#remote – Talent500 Blog

Remote hiring 101: your complete guide to building a distributed team

Posted on September 27, 2022October 31, 2022 by shanthamurthy

We know today that the future of work is global and flexible. Businesses are engaging in global talent acquisition & management techniques to optimize their employment prospects, enhance remote hiring procedures, and speed up things so that they can find, evaluate, and hire people efficiently and effectively. The important question is, how?

Any global recruitment team must adopt a common recruiting process checklist. A to-do list keeps everyone on the team focused, moves the remote hiring process along, and enables decision-makers to identify inefficiencies in each stage of the remote hiring process.

Here’s a checklist for your international recruiting needs.

International recruitment checklist

Setting up a distributed team is no mean feat. Whenever it concerns rules, regulations, and best practices for recruiting, each location is distinct, and every nation presents entirely new risks and obstacles.

Let’s begin with critical factors to consider when remote hiring teams. By using this checklist, you can hire workers internationally and overcome expansion-related difficulties.

Identify your remote hiring needs

If you’re preparing to hire a global team, the first step is to understand your motivation for remote hiring . Hiring a remote team means you’ll be entering foreign markets and getting access to highly skilled talent for the role you desire.

Make a detailed list of everything you want in a prospective employee, and break that down into technical skills and soft skills. This way, there’s less room for approximations and guesstimates. Making a definitive list of needs will help you make sure you don’t need to take risks with employees.

Build a recruitment plan

Most countries have their statutory requirements, taxation laws, salary policies, and so on. Compliance is a must, so researching how everything is conducted is a good starting point.

Calculating the total cost of acquisition for each role will help you build the right estimates. When preparing to grow, it is important to take into account the following, sometimes unanticipated costs:

The salary range
Statutory benefits
Attractive benefits
Onboarding/upskilling costs (time/tools/staff)
Equipment costs (hardware/software/licenses/company car)
Mandated tax and contributions

Taking all these factors into consideration will help you build a foolproof plan of how you want to go about recruiting new employees. This can include everything from location to role, to salary, and more.

Write a concise and compelling job description

According to research, if your application procedure is excessively drawn-out, antiquated, or burdensome, many job searchers may just quit and look elsewhere.

Be succinct and specific. When recruiting across multiple geographies, it is a good idea to provide all relevant information. For instance, if a visa has to be taken into consideration, you should mention it in the job description.

Employers are trying a range of strategies to speed up the remote hiring process while improving the applicant experience, including doing away with cover letters, switching long applications for a series of fast online inquiries, improving their online application, and utilizing chatbots.

Advertise across the right channels

Advertising your global recruitment on your website is not enough. You can use remote-friendly job boards like Angellist, Flexjobs & WeWorkRemotely. To find local candidates, social media has evolved into a crucial instrument. As a result, you may utilize it to the benefit of your remote hiring experience. Here are a few methods you may use to do that:

Target specifics – For instance, some nations favor Facebook as their primary social media platform, while others choose Instagram, Twitter, or WeChat. It is advisable to take analytics into account when choosing your target demographics.
Develop your employer brand – Make sure you are seen by both domestic and foreign applicants as a desired employer. You could do this by expanding social media outreach and regularly working on a blog for your company, where you share details about company culture, perks, benefits, etc.

Review & screen applications

The key to assuring candidate/company fit, tenure durability, higher productivity, and hiring success is comprehensive screening and science-led evaluation. To choose the most suitable members for your global team, try to strike a balance between speed and accuracy. Remember, your competitors are proactive in their pursuit of the top candidates.

To make sure you are choosing the best applicants, it is essential to establish a well-defined interview process that ideally includes objective and comprehensive candidate analysis. To hire the best foreign workers, you must, however, act quickly. Make sure this procedure is in line with the principles of your employment brand and that it is benchmarked against your best employees.

