Remote Hiring 101: Key Strategies to Attract and Retain the Best Candidates

The age of remote work is here to stay, and HR departments that can adapt quickly to digital workplaces have the potential to build a skilled, enthusiastic, and engaged distributed workforce. However, the remote hiring landscape requires some significant adjustments for recruiters. 

According to World Economic Forum data, global digital jobs will grow by around 25% to over 90 million roles by 2030. This accelerating shift will open the door to greater talent pools and better technology for staff to collaborate worldwide. 

There are plenty of benefits for employees when it comes to working from home (WFH) also, and building an efficient remote hiring strategy can help your HR team recruit the best talent on a national and international scale. 

In fact, not only did a recent HRO Today survey find that 95% of employees want some form of remote work, 63% of people say it’s the most important factor for them in a job. 

This data underlines the importance of accommodating remote workers both today and tomorrow as a core component of your recruitment strategy, but how can you attract and retain them effectively? In this article, we’ll cover remote hiring 101, and will provide you with some key insights into how to adapt your HR strategies: 

Conduct Your Research

Research is key when it comes to adapting your HR processes to attract and retain remote talent. Your candidates will have different expectations regarding benefits, job specifications, company culture, salary, and communication within teams. 

Remember to take the time to conduct due diligence on essential processes to ensure that the roles you’re advertising for are as attractive as possible. For instance, your candidates could be applying from different jurisdictions, and making sure you’re up to date with the latest minimum wage changes from state to state or country to country can help inform your regional understanding of salary expectations. 

If you’re unsure of how to advertise a job role, looking to your competitors can be a key aspect of your research, and will help to inform much more than just the salary you’re advertising for. 

Here, using job boards to generate a competitive advantage can make all the difference in attracting or repelling talented candidates. 

Adapt Your Recruitment Process

Whether you’re recruiting your first remote employees or intend to become a more attractive proposition for WFH candidates, your existing processes may need to make many adjustments. 

One key area to look at is how you source resumes. Traditional hiring methods should be expanded to far-reaching job boards or services that can help you undertake a comprehensive vetting process. 

Using remote-focused job boards like FlexJobs, WeWorkRemotely, Working Nomads, and Jobspresso can all help to expand your reach and appeal directly to the most appropriate talent pool. 

Networking also goes a long way in remote recruitment, and it’s worth creating a referral scheme where employees are encouraged to send out roles throughout their own networks. Likewise, advertising among coworking spaces can help you appeal directly to those best aligned with the job you’re offering. 

Remember that remote workers will need all the available information to better understand your business. With this in mind, keep your social media accounts and company website updated with information about your company culture, benefits, mission, sustainability, charitable endeavors, and other vital information that could improve your appeal. 

Keep Things Human

Recruiting for a remote job risks losing that all-important human element in attracting and retaining employees, but this doesn’t have to be the case. 

Although many HR departments recruiting for remote roles have begun using automated screening tools, these largely AI platforms can be a great tool for analyzing tone of voice and nonverbal cues but lacking in their ability to help candidates to feel at home with their prospective employer. 

Remember to create a more empathetic remote candidate experience for your staff, and respect the many at-home situations that your candidates could find themselves in, such as caring for children or family.

While it’s perfectly fine to use AI software to help screen candidates, don’t automate the whole practice or the human element will be lost and prospective employees may feel less aligned with your business. 

Companies like GroupM have adopted a practice known as ‘video handshakes’ to ensure that the application process remains more personalized when as AI picks up much of the video interview process for remote roles. Video handshakes mean that candidates can meet their prospective managers in a team call in a non-interview setting to help add a face to the company that they will be working for. 

Offer Suitable Benefits

Remote employees won’t be able to access some of the benefits that other in-house workers can enjoy. Full fridges, food deliveries, team days out, and other office benefits will be lost in the age of WFH, but this doesn’t mean that you can’t attract candidates by offering more bespoke perks. 

Benefits could include small freebies when you start such as noise-cancelling headsets to encourage working in public spaces, or even a desktop to help new recruits to achieve their goals. Or, they could focus on more wellness-oriented perks like a health plan or life insurance. 

Many remote workers want to develop in a professional capacity, and offering training programs can be a mutually beneficial way to boost engagement among your WFH team. 

You could also offer memberships to coworking spaces to help improve the flexibility of remote work for your employees. 

Watch Out for Compliance

Recruiting remote employees also means that you’ll need to manage compliance that may fluctuate between states and international borders. 

As a legal requirement, always make sure you’re compliant with The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws, and their equivalent regulations across relevant jurisdictions. 

Keep Remote Staff Engaged

43% of highly engaged employees receive feedback at least once a week, and adapting this to the requirements of remote teams can make all the difference in retaining them over the long term.

Using platforms to boost communication in order to support motivated WFH staff is imperative, and tools like Slack and Monday can make all the difference when it comes to positive engagement between your remote teams and your business.  

Another great approach is to encourage staff appraisals, where employees are free to appreciate the work of their colleagues and could even vote for top performers to win monthly rewards. 

Foster Inclusivity

Another key reason for remote employee turnover is that they feel disconnected from your company culture. 

Fostering an inclusive environment for remote and in-house employees can be a challenge, but you can use technology to your advantage to boost engagement and enjoyable online environments for all employees. 

Hosting virtual happy hours for employees to bond in a more informal environment can be a great way to build your company culture throughout WFH landscapes while setting up a virtual watercooler for non-work-related chat can also be a great way for employees to build a rapport and enjoy interacting with one another. 

It’s for this reason that creating a more informal Slack channel could make a world of difference for remote employees who are missing out on team environments. 

Care for WFH Wellness

Although employees view WFH favorably, remote work can be a lonely environment for anyone. Caring for your workers whether they’re remote or in-house can be a major factor in their long-term retention. 

Train all team leaders to keep on the lookout for signs of stress, anxiety, or depression within their employees, and take proactive measures to ensure that everyone is well cared for. 

Even if your remote employee is based on the other side of the world, you can informally check in to ensure that they’re content with their work and home life while creating a safe space to share concerns. 

It’s also advantageous to create wellness activities for virtual spaces. If you have a larger team of employees, setting up a virtual yoga or meditation class could make all the difference in employee contentment. 

Listen to the wants and needs of your team. An extra-curricular activity that can improve contentment and team bonding will always be a winner when it comes to employee retention. 

 Wrapping Up

The age of remote work is only going to become bigger in the coming years. This will open HR departments to the possibility of accessing far broader remote talent pools in the future, but will also create fresh concerns in attracting and retaining your best workers. 

By taking the time to adapt your in-house practices to virtual environments, and remembering to retain that all-important human element of interacting with your candidates and workers, you can outpace your competitors by hiring and holding on to the best prospects in your industry. 

Technology is always evolving, so regularly auditing your capabilities and growing them to boost engagement further is a surefire way to maintain a sustainable environment for all staff members, whether they’re in-house or working remotely.