6 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Hiring Remote Employees

Remote work is no longer an alternative setup. More and more teams are realizing that flexibility and a better work-life balance are actually helpful in scaling a business. 

The pandemic has also made many companies realize that remote work doesn’t affect employee productivity. But with this sudden change in the workforce, employers are still bound to make mistakes in hiring remote workers. 

Don’t worry, identifying these mistakes is only part of developing your skills in managing a remote team. Here are the six common mistakes to avoid when hiring remotely.

Not Making the Most of Interviews 

Employers tend to pay less attention to their candidates during virtual interviews. That is a huge mistake. An impressive portfolio shouldn’t be your sole basis for hiring a remote employee. 

Getting to know your candidates, their work process, and their goals are the real determiners of whether they’re compatible with your team or not. Invest the same time and attention in these interviews as you would in a make-or-break face-to-face interview.

Not Having an Onboarding Process

Before you go on a hunt for an awesome remote employee, make sure you have an onboarding process in place first. Create a solid structure for your new hire to follow so they can enjoy a smooth adjustment even without close supervision. 

Not Making Training an On-Going Event

Training is an on-going process. Don’t stop at the initial training. Conduct regular video meet-ups and have quarterly or annual team training programs to keep your remote employee engaged.

Skimping on training can alienate your remote employees. That’s one of the biggest challenges of managing a remote team. Once they’ve become isolated, it’s hard to get them back on track.

Not Getting Your New Hire Acquainted to the Team

It’s not enough to introduce your new hire to the team by announcing their arrival on your group chat. Remote workers feel more productive when they are able to build a rapport with the team. 

Encourage catch-ups and little casual conversations in the group chats. It could be as simple as asking how everyone spent their weekend. 

Not Assessing Their Remote Team Collaboration Skills

Before hiring a remote worker, you should make sure that they’re fit for the remote culture. These days, you’ll come across candidates that are either new to working remotely or are already used to working a certain way.

It’s important to assess whether your candidates’ collaboration and communication skills are compatible with the culture you’re facilitating. Failure to do so can affect your team’s productivity. 

Not Knowing Where to Find Remote Workers

Most employers look for remote employees on sites they might have seen in an article or heard from a colleague. It’s fine to try out those suggestions, but not knowing exactly where to find the professional you’re looking for can consume so much of your time.  

Most of these sites are also freelance marketplaces that do not guarantee you’ll get full-time remote professionals. Here at ScaleSource, we do the search for a dedicated remote worker for your team. 

We also take care of the hiring, onboarding, and on-going training processes. Just tell us what type of employee you’re looking for and we’ll find the right match in our pool of highly skilled remote professionals in Mexico and the Philippines. 

Learn more about our services here.