Conduct an efficient remote interview

An interview is an opportunity to create the perfect first impression – not just for the candidate, but also for the employer. However, in absence of non verbal cues like body language, remote interviewers must work harder to extract the complete potential of a virtual interview. Start by reviewing your current interview process and making it remote-friendly, ensuring you have access to all the necessary tools. Brush up your video-call etiquette, and ensure that this interview is a two-way conversation where you introduce the candidate to your company’s culture.

Calculate compensation

When calculating compensation, it’s imperative to ensure a fair wage is being given while keeping everything within your pre-calculated budget. Managing both can sometimes be tricky, but compensation can be calculated in some easy steps. Here’s how:

Make an offer that includes the position’s pay, start date, and other details. Working with personnel regarding salary, benefits, and employment policy may be necessary for this.
The final offer should be signed by the candidate.

Make sure to also factor in the cost of the following subheads – include the following:

Various statutory inclusions like health and accidental insurance
Home-office setup
Misc. benefits
Pension and gratuity schemes

Extend the job offer

If everything is in order – extend the offer. Think about using the period between the acceptance of the offer and the start date to assist your new employee in starting smoothly (and avoid having them drown in paperwork on their first day). NDA, tax withholding, benefit election, wire transfer details, business card, and other required papers should be provided. Reserve office supplies for your new remote hire as well.

Onboard

Congratulations! You’ve completed the remote hiring process successfully and now have a new global team member. Employee onboarding, a distinct but equally significant procedure to engage and develop your new employee, is now in order. You can send your new employee a welcome kit and assign them a remote buddy so that they can feel comfortable and ready to start their new day. It also helps to make all documents and guidelines, especially your remote work policy, available to the new employee. This reduces the risk of confusion on both ends.

Check in regularly with them to see how everything is going, and you’re set!

Global hiring best practices

International recruitment is now simpler than ever. That is if you know where to look for, pick out, and employ competent overseas talent. You’ve thus made the decision to begin remote hiring. But where do you look for all those outstanding people from abroad?

Equip your team with the right tools and technology

Thankfully, modern technology makes it simpler than ever to communicate with individuals throughout the world. Collaboration among the interview crew is made possible despite being spread out around the globe, thanks to efficient ATS solutions.

Additionally, the right technology enables you to plan interviews with applicants while successfully communicating with them and taking into account their time zones. Utilize video conferencing software like Zoom or Google Meet to conduct virtual interviews. Ensure that your remote team has access to all the different tools and technology that they will require during their workday, may it be in the form of an additional monitor or a paid subscription.

Overall, investment in the necessary technology will pay off with a smoother, more open recruiting process for applicants and structured, efficient hiring of new employees for your business.

Embrace cultural differences

You may need to modify your diversity sourcing tactics to account for the fact that demographics vary considerably from area to region. Be mindful of the terms used, as you might need to refrain from using certain turns of phrase or slang terms that are common in your home country., but inappropriate in other regions. Be mindful that you may have to make allowances for accents, grammar, and fluency if you are used to recruiting in a nation where English is not the primary language.

In any remote team, different people with different backgrounds are going to collaborate on projects. This isn’t a downside, but it helps to understand how different people work and react to certain things. Embracing these differences and enabling people to be who they are while they work is best.

Prioritize data security

The most crucial guideline when it relates to privacy laws is to always comply, regardless of the nation. Each country will have its own set of laws regarding the collection, storage, and dissimilation of personal data. For example, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a set of stringent rules for the acquisition and handling of personal data from people who live in the EU, must be kept in mind if you are remote hiring within the European Union (EU).

Put an emphasis on culture

Diversity may be a strength and a drawback for virtual teams, particularly those that are international. How teams handle diversity is key. A diverse working environment is essential for fostering innovation, decision-making, and problem-solving.

Teams with greater diversity generate better caliber, and their ideas are more original and creative. Teams with higher levels of diversity also fare better in terms of work quality.

As a result, although it is important to anticipate and handle any possible problems brought on by personal variety, contextual diversity is more likely to have positive effects.

