STEP 2. Advantages of remote work in your organization

What are the benefits of remote work and recruitment in your organization is aiming to achieve?

• Cost savings and resource optimization, could include examples: reductions in office and related costs, increased access to a global talent pool, and improved employee retention
• Attracting and retaining top talent, including individuals who may prefer or even require remote work options
• Enhancing employee’s flexibility - flexible work arrangements; time, location
• Improving operational efficiency through, e.g. faster decision-making, streamlined communication processes, the ability to adapt quickly to changing business conditions.

STEP 3. Identify remote work challenges in your organization

What are your hiring and retention challenges? What are the options available?

Less complicated way to try out remote work could be through a contractor agreement, hiring a freelancer or a consultant:

• Independent contractors: if the worker is considered an independent contractor, you would use a contractor agreement; this agreement outlines the terms of the project or service, compensation, deliverables, timeline, and other relevant details; independent contractors are not employees and are responsible for their own taxes and benefits
• Freelancers/consultants: freelancers or consultants often work on a project basis and are engaged for specific tasks or services; a contractor agreement is typically used in these situations

Employment agreements:

• If the worker is a full-time employee working remotely, you would use a standard employment agreement. This document outlines the terms and conditions of employment, including responsibilities, compensation, benefits, working hours, termination procedures, and other relevant details
• Part-time or temporary remote employees should have similar agreement as full-time remote employees, part-time or temporary remote employees may have specific employment agreements that reflect their work arrangements

Suggestion 💡

agree remote work rules with your employees. Rules are easier to adjust than agreement if such need occurs later on.

STEP 4. When is remote work the best option?

Which roles are suitable for remote work within your organization? Which tasks could also be performed remotely, even if they have previously been done on-site?

Eg project worker (national or international), online work eg marketing or content creator, sales, educator, software development or programming, IT works or gaming, entertainment & media, graphic designer or other design work, engineering, translations or writing/technical writing, administrating tasks, etc.

Clearly define responsibilities and tasks of each role. Assess carefully potential challenges in remote execution for each role. Consider how to measure productivity?

STEP 5. Use organization culture as a powertool

Define what are the key aspects of your organization's culture? What is needed to attract, retain and engage remote employees? Desirable features could include: managers competencies, peers relationships, communication practices, cross team collaboration, autonomy in scheduling one’s own work

Are you able to meet remote work expectations and preferences? →  is your organization fit for remote work?

Ask your employees what aspects of your culture (behavior, practices, processes, leadership/management) needs improvement in terms to be attractive employer, also for remote talent

Find out candidates’ expectations towards the remote work environment and culture. Expectations should match your culture in order to build long-term remote employment relationships.

STEP 6. Identify remote candidate sourcing methods

• Ensure that your company's career page prominently features remote job opportunities as well. This is often the first place where potential candidates look to learn about your company and its open positions. Be in social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and X to share remote job openings. Create visually appealing posts and use relevant hashtags to increase visibility. Ask employees to promote open jobs – Consider rewarding their efforts.
• Find suitable remote-specific Job Boards and Specialized Remote Work Websites to utilize. These platforms attract individuals actively seeking remote opportunities. Post your remote work offer on popular and effective platforms for remote job offers, e.g. LinkedIn, Indeed and Glassdoor.
• Check if there are industry-specific job boards, they may have sections dedicated to remote work opportunities
• Professional associations: If your industry has professional associations or forums, consider posting remote job opportunities there. Many professionals in these networks may be interested in flexible work arrangements.

Extra tips:

• Participate in online job fairs, if available. Take part in remote work conferences and events. You can either participate in or sponsor virtual conferences and events related to remote work. These gatherings often attract individuals actively seeking remote job opportunities
• Recruitment agencies and services that specialize in remote placements, can help you find qualified candidates and manage the hiring process. Request references and examples of past successes, to ensure you get good quality service.

STEP 7. Identify the Most Effective Recruitment Methods and Tools

Create a favorable employee experience and a strong employer brand to attract the right candidates. This work should be on-going process in between recruitments as well. Create a hub of information on your website and share details about your company culture, vision, mission and values, statements from employees, remote work tools and the environment, etc.

