Why Do We Hire Remote Staff?
In Part 1 of this series, Ray Access outlined how we hire contract writers remotely, what we look for during those first few assignments and what we value in a remote worker. In this installment, you’ll learn a few more tips for hiring remote staff and gain an understanding on how to manage their work and expectations.
But first, let us remind you what Ray Access is and why we hire remote staff. We are content specialists. We write website pages, blog posts, electronic newsletters and more for internet agencies and individual businesses. A remote business since its founding in 2014, we hire writers from around the English-speaking world. It doesn’t matter where they are, as long as they can deliver quality work.
What Else Do You Need to Know about Hiring Remote Staff?
Before you agree to add a remote worker to your staff, you still have to conduct a proper interview — whether by telephone, through an internet video call or by email. Rely on the typical interview questions as if you’re speaking with them personally. In the end, you take the same risks as if you were hiring in-person, since you don’t really know if the one you hire will work out or not.
When you interview by email, you really get a sense of their ability to communicate remotely. Without personal contact, hiring remote staff requires finesse and reading between the lines. One of the benefits — and drawbacks — of hiring and working remotely is not having to adhere to a 9-to-5 work schedule. That means much, if not most, of your communication is going to be through email.
How Can You Prove It’s a Good Match?
At Ray Access, once we and the candidate agree that a collaboration holds promise, we follow up with an assignment. We don’t make an offer of employment until we receive the first completed work, for which we provide a reasonable deadline and clear instructions. We pay for the job and can usually tell — by how the writer communicates and by the assignment itself — if the writer will work out with us.
While you may not be in the business of writing, find an assignment that gives you an opportunity to see how your remote candidates work. It also gives them a chance to prove themselves. It may be a detailed plan on how to approach a project, a project cost estimate or a short presentation. Provide directions and a deadline. Pay the candidates for the time needed to complete the project; it’s much less expensive than hiring the wrong person.
When you receive the submitted assignment, look for how well the candidates followed your directions. Review the body of the work for the quality and thoroughness of the work. Also, note if the assignment was handed in on time, early or late. If you’re deadline-driven business like Ray Access, adherence to a deadline is crucial.
How Do You Manage Expectations after Hiring Remote Staff?
We don’t expect our contract writers to nail that first assignment perfectly, so we provide coaching and guidance. We also have clear internal guidelines about how long it should take a new employee to get up to speed. If they still don’t get it after two or three more assignments, we usually let them go. No reason prolonging the stress on either side.
While giving your remote workers the occasional benefit of the doubt, remember that managing remote staff is a process. Give an occasional mulligan to an employee you trust. No one’s perfect 100 percent of the time. What you don’t want to see is the same mistake repeated over and over.
To manage your expectations, listen to your internal business instincts. Discuss the pros and cons of hiring remote staff with your partners, managers or even trusted employees. It’s easy to give too many chances to a remote worker, but you don’t want to let an improving remote worker go due to frustration.
Is Hiring Remote Staff a Balancing Act?
Managing a remote staff requires patience and compassion. You’re hiring someone to do a specific job. Since the new hire isn’t coming into the office every day, you need to make sure the work is getting done. You need a way to check, whether through an online project management tool, ongoing project reports or regular video meetings.
You want to pay for your staff’s best work while giving new-hires a chance to get up to speed, but don’t feel like you have to pick up the slack yourself. Track your employees’ work to assess their progress. To be able to sleep at night, learn to trust your remote staff, but develop a backup plan, such as setting earlier deadlines than needed.
You can save money by avoiding brick-and-mortar expenses, but as a trade-off, you need to maintain a level of authority over your business. Technology has its limitations, but you have to rely on it to grow your business. It’s a balancing act, for sure. But if your business can run with a remote workforce, you may find it’s worth the effort to build an infrastructure that supports hiring remote staff — and swift, efficient firing.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.