Conclusion

Today, globally distributed teams are enabling business leaders to significantly recruit highly skilled talent without being constrained by geographical boundaries. Thanks to technology, employers now have access to a wide range of information, abilities, and distinctive personalities that the world has to offer. Using this information, we can create a revamped remote hiring process.

Whether you’re new to remote hiring or have multiple teams working remotely, it can get tricky to navigate global teams. At Talent500, we have been building global teams for Fortune500 companies. We have AI-powered tools and the top talent from all corners of the map to help you build globally distributed teams faster. Let’s discuss your requirement, set up a consultation today.

9 best practices for a comprehensive remote onboarding

Posted on September 26, 2022September 26, 2022 by naveen

While onboarding a remote employee is certainly different in some aspects than an in-person onboarding, the objectives of both are the same. To assist the employee in getting off to a quick start, forging connections, comprehending the culture, and identifying expectations.

A majority of managers are aware of how challenging it can be to onboard a new employee remotely, and many also understand the potential long-term effects that a bad onboarding process may have on their staff.

A negative onboarding experience doubles the chances of an employee to seek another opportunity, while a great onboarding experience ensures 69% of employees stick with a company for three years.

Building out a remote onboarding process for your distributed team? Read on.

9 tips for onboarding remote employees

Getting off to a good start will save your business time, money, and the expense of often attracting top talent.

Here are some tips to help you foster a feeling of belonging amongst your own remote employees, increase new hire happiness, and lower employee attrition.

Send a welcome-kit

A carefully designed set of goods and office equipment known as a “onboarding” or “welcome” kit aids in introducing new recruits to your company ‘s ethos and brand. The gear may be given to them as a nice surprise on their first day, or included in your pre-onboarding procedure.

Remember to include a company hand book, contact details of all relevant personnel, and any other such important information.

Simplify documentation

Studies show that the first hundred days of employment are crucial in establishing an employee’s relationship with their employer. Ensure a smooth onboarding experience by simplifying the process of document verification. It is a good idea to share a list of the different identification and qualification certificates that may be required by the company’s HR.

Similarly, any documentation shared with the candidate should be provided in a simplified manner so that it is easy to comprehend and apply in their work.

Appoint a buddy for the new employee

Often, new employees might hesitate in reaching out to their seniors or the HR for every small detail. Designate a person they can consult without hesitation with respect to general company policies, culture, or any other such details.

A new member of the team may be introduced to others by this person, who can also serve as a pleasant contact point for them. New recruits and their buddies can connect in a number of methods, including video conversations and check-ins on Slack.

Set up their workspace

First-day jitters may be reduced by offering every candidate a meeting with IT to demonstrate how the conferencing system, channels of communication, and other business technologies operate. By doing this, technological difficulties are reduced and new hires are better equipped to participate and feel at ease on their first day.

Some companies provide new hires with phones and laptops that have been configured with the appropriate business settings and security measures. This fosters a sense of belonging to the company and lessens fear among new hires.

Setting up their emails, slack and trello for them also gives them an easy headstart for their tasks.

Share your remote work policy

Setting clear expectations from day1 is always a good idea, especially for remote teams. Ensure that your remote work policy includes all important details about availability and work hours, the preferred channels of communication, security precautions and any other such relevant details. Many groups rely on natural channels of communicating important details.

Don’t leave new workers to make educated guesses about these matters; doing so can lead to uncertainty and tension. If all information is made available, there is less room for doubt or errors.

Create a memorable first day

Find a way to make a candidate feel welcome as soon as they accept the job offer. As mentioned above, you can send new hires’ houses a welcome package before the start day stuffed with company goods and a heartfelt statement relating the goods to the company’s goals.

You can also host a coffee break to introduce the hire to everyone and create a fun, all-round experience for them to see who and what everyone and everything is. This goes a long way in creating a feeling of community and building trust between employees.

Schedule on-the-job training sessions

More training for the workplace is sought after by 67% of remote workers. Give new employees the chance to take advantage of online learning resources after, or during onboarding and a reimbursement for professional or personal growth of their choice.