Use all this information when promoting your employer brand on social media and recruitment platforms, collect open applications and interact efficiently with potential candidates.

Invest in an up to date HR/recruitment system for managing recruitment process and keeping up interaction during this process.

Plan the recruitment process before opening a position. Consider which recruitment methods you should use for each specific recruitment process. For positions that are easier to fill, implement a lighter process; for more demanding positions, tailor the process accordingly.

Extra tips:

Utilize tools needed for open positions. You can, for example, use tests to find the skills needed:

• It is possible to find online pre-employment assessment tests (e.g., TestGorilla, Harver, Criteria, HackerRank, eSkill). You can combine up to 5–10 minute tests into one assessment to test your candidates on skills, personality, and values to see if they are a good fit for the specific role. You can measure skills such as language, cognitive ability, attention to detail, problem-solving, critical thinking, programming, cultural fit, and personality. Recruitment agencies also provide these tests.

• Work samples: exercises or simulations related to the role, practical, hands-on, and very close or even identical to actual tasks the person would perform if hired.

• Portfolio of previous work, used especially in creative positions.

STEP 8. Interview is a two-way street

• Plan recruitment process before opening position. Plan desired timeline and avoid delays during the process.
• Consider which of the recruitment methods you can use during recruitment process. For example, pre-recorded interviews are a low-effort method for getting in more personal level. You can invite shortlisted candidates to attend these interviews as part of the application process.
• Organize the actual interview carefully. Send clear instructions and the invitation link to the candidate in well advance. Also, inform them about the expected duration of the interview and who will be participating. You may also want to share what kind of topics you will be discussing in more detail.
• In the interview situation it’s important that all participants come prepared and focus on interaction. If you wish to record interview, make sure to ask permission in advance. Everyone should have a camera on, and audio should be functioning flawlessly. Eliminate any unnecessary distractions.
• At the beginning, welcome everyone to the interview, and introduce yourselves to each other. Explain what will happen during the interview, so everyone knows what to expect. Make sure the atmosphere is relaxed and conversational. Actively listen and encourage the candidate to ask their own questions as well.
• Formulate your pre-selected questions clearly and avoid ambiguity. In remote interview pay attention to your facial expressions and gestures.
• At the end of the interview, explain the next steps and future timeline. This creates a positive experience, even if the candidate is not selected.
• Choose candidate that is best suited for the positions, agree on terms and make agreement.
• After the process, be prepared to give feedback also to those candidates that you rejected.

STEP 9. Build future on steady onboarding

• Create virtual onboarding process, utilize virtual onboarding sessions, use pre-recorded video materials and prepare reading materials, pre-arrange meetings to introduce new hires to the team and important key people in the company, give presentations, have Q&A sessions and make sure there are interactive activities to engage remote employees to interact with other employees.
• Create onboarding checklist and and track progress. Onboarding list could include outlining tasks & trainings, practical matters, introductions to key contacts, also building network to new coworkers, depending on role maybe also to other stakeholders.
• Check if you could you arrange virtual tours of the company's digital workspace?
• How about building mentoring program for all new employees - assigning a seasoned employee as a "buddy" to help the new hire navigate the new work environment and helping build steady network to coworkers?
• Encourage regular check-ins and informal conversations to build rapport and getting to know company/company culture and people
• Consider using video tools for team-building activities, icebreakers and casual conversations e.g. virtual coffee breaks weekly

STEP 10. Happy & healthy employee is always more productive

How to ensure the well-being and engagement of all, especially remote employees?

• Gather feedback from (remote) employees regularly to understand preferences, concerns and expectations regarding (remote) work – take actions if needed, to keep employees content
• Continually develop leadership skills of managers in the organization
• Adress any issues without any delay
• Lead your company culture and use culture as a tool to bind people to organization, consider fostering a remote-friendly culture so remote workers also feel valued
• Encourage personel to building strong professional connections to colleagues and for remote employees also networking locally with other professionals to have peer support near by. Some people might feel alone when working remotely.

Extra tip:

• Consider involving employees in using Well-being App to keep up to date