Most Common Problems When Hiring Remote Talent

With businesses all across the globe having opened their doors to remote talent, it has come with underlying hiring challenges. This is new territory for many companies and it comes with issues that have never been encountered previously. 

While there are large benefits to remote employees there are also specific challenges in hiring remotely. There are numerous common problems with hiring remotely. Here, we will break them down and offer specialised solutions to these hiring challenges.

Remote work continues to grow

Employees are drawn to remote work due to its clear benefits. People would prefer to work from home and in their own environment. It has thankfully cut out the antiquated commute to the office. No longer do employees have to bag up and sandwich for lunch and sit an hour on the train. 

It has become a massive benefit to organisations as well because any employee around the world can now connect to any company. Thus, the perfect remote worker can find the perfect company to fit with.

Because remote work is increasing in demand, companies are looking to take advantage of this wave. Any organisations looking to hire employees remotely will run into certain hiring challenges. These are the six most common challenges that companies face when hiring remotely.

The 6 most common challenges that companies face when hiring remotely

1. Numerous applicants, far too many

Remote work has opened the gates to finding the perfect fit for one’s company. Organisations are no longer constrained by hiring people who live in just their city. Now, a company can hire any employee anywhere in the world. Meaning they can find the perfect worker for their role.

However, the downside to this is that recruiters are now facing far too many applicants to progress through. Instead of a single city’s worth of applications, there is now an entire globe’s worth of qualified candidates knocking at their door.

2. Tribulations in onboarding

Once an employee is up and running with a company they will be a vital and core piece to the structure of the business. A benefit of remote work is that effective remote employees will largely regulate themselves once they know the system. However, it’s a matter of having them learn the system in the first place.

Onboarding employees in person is a massive undertaking. To do it remotely will take a herculean effort to succeed. Learning the workflow of a company can be a large challenge for new hires. New procedures, new communication systems, and new tools can be intimidating and even overwhelming at first.

3. Low Engagement

The biggest fear of any manager is that one’s employees have low engagement and poor communication. Insufficient engagement often comes from poor onboarding practices.

It is a balancing act as remote workers must feel a part of the team and company while still having the freedom to work independently. Hiring managers worry that remote employees will have weak engagement within the practice. 

4. Timezones all across the world

A business can now find the absolute perfect employee for their role no matter where they live. However, a major challenge for hiring managers is exactly that; where these remote employees live.

It was hard enough to have an office in London and an employee in Paris. But now that looks quaint when compared to where remote workers might be functioning in today’s modern international environment. A manager in Alaska will need to find a solution to communicate with an employee in Sri Lanka. Essentially, all timezones are on the table now, even though they may not be the ideal times for a company’s working hours.

5. Skills and Capabilities

How often has this happened to you — an ideal candidate on paper was hired but unfortunately did not have real skills to succeed in the organisation? 

With the old-fashioned in-person office, a manager would quickly notice and have the ability to take action. Unfortunately, one of the challenges in hiring remotely is that sometimes the lack of skills may not be apparent immediately. Plus, with various time zones being involved, it can be a challenge for supervisors to take action to fix the gap.

6. Contracts and Pay

Working across multiple international borders is a headache for large organisations. Pay, contracts, salary, and tax, not just in the EU but around the world, is no easy matter to resolve. Even skilled accountants will have gaps in their knowledge depending on where a worker is based.

Delivering pay is one of the most frequently discussed problems of remote hiring. Additionally, contracts vary from territory to territory. These are hiring challenges that institutions are seeking efficient solutions for.

How to combat the 6 most common remote hiring challenges

1. The solution for having too many applicants

There simply must be a better way than reading hundreds to thousands of resumes. Instead of exhausting a hiring manager or a hiring committee with monotonous work such as this, there are two solutions a company can use — especially if you’re not running a proactive recruitment strategy.

The one major solution is to have an exact vision of what you are seeking and to explain this plainly and clearly in the job application. Candidates must understand precisely what the role will weigh and what is required from them. This way, candidates who are not a perfect fit will filter themselves out before even applying.

Some associations even use AI to filter out resumes. It still starts with having a precise idea of what this position entails, and that way, hiring managers can seek specific skills on resumes that will match their needs. 

2. The solution to onboarding tribulations

Onboarding employees is a point of stress for companies when it comes to remote hiring challenges. However, this can be turned into a strength.

The old-fashioned way with in-person offices was to attach a new hire to a more experienced employee. This was also an effective way of passing bad habits through generations of workers.

Now, firms should instantly set the tone and explain the demand for this role right away. It is vital to get off on the right foot with your new remote employee. 

Creating a standard onboarding process is a simple and streamlined solution. Companies should look at creating video examples of the entire workflow process from start to finish. This way, new hires will know exactly what to do within their first week.

3. The solution to low engagement

Low engagement will likely be phased out with an effective onboarding process. Through video examples, remote workers should know exactly how they fit into the organisational structure. They must understand the value they bring to the company. After all, they are a vital piece of the institution and they should feel like it. Having exact timelines for work to be completed will also help in this area. 

4. The solution to international timezone issues

Timezones and employees all around the world are not an issue; instead, this can be used as a strength. While this often can be seen as a problem but a change in attitude may be required within the company.

Traditionally, employees worked the old nine-to-five daily. Once five o’clock came, productivity had ended. But in the new environment with remote employees all around the globe, productivity can happen 24 hours a day. When a manager clocks out, their employees elsewhere will keep turning in results.

It will also be necessary for organisations to cut down on communication fluff. Face-to-face meetings or even online meetings will become rarer, which means top-down communication needs to be clear and concise when distributed.

5. The solution to skill issues with remote workers

Potential new hires with poor skills should be vetted ahead of time. It is not an effective use of anyone’s time to find this fact out too late.

Instead, hiring managers should ask potential new remote hires to complete a skill assessment ahead of time. This would be a part of the remote hiring process. An assignment pertaining to the exact work they would be doing. That way, hiring recruiters can get a sense of their quality of work rather than just guessing based on a resume. To help streamline this process, one may consider working with an experienced remote recruitment firm.

6. The solution to contract and pay problems when hiring remote

No business wants to find itself on the wrong end of a contract or pay issue when it comes to remote workers. Salaries and contract laws vary from territory to territory. It is vital to be compliant in the nation in which a remote employee is working for you.

Instead of stressing your legal team and accountants with a new set of standards and laws, it may be more efficient to speak with experts when it comes to payroll solutions.

Remote hiring challenges require modern solutions

Organisations will be going through a shifting period over the next few years. The nature of work has not changed, but the way employees complete their work certainly has. For a company to be successful, it will need to be swift to stay ahead of the competition.

Companies will need to prepare concise and exact job applications, communicate effectively, use timezones as an advantage, and have precise onboarding goals while also working with a team of experts to ensure pay is designed in an intelligent manner.