There could also be training sessions for new employees who aren’t acclimated to the work environment of your company. Training the employee with how everything works is a good way to get them quickly started on their responsibilities.

Encourage collaborative learning

During onboarding, when new hires must collaborate to finish a case or group project, relationships are formed and team members are introduced. However, this is also a chance to cross-train teams. To provide new sales representatives relationships in other departments, have them spend their orientation working with a recruiter and a member of the support staff.

Check-in often, and offer support

It’s a great idea to organize weekly one-on-one sessions to answer questions, discuss any difficulties, or concentrate on areas for improvement and trust-building. In addition to formal meetings, managers can hold casual coffee discussions when no work is mentioned with the intention of team building and helping the new employee feel welcome.

Virtual onboarding for remote employees can get hard for both the recruiter and employee, and this is one way of making them feel supported and comfortable in their role both personally and professionally.

Conclusion

Remote workers are now a significant portion of the workforce; since 2005, there has been a 159% growth in the number of persons who work remotely. Consequently, there has also been a change in how businesses onboard new employees.

One of the most crucial factors in employee success is virtual onboarding for new hires. Gaining momentum begins with a solid start. A bad start undermines the confidence of a new recruit and makes the hiring decision questionable for the company.

Your onboarding programme should just be the first step of a lifelong learning process that continues to improve your workers’ cultural fit, connections with others in the company, and job performance. With Talent500’s assistance, you can make your virtual onboarding process just that – successful. We provide unmatched AI-powered talent management and acquisition solutions tailored to your company.

8 reasons to start hiring remote workers today

Posted on September 22, 2022September 22, 2022 by temp

In recent years, remote work arrangements have become the new standard for many organizations. By 2024, remote workers will account for 32% of all employees worldwide. As we transition out of the pandemic, businesses across various industries are making remote work the status quo, by choice more than compulsion.

And you can’t blame them.

Whether it’s better productivity or superior retention, remote hires are running the future of work. If you’re contemplating hiring remote workers, here are 8 reasons why you shouldn’t wait any longer.

Increased productivity

Surveys show that 85% of companies report better productivity from remote employees. Furthermore, 77% of employees say they work better remotely.

A remote hire doesn’t need to commute to the. This minimizes the chances of any delay and bolsters focus. They won’t be distracted by their coworkers and can concentrate on their tasks. Having greater control over their workday and being able to work according to their schedules enables employees to be substantially more productive.

Greater employee satisfaction

Studies say 58% of workers would be ready to leave their job for a remote option. A massive 74% of employees would stay with their company if they kept working remotely.

Having the option to work remotely enables professionals to achieve a better work-life balance, which in turn improves their general well-being. Flexible schedules and the ability to work from home gives employees better control of their workday – this is especially beneficial for primary caregivers like working mothers.

Cost-effective

Office lease/rent obligations can be quite expensive, especially in the time of recession. Other overhead expenditures like furnishings, cleaning, and office equipment all increase the price. And that’s not it. Setting up workstations, arranging for electricity as well as internet and civic amenities require a continual monetary investment. The general upkeep and maintenance of an on-site workstation tend to get exorbitant!

Workers themselves are more likely to save employers money through remote employment. A Glassdoor survey found that 30% of employees would trade pay raises for an option to work remotely. Dell also saved a whopping $39.5M since 2014 through flexible working solutions!

Access to a better talent pool

A firm’s chances of interacting with potential employees who have the skills and expertise the company requires are increased as recruiters now have access to skilled talent without the barrier of geographical limitations.

Additionally, many job searchers are eager to pursue companies from outside of their immediate area. A study found that more than half of them are interested in obtaining entirely remote jobs with businesses headquartered in other cities or states, as this helps them increase their salary without an increase in the cost of living.

