The move towards hiring remote staff has given businesses all over the world a far greater degree of flexibility. It is now possible to build up a team that is effective and cost-efficient without housing them all under one roof. However, the idea of hiring remote staff can be daunting for anyone doing it for the first time. Thankfully, there are some easy tips that will guide you smoothly and painlessly through the process.

Don’t Skip the Interview Process

It is easy to think that you need to forget about the usual interview process. After all, isn’t that all a bit old-hat in this brave new world in which we boldly work from home with our slippers on?

Well, the truth is that you still need to find out the same things about candidates that companies have always done. ‘What is their background?’ ‘What do they bring to the role?’ and ‘Why did they apply?’ are all timeless interview questions that are still as relevant today as ever.

Of course, the actual interview may be more relaxed if you carry it out from home using video conferencing technology. Yet, the process itself is still all about finding out what you need to know to be sure that this is the right person at this time.

Look for People Who Can Work Together

Just because a remote team doesn’t sit together doesn’t mean that they don’t have to work together. Indeed, team collaboration can be even more important when everyone is far apart. You will need to put in place the tools that they need to work as a team, but you also need to consider how suited they are to joining forces. Will they make the effort to join team meetings, to contribute ideas and to help out colleagues in need?

The worst thing that you can do is to make a remote member of staff feel as though they are on their own. This is why you need to make a special effort to include everyone and to be sure that they join in wholeheartedly. You can help them to bond by holding virtual team meetings that everyone has to make a special effort to attend. Setting team goals and encouraging people to help each other out can also allow them to feel as though they are working as a real team regardless of their varying locations.

Be Aware of Time Zone Differences

You may decide to look far and wide for your new members of staff. Going abroad can save you money as well as give you the chance to access skills that might not be readily available closer to home. Having said that, it pays to be aware of time zone differences when doing this. If you are going to be in bed when your employees are working, is it going to be more difficult to manage them? Well, not if you consider this fact when putting in place your ground rules and set processes. 

Equally, if the team is split over a number of different time zones then they might never all be around at the same time. This isn’t particularly important in some jobs but in others it is vital that the team can work together and communicate in real time when needed.

Having a team working in different time zones can be a fantastic idea if you need to cover emails and phone calls throughout the day and night, but in other cases it could create delays. Bear all of these points in mind when setting your teams up.

Consider Cultural and Language Differences

Finally, the issues of cultural and language differences can make remote team working difficult. For example, will everyone be able to communicate with each other smoothly and comfortably? There is usually a need for a common language in any company, so that everyone gets the same message at the same time. This will also allow everyone to feel like a big team where they can talk to each other and get to know each other.

It can be fascinating to have a multi-cultural and multilingual team. This can open up new possibilities in terms of breaking into foreign markets and uncovering new ideas, together with learning about different ways of working. However, if there is to be genuine team collaboration in your business, then you need a group of staff that can communicate clearly and without errors. So you need to have the tools in place to facilitate that communication, to track progress, and to keep everyone in the loop.

Want to facilitate the collaboration of your remote team? Then speak to Glasscubes today.