NEW YORK, (November 1, 2021) – Signe Pihlstrand, SanovaWorks Vice President
Does Your Company Hire Remote Employees?
Results Matter
SanovaWorks functions with a Results Only Work Environment. When we created this policy almost a decade ago, the benefits we were anticipating took a little time to emerge. The biggest advantage under our new policy was hiring remote employees. The entire process differed from what we’d experienced in the past, hiring only from our local talent pool. We were able to staff a fully remote Team and thrive over the past decade. Fast forward to the past year and a half, since the pandemic hit, we started to see other companies adapt to a remote workforce. We responded with a series called Diary of a Remote Company, our own company’s insights in how to manage teams, and normalize video chatting.
Creating a Remote Company
First, there are more applicants – considerably more. We were already inundated with every job post, but opening up the search to include anyone that can attend meetings during Eastern Standard Time makes a dramatic difference. We didn’t just have more candidates to choose from, we had many more viable candidates to choose from. For every job opening we have, there is a certain percentage of applicants that apply that are not qualified. Another percentage has applied for the wrong position – responded to the wrong ad. Then, add all of the applicants with letters and resumes full of typos. And then all of the spam responses from recruiting companies. What we are left with is often a much smaller group than we had hoped for.
When we began to hire a fully remote team, we had less of the above percentages, and more in the “keeper pool.” We now get a very large percentage of feasible, quality applicants that have read the ad, have relevant experience, have responded with a clear, well-written resume, and if we’re lucky, include a cover letter that tells us even more about them and how they fit with the role, and helps set them apart from the rest of the group. For sure a difference is because of the numbers – more applicants, more percentage of each group, including the “yes” list. But we can’t help but notice that the percentage of viable candidates is disproportionately larger than the others. More of the applicants make the effort, and more make the cut.
Limitless Location
We focus on finding the very best people for our positions and we are not limited by location. And we are thrilled with our team members. They have varying backgrounds and skillsets, but what they have in common is that they are absolute pros at what they do, they are dispersed across the country, and we feel lucky to have found them.
Does Your Company Hire Remote Employees?
I understand all industries can’t go this route. Retail, or any company that caters to the public, for example. What experiences have you had with remote staffing?
If your industry allows, consider hiring remote workers. Recent studies show employees that who work remote or are allowed the flexibility of working remotely some of the time, are more satisfied in their jobs, less likely to quit, and are often more productive than their in-office counterparts.
And on top of this:
- As I illustrated above, employing remote staff allows companies to use a global talent pool to fill their open positions, which provides a greater chance of finding qualified, talented and experienced candidates.
- Employees are able to save money on work wardrobe, and eating breakfast and lunches out – and are more apt to make coffee at home instead of spending way too much for their morning joe.
- Employees save on commuting costs, and the time it saves them results in a greater work-life balance.
- It’s Green! Reducing the number of commuters saves fuel, reduces vehicle carbon emissions and traffic congestion.
- Absenteeism is reduced – employees can work in