Recruiting locally is constrained to the skill you can find in the neighborhood in which the office is located, or incur relocation costs. For companies who are not located in big cities, this means the number of talented individuals you can hire is much lower and you have a hard time competing for those candidates that enjoy the big city life

Better time management

By eliminating lengthy trips to and from work, employees’ quality of life is improved. Employees who don’t commute to work or attend offline meetings can save up to 5 hours daily!

Many prospective workers find remote employment enticing because of this. So much so that 67% of employees say the biggest perk of remote work is choosing how to spend their time.

Increased agility & scalability

Businesses across all sectors would not have been able to maintain operations throughout the pandemic without remote labor. Because they are aware that a remote work model will enable them to develop and keep the competent staff they will need to thrive in the post-pandemic market, many businesses are now eager to implement it on a long-term basis.

Building a scalable remote workforce may position firms to better meet the difficulties of expansion, despite the intimidating nature of developing a company with locations scattered over several cities, states, and even other nations.

Distributed teams and conventional outsourcing techniques are frequently confused by traditional organizations and executives. But today, more than half of all businesses employ remote work as a norm, including well-known brands like Github, Automattic, Invision, and Buffer.

Ease of global expansion

Businesses that had previously explored some sort of digital transformation at the beginning of the pandemic were able to transition to all-remote work fast and quite efficiently. They could sustain an “anywhere workforce” and easily recruit more remote workers as needed since they had relevant virtual collaboration and communication technologies in place. Entering new markets became easier as companies could now set up remote teams and employ local talent.

Many firms have been able to enhance productivity, foster creativity, and expand their worldwide reach with new goods and services thanks to the acceleration of the future of employment and the complete adoption of the remote model — and this amid a period of intense business instability, no less.

Reduced carbon footprint

Working from home just one or two days a week can help cut down on the number of vehicles on the road, which in turn minimizes traffic jams, the amount of wear on the road, and greenhouse gas emissions. If 3.9 million people would work remotely just half the time, they would cut greenhouse gas emissions by the same amount as eliminating 600,000 vehicles off the road for a year!

Commercial buildings are getting more energy-efficient, but lighting, heating, and cooling still consume a lot of energy. Removing all that means a reduced Carbon footprint, and a better means to achieve your CSR goals.

Better employee retention

74% of employees say that they’re less likely to leave their current job if given the ability to work remotely.

This is because working remotely gives employees flexibility and autonomy on what to do with their free time. Having a better work-life balance is extremely important for any employee to be happier and more productive. Hiring remotely helps employees do just that.

Common challenges with remote work

Everything has its pros and cons, and remote work isn’t any different. For those new to hiring remotely or working remotely, there will be a few common problems. Whether it’s adapting to the new changes or having clear communication, what matters is how to get around the issues to get the best of remote teams.

Time zone differences

Employees can explore cultural differences, share ideas, and gain a wealth of knowledge by collaborating with a transnational team.

However, because the team will be operating in various time zones, coordinating might be difficult. Working with a global remote team could cause a delay in obtaining replies, overall communication, and decreased engagement with the team. Working with teams with a little overlap in working times is recommended.

Employee distractions

While working remotely, it’s easy to become sidetracked by even the simplest distractions, such as smartphones, social media, or simply the persistent temptation to get up and move about. Goals can get sidelines as a result.

Much like working at a physical office, setting up a dedicated workspace enables remote workers to minimize distractions and increase productivity.

Communication

Collaboration amongst distant teams is the most typical issue that disturbs workflow. How, for instance, can a group of designers collaborate on a single project when they are dispersed throughout the nation or the globe? Team members may engage with files, products, projects, and one another without any practical restrictions if they meet in the same office.

However, remote teams are quite constrained, and even collaborating on the same text presents difficulties. The good news is that there is a tonne of collaboration tools available that can assist in removing those hurdles to remote co-working, just like there are for project management software. Tools like Miro, Google docs, and Canva enable different members of a remote team to collaborate simultaneously.

