With 40 percent of Americans wanting to work full time from home and 35 percent who prefer a hybrid situation, you may need to hire remote employees just to keep your business open. Of course, you also have to manage these employees once you get them. However, you’ve probably had several employees working remotely since the pandemic began, so that you can do this!
Hiring remote workers can be a bit different than hiring in-office people, so be prepared. Here’s what you need to know.
If you’re ready to hire remote employees now, consider posting your job opening on ZipRecruiter. ZipRecruiter distributes your job posting to 100+ other job sites with a single click. You can get started with ZipRecruiter for free.
How To Attract Remote Employees
Because remote work is so popular, this is the easiest part of hiring! The remote work info should be at the top of your job description or even as part of the title. You can write “Senior Marketing Analyst (FULL-TIME REMOTE) or Data Entry Specialist (HYBRID two days in office, three days at home).
Like moths to a flame, candidates will come. Just make sure you’re honest. If you just want the employees to be remote until the pandemic ends, say that upfront. Don’t advertise for a remote position if you plan to make it in-office in six months.
Additionally, even though remote employees can technically work from anywhere on the globe, they can only legally do so where you have a legal presence. You can establish your business in any state (and most countries), but there are legal obligations and costs. For that reason, you will want to list the locations where someone can live and do this job.
Of course, a hybrid position needs to be within commuting distance of the office, so that’s not generally an issue. But, you may wish to limit your remote employees to the states in which you currently do business.
Top Skills To Look For In Remote Employees
Remote employees need the same job skills an on-site employee needs, plus some additional skills that make working remotely effective.
- Independence: Yes, you can monitor every keystroke, but it’s better to work with someone who can work independently.
- Reliability: You’ll have to trust that your employee is working every day and is not merely watching Netflix while moving the mouse to fool your monitoring software. (And as a side note, if you feel you need to monitor employees’ keystrokes, you are not ready to have remote employees. Bring everyone into the office.)
- Written communication skills: So much of remote work communication is done through instant messaging, Slack, email, and other text-based communication.
- Ability to maintain boundaries: You don’t want employees to become burned out, which can quickly happen when you are always at work. Which you are, when you work from home.
And while these aren’t skills, make sure candidates have the following:
- A quiet place to work
- Child care (if applicable)
- A reliable internet connection
Not everyone has those things, and with many companies allowing employees to work from home with children while schools and daycares were shuttered, you need to be very clear that your employee cannot watch toddlers and work for your company.
Where To Find Remote Employees
People who want to work remotely are everywhere. Here are some ideas of places to look:
WeWorkRemotely.com
WeWorkRemotely.com is one of the biggest remote job boards. As an employer, you can post a job to their site for $299.
Virtual Vocations
Virtual Vocations is another job site specifically for remote jobs. You can post a remote job opening for free! There is a one-time vetting fee of $39.99.
Hubstaff Talent
Hubstaff Talent allows you to search for remote employees for free. You can also post a job for free! Hubstaff Talent also has a feature that helps you search the profiles of those looking for remote work.
LinkedIn is an excellent source for passive and active candidates, predominantly white-collar candidates. To learn more about posting a job on LinkedIn, check out our LinkedIn review.
ZipRecruiter
ZipRecruiter is exclusively for job seekers and hiring companies, so you don’t end up weeding through passive candidates like you can on LinkedIn. To learn more about ZipRecruiter, check out our ZipRecruiter review.
Social Media
Facebook, Twitter, and even Tiktok can be places to find remote employees. You can find candidates of all sorts this way, and people who enjoy social media tend to be good at remote communication. Learn how to post a job on Facebook and recruit on Facebook.
How To Retain Remote Employees
There are a few things to keep in mind about remote employees that can help retain them. Here are some suggestions:
Create a remote employee-focused onboarding program
When you work in an office, you meet coworkers organically. Remote employees need a formalized program to integrate them into the team.
Remind managers to manage by results
Managers often judge people by how much they work and not what they accomplish. When you have remote employees--especially salaried exempt employees--performance is the only thing that matters. Make sure you judge by results.
Treat remote employees equally
If you require employees to be in the office to receive promotions and accolades, you’ll lose your remote workforce. Give them the same responsibilities and rewards.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some questions that people often ask about remote workers.
How do I hire remote workers remotely?
Make your job posting clear and seek out people who want to work from home.
Should I hire remote workers?
If you want to remain competitive, you should! They are very popular with job candidates.
How do I find remote employees?
Remote employees are everywhere! If you look for people, you’ll find them.
What jobs will allow me to work remotely?
There is a wide variety of jobs in all fields. Anything that doesn’t have done in a particular location can probably be done remotely. From teaching to nursing jobs--there is something for just about everyone.
The Bottom Line
In today’s competitive job market, you need to consider remote positions to attract and retain top talent. Make sure you know how to recruit for remote positions. If you’re looking for tools to manage a remote team, check out our guide to remote work tools.
If you’re ready to hire a remote employee, consider posting your job opening on ZipRecruiter!
