Steps to prepare for hiring a remote employee.

The workforce has evolved before our eyes. Over the past year, we saw more workers going remote and more collaboration happening online, changing not just work but hiring forever.

1. Decide what type of remote situation you’ll be hiring for

You need to ask yourself whether your team will be fully remote or only part-time, work from different offices, or simply have a flexible, work-from-home schedule. If you don’t have policies in place already, start thinking about them now.

2. Figure out which time zones to hire in

When it comes to collaboration, considering time zone differences becomes crucial. If you cluster employees in a certain time zone, it’s definitely easier to hop on a spontaneous video call or give live, real-time feedback on a project. But you can also set up processes and adopt tools that facilitate asynchronous collaboration, in order to smooth out the challenges of working cross-functionally from different parts of the globe. Weighing the pros and cons of each approach can help you narrow down a list of locations where you can look for potential hires.

3. Choose your tech stack

To make sure your team is productive no matter what location they’re working from, make sure you choose applications that will make their jobs easier. This means considering a number of different categories of tools: video conferencing, chat, project management, online whiteboard, file management, and more.

4. Learn different communication styles

Time zones aren’t the only barrier to successful communication. If you’re hiring people from different countries and backgrounds, you need to be ready to invest extra time and resources into understanding where they’re coming from, their style of communication, and their approach to work and collaboration.
It may sound like a major challenge, but in the end you can get a major advantage by hiring people with diverse backgrounds, because some studies show that diverse teams are more likely to come up with more creative solutions.

5. Take legal advice

The reality is that most companies don’t have the resources or expertise needed to make global hiring work, and mistakes can come with considerable risks.
Labor laws are often very confusing, terminations, domicile, workplace, payroll, and taxes are just a few of the things employers must consider before hiring in another country.
Fortunately, by working with an EOR, businesses can tap into the expertise of employment lawyers and business experts whose entire focus is getting global hiring right.

This means that internal talent specialists can focus on doing what they do best, like attracting and retaining the right talent on their teams. Not struggling to keep up with changing laws in multiple countries.

If you’re interested in making your first global hires, Roots EOR is the safest and easiest solution. Whether you want to hire for fully remote roles, hybrid teams, or globally distributed offices, EORs will serve as your partner to protect your business throughout the hiring process as well as the lifespan of your employment agreements. Want to know more about us? Contact Our Advisors