Building company culture

Without a feeling of community between team members, working can get monotonous and a lack of trust would eventually lead to friction. The greatest thing to do here is to develop a set of common values, goals, and strategies. While it’s a good start to articulate them, it is also important that the entire team also practices the same culture and core values.

A culturally enriched and responsive team is more cohesive. They’ll work better together and get work done in a superior and timely manner. They build the brand and culture of the organization altogether as well.

Future = Remote.

The number of people working remotely weekly has risen a mind-boggling 400% from 2010. The remote hiring process is simple & easy, not to mention highly cost-effective. As we’ve already seen, there are numerous unquestionable benefits of hiring remote workers.

Recruit remote workers to see just how much they can do for you. Not only does remote working allow your employees satisfaction, but it also opens up the gate to scalability and profits.

Remote work is here to stay. Take the first step towards building your distributed team with Talent500. With our AI algorithms and proven vetted global skillbase, we provide you with personalized and accurate talent acquisition & management solutions & more. To find out more, request a consultation today!

4 Keys to balance autonomy and structure in a remote-first era

Posted on June 23, 2022 by shanthamurthy

After two years of remote work being the status quo, employers appear to be now marshaling their troops back to the office. Simultaneously, a survey by Owl Labs revealed that 90% of workers agreed to being equally or more productive working remotely, with 84% positing that working remotely post-pandemic would make them happier. Some would even take a pay cut to retain remote work privileges. These apparently contrary work models seem to have fused into the hybrid work model. In fact, 74% of U.S. companies have or will implement such a model, according to Zippia.

However, how should a work model that includes remote workers function on the practical level? Should leaders relinquish most of their control over how their employees work? How can structured work have a place in a world where employee freedom is prized? Here’s a quick take on how to balance autonomy and structure in a remote-first era.

Autonomy drives employee experience

The word ‘autonomy’ is closely associated with the ideas of freedom and self-governance. In context, it means allowing the employee to determine when to work and where to work from.

As 2021 played out, one could quickly recognize different degrees of autonomy emerging from company policies:

Low autonomy: In-office days and timings are fixed
Moderate autonomy: Must fulfill certain amount of hours at office
Complete autonomy: Can work at anywhere, including office, at any convenient time

Arguably, there are some businesses that require their employees to work at a low level of autonomy; a nurse, construction worker, or barista needs to be on-site. However, through the pandemic, a majority of organizations realized that they could be a lot more virtual than they imagined. Interestingly, Jabra’s Hybrid Ways of Working 2022 Global Report reveals that autonomy and employee experience enjoy a direct correlation.

What Jabra found was that the more autonomy you afford employees, the greater ‘belonging’, ‘motivation’, ‘productivity’, ‘trust in team’, ‘trust in leaders’, ‘impact’, ‘work-life balance’, and ‘mental health’ they report having.

Key #1: Employee autonomy is mutually beneficial

Autonomy is not inherently opposed to structure

As contradictory as it seems, employees require to be ‘controlled’ by some set of principles if they are to exercise their freedom effectively. It’s similar to having markings that define the length and breadth of a playground to enable play within. Without boundaries, autonomy breaks down.

In fact, a report highlights the impressive degree of autonomy Netflix affords its employees – they, not HR, get to decide about things like maternity leave and travel expenses. Amazingly, employees are willing to earn this autonomy by digging into the company’s foundational documents and aligning their vision with that of the organization.

The report also chronicles Alaska Airlines’ grappling with the issue of how much freedom in decision-making to offers its frontline workers. After meandering through periods of freedom and then micromanagement, the airlines leaned towards autonomy, but one that rests on “well-understood limits”.

The moral these stories teach is that certain principles need to form the basis for autonomy, if autonomous decisions are to safeguard the company as a whole. This could play out in the form of:

Vision and goals of the company
Rules pertaining to work ethic
Broad guidelines for employee behavior and attitudes
Norms for meeting deadlines
Channels for offering and receiving feedback
Training sessions that illustrate good use of autonomous decision-making

Key #2: Autonomy requires some structure and alignment of principles

Transitioning towards the right blend

The future of work is hybrid – but how will it be structured?

