focus towards flexibility.
A helpful note when checking references and holding conversations with candidates, is to understand their strengths and weaknesses around independent and deadline oriented work.
Rethinking job descriptions offers an opportunity to evaluate the overall health of the department and how remote positions fit into the organization's broader goals. Re-evaluating employees contributions, progressed skillsets, and work ethic may be an opportunity to promote and oversee new virtual teams.
2. Develop a Robust Onboarding Experience:
We have touched on the ingredients of creating an effective onboarding experience in past posts. Onboarding experiences for virtual hires should be amped up slightly:
Provide new hires with comprehensive digital resources, including handbooks, training materials, SOP’s, and FAQs, to facilitate a smooth onboarding experience. Ensure your company culture and expectations are clearly communicated throughout these resources.
Virtual Orientation Sessions should be a requirement and should help the employee understand how to best integrate and gel with their fellow employees. Invite key persons to the call your new hire will frequently interact with, and allow them the opportunity to introduce how the roles are dependent upon one another and their personal expectations.
Assign mentors to help new employees navigate their roles, be most effective remotely, and build connections within the virtual work environment.
3. Implement Remote Work Policies:
Establish clear expectations for remote work, including working hours, communication channels, performance metrics, deadlines, meeting attendance, organization confidentiality and privacy, and quality of work.
Clearly defined policies help create a structured work environment in the virtual setting, promoting accountability and productivity. You may find, as you transfer from an in-office to remote setting, your policies will need to be updated to reflect new expectations. Take the time to thoroughly do so.
Obtain realistic expectations that employees will take frequent breaks when working remotely. If you are happy with their productivity output, deadlines and metrics are being met, and they are participating during meetings, don't micromanage their time. Some individuals are more proficient than others and thrive in environments personalized to their needs.
Shift focus from input-based metrics to outcome-based metrics that objectively measure the impact and results of remote employees.
4. Promote Work-Life Balance:
Encourage employees to set clear boundaries between work and personal life, defining specific working hours and break times. As managers, it is equally important to uphold and respect these boundaries.
Implement wellness programs and initiatives to support the overall well-being of remote employees, acknowledging the potential challenges of maintaining work-life balance.
Recognize and celebrate virtual achievements through virtual events, team shout-outs, or even in-person meetups.
Schedule regular check-ins to maintain open lines of communication, discuss progress, address challenges or concerns, or make space to connect and catch-up. Maintain a mutually beneficial schedule for check-ins.
5. Train Managers for Remote Leadership:
Invest in training programs for managers to enhance their communication skills in a virtual setting, emphasizing clarity, empathy, active listening, and implementation of progressing the organization's vision and mission hand-in-hand with their team.
Equip managers with strategies to engage and motivate remote teams, fostering a sense of connection and camaraderie.
Train managers on effective performance management techniques and emotional intelligence skills that are adapted to a remote work environment.
Adapting to remote work demands a strategic and holistic approach to talent placement. By rethinking traditional processes, investing in technology, and prioritizing communication and transparency, organizations can successfully navigate the virtual landscape. As remote work becomes a defining feature of the modern workplace, implementing these strategies will not only attract top talent but also position organizations for sustained success in the evolving world of work.
Needing the HOW to these tips? We’ve got it Handled. Reach out to our team to schedule a consultation around improving your remote workforce experience.
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