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Whether your organization is already remote or considering instituting a flexible work strategy, you'll almost certainly need to hire a remote worker at some point. However, if you assume you can hire a flexible worker using the same techniques and procedures you used to hire office staff, you're mistaken. When it comes to recruiting for flexible positions, there is a steep learning curve. Employers here's all you need to know about recruiting for flexible employment in six simple steps!
Employees who work from home are a unique breed. They appreciate the benefits of work-life balance and the necessity for flexibility in their own lives. So, if you write a drab job description, you're not going to attract the correct kind of people to your company. You'll need to emphasize why the position is important to the company, what makes working for your company so cool (so they understand your company's culture), and, of course, the benefits that come with the position, particularly the flex part, in your job descriptions for flexible jobs (flexible schedule, job sharing, telecommuting options, etc.).
After all, if you're searching to fill a flexible position, it's only natural that you draft a job description that appeals to people who want to work that way!
A top job candidate inquires about the company's flexible work policy and whether it applies to the position he's interviewing for during a job interview. Before chatting with potential employees, it's a good idea to establish where your organization stands on flexible work. Find out the company's official attitude on flexible work by speaking with your manager or the company's HR representative. You might inform your interviewee if the company allows employees to work from home.
However, some organizations only provide flex to particular employees at varying levels of seniority, so be sure you understand the flexible work alternatives that apply to the job you're attempting to fill.
Searching for the right attributes in potential workers
The majority of the time, you want a candidate who can do the job's responsibilities. When recruiting and hiring telecommuters or even other flexible workers, there are a number of different soft talents to consider. Telecommuting employees, for example, must have exceptional communication skills because they will not be in the office every day.
You'll also need a potential employee with a strong work ethic and a commitment to the company's objective. However, regardless of the sort of workplace flexibility incorporated into the position (full-time telecommuting, part-time telecommuting, job sharing, or freelancing employment), you'll want someone who is self-motivated, can manage their time efficiently, displays initiative, and can work independently. With these qualities, you may be confident that the individual you recruit will succeed in his new position!
Turn a full-time job into two part-time jobs
According to studies, Americans work more than practically any other country in the industrialized world. However, the trend is steadily reversing, and more Americans are opting for flexible employment over punishing 60-hour workweeks. If you have a high-octane job to fill, splitting the position into two part-time roles can be more cost-effective. This is something that many employers are doing. You'll not only expand your candidate pool to include top-tier job candidates, but you'll also reduce the likelihood of top talent quitting due to exhaustion as a result of having to handle the entire position on their own.
Plan your arrangement
Any flexible structure should be properly planned before being implemented. It's a recipe for disaster just to announce that your organization offers flex work choices without any previous planning.
Managers and employees just agreed to flex work schedules on an individual basis in the early days of flex work. That is no longer the case. In the previous two years, the number of employees working from home has increased dramatically. According to the 2017 State of Telecommuting in the United States Employee Workforce, 3.9 million employees now work from home.
Flexible work should no longer be considered on a case-by-case basis by businesses. The development of remote workers and those who don't want to be bound by a 9-to-5 schedule has spurred a shift in thinking and necessitated the creation of clear policies for all employees.
Examine your linked business systems and procedures to get started. Create a plan that the C-suite can support, and start training managers on how to handle telecommuting employees. To help employees in flex work arrangements retain productivity, program leaders should be significantly involved.
Train your managers and leaders
Managing flex employees is not the same as managing in-office workers. Because managers cannot see their employees every day, it is necessary to apply a variety of regulations and strategies to manage flexible workers. When it was revealed that employees were not registering into the work platform for long periods of time, Yahoo! brought back their entire flexible workforce in 2013.
For many businesses, the issue isn't so much the flexible work schedule as it is a management issue. When employees aren't encouraged to report their progress, it's all too easy for them to fall into bad work patterns that deteriorate over time.
Because in-person meetings aren't always possible in flex work, it's critical to discover other means to connect. Teams and managers can use team collaboration software and project management software to understand who is contributing to the overall results and who needs to be handled more closely.
Remote workers and managers should check in on a regular basis, and entire teams should make time to exchange information and attend in-person or virtual meetings.
The success of a company's flexible work arrangements depends on how well flex workers are managed.
You'll have a better chance of launching a productive and effective program if you train managers and define communication standards upfront.
Begin with a pilot
Consider establishing a test program with a few key departments before implementing a flexible workplace effort across the board. Set a date for the trial to run and review the results, such as six months or even a year. A pilot program not only allows you to obtain the data you need for a successful trial but also allows you to work out the bugs and issues that may develop with newly established flex work arrangements.
You can make improvements and roll out the program to the rest of the organization once you've identified the barriers and challenges.
To begin your pilot, think about which divisions in your company would benefit from a flexible work environment. Determine which managers would be ideal for piloting a flexible work schedule. Not all managers will be keen to participate, and some may believe that their teams must be in the same place to achieve their objectives.
After you've successfully launched a flexible work program in a few important departments or business units, it may be easier to persuade reluctant managers to support a wider endeavor. When you're ready to roll out the program to the rest of the company, get the support of the managers who've had success with it to help you promote it.
Final thoughts
Companies have stated that their flex arrangements did not function and that employees were not productive. Lower productivity among remote workers is the result of poor planning and continuous management of a flexible workforce strategy, not a fault inherent in inflexible workplace options.
Avoid the problems and poor results connected with flex workers by properly planning your flexible work arrangement and conducting a trial run before implementing it throughout your entire company. A flexible workplace program can be a wonderful addition to a culture of mobility and innovative job possibilities.
Keep some of these pointers in mind when you plan to hire workers for flexible positions, and you'll hire the right person every time!