Google proposes a flexible work model, wherein its employees come to the office about 3 days per week. “Since in-office time will be focused on collaboration, your product areas and functions will help decide which days teams will come together in the office”, Google’s message to its employees reads. Google also envisions a workforce wherein 60% come to the office a few days a week, 20% work in new locations, and 20% work from home.

Kissflow’s approach is slightly different than that of Google’s. Its REMOTE+ model proposes teams choose between working in-office or remotely. However, every team must work in-office for one week in a month. Kissflow would generously provide accommodation for employees who need to travel for the week of in-office work. To create cross-team bonds and interactions, Kissflow plans monthly meet-ups, quarterly conferences, and offsite trips!

So, is the right blend of autonomy and structure expressed in a hybrid model simply a matter of picking policies that seem attractive? One must search deeper.

Having the right employees

Kissflow is intelligent when it includes in its REMOTE+ model the following line: “We will make a conscious effort to hire employees who thrive in a remote work environment”. The key is to have employees who can deliver when deprived of the social support, structure, and facilities the office offers. So, you want employees who can be self-disciplined when alone, but generous in understanding the organization’s needs for in-person work as well.

Making the right organizational changes

Real estate commitments are a solid reason organizations may be reluctant to divest itself of the control it has over where its employees work. After all, if it is locked into a long-term lease, it may not be able to funnel those finances into improving remote work infrastructure. Another issue is that of employees whose role it was to supervise others. Now, such a role may not be needed; or if it is, it will take added effort.

Navigating such issues is time-consuming, but as you do so, expect your hybrid work model to emerge refined.

Key #3: Achieving the right blend is a process. It demands policy, workforce and organizational tweaks.

Making your hybrid work model viable

Investing in remote gear

When remote work hit the world, many employees made it possible with their own finances. Data from SHRM reveals that 51% percent of remote workers shelled out $100–499 on equipment or furniture. Moreover, 61% did so out of pocket. The major issue here is that such employees lose their sense of belonging with their company. Investing in your employee’s tech gear is a way of saying, “we want you to be autonomous, and we are with you wherever you choose to work”.

Using the right collaboration tools

A 2021 Gartner survey revealed that ~80% of employees used collaboration tools in 2021. The figure hovered around 50% in 2019. Such tools are imperative to sustaining a workforce that’s connected more in the cloud than at the office. Some of the best out there include:

Monday.com – Project management
Zoom – Video conferencing
Trello – Kanban boards
Slack – Team communications
InVision – Design collaboration & digital whiteboard
Dashlane – Password manager
GSuite – Office suite

Key #4: Investment in home and office makes remote and structured work possible

Building the office of the future

Since structured work in the office will be highly intentional, companies need to create spaces that prioritize focused work alongside spaces that promote collaboration. Some ideas from leading tech firms around the world include:

Conference rooms with large screens installed at eye level: this helps with inclusivity in videoconferencing
Café-style seating and wraparound terraces: for an experience similar to home or remote-work settings
Multipurpose areas – to enable collaboration and accommodate employees when many turn up
Private pods with soundproofing – for focused work that may include video calls

These strategies are sure to help you strike the right balance between autonomy and structure. If you are on the hunt for remote-ready candidates, look no further than Talent500. We use AI-powered algorithms to assess profiles across 100’s of parameters and offer access to pre-vetted talent that’s been through comprehensive skill interviews. To build a remote-first or global workforce, book a consultation with T500 today.

3 challenges and solutions for building strong company culture in a globally distributed workforce

Posted on June 22, 2022June 22, 2022 by naveen

It’s no secret that organizational culture impacts company success as well as employee satisfaction. A positive culture of shared values and healthy workplace behavior enables and empowers employees and managers to be engaged, driven, and loyal. Strong organizational culture also attracts a talented workforce. Nearly 77% of candidates look at the workplace culture before applying for a job, according to a report by Glassdoor. This suggests that a negative perception of an organization’s culture can make it challenging to fill open positions and retain top talent.

While instilling culture across the organization is a challenge in any setting, the COVID-19 pandemic underscored its importance as it significantly impacted productivity and forced leadership to evolve to the new normal. Their reassessment and reevaluation either strengthened the work culture or diluted it. Nevertheless, be it a fully remote workforce, or a distributed team working on a follow-the-sun model, culture is key to creating a sense of genuine connectedness and belonging.

Increased stress, lopsided work-life balance, isolation and job insecurity have all contributed to lower productivity of distributed teams and remote workers in recent times. This is only compounded by company culture that is transactional rather than relational. In fact, companies that managed to instill positive organizational culture, offering their workforce flexibility and transparency, saw big gains. Not only are 68% of teams evaluating their culture to better reflect the new normal, but 62% of remote and hybrid employees and 52% of on-site employees said that their workplace culture had a positive impact on their work as per a 2021 report by Gartner.

Here’s a deep dive into the challenges and means of scaling organizational culture in a globally distributed workforce.

Challenges of building workplace culture in distributed workforce

Fragmented and dispersed workforce

One of the ways to cultivate workplace culture is through shared experiences. In the past, these took shape as shared learning seminars and other such in-person activities. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, such interactions aren’t as frequent or are fully digital when they occur, and thus lacking in one way or another. This makes building and enforcing a strong work culture challenging in a distributed workforce.

Too much transparency in the workplace

While transparency is essential, especially now, too much is problematic. Companies with an overly transparent culture often face issues of over-sharing, which in turn hampers the ecosystem. For instance, too much transparency about financial struggles, losses or even salaries can lead to unrest, detrimental competition and even unwarranted dismissals.

Increased pressure for productivity

Spurring productivity, while essential to any organization, is among the hurdles companies will likely face when building the right culture. Both managers and employees can make it difficult to set the right values or even act in accordance with them when there is pressure to boost productivity. According to research, 50% of senior leaders stated that this type of pressure is one of the biggest challenges in creating a positive culture.

How organizations can build a strong culture in a globally distributed workforce

Be intentional about culture and celebrate cultural differences

Having a set of principles or values that leaders and the top tier of management believe in and act on, is step 1. Bringing up workplace culture from onboarding and throughout the employee work cycle is key to it being taken seriously. While it is important to have a culture that all employees can share, it is also important to accept and honor diversity. An empathetic culture is mission critical in a globally distributed workforce, since companies are now expected to be diverse. According to this study, 84% of the CEOs said empathy drives better outcomes; the same study also said that 90% of GenZ employees are more likely to stay if the organization has an empathetic culture.

Leverage technology to better communicate and collaborate

Communication and collaboration are critical tools that support organizations in building desired workplace culture. Remote working can have a negative impact on both of these and active measures to counteract such gaps must be put in place. Organizations can assign mentors to the new hires, have online team huddles, and upgrade to technology that streamlines communication. Only through effective communication can the values be imparted into every sector and silo of the workforce.

Lead by example

Actions speak louder than words. For culture to truly set in, the organization’s values must be actioned by top management and the board of directors. Leaders should believe in what they say and do to get the desired results. On the other hand, leaders acting in opposing directions can create distrust among the employees, which then further deteriorates into a negative perception of the workplace. Simply put, when it comes to building the right culture, a ‘Be. Do. Say.’ style leadership is necessary.

Apart from the above measures, organizations should also rely on the in-country experts when managing a distributed workforce. This means that even though company values would be at the forefront in communication between employees, in-country experts should be at the forefront in matters concerning monetary and non-monetary compensation. This is because there are different customs and laws that come into play.

Dependency on the experts here can help with compliance and stronger culture. Talent500 can help you build and grow your global workforce in a seamless way with our AI-powered tools. Request a consultation now to know how we can help you manage your workforce, stay compliant, and engage with employees to cultivate a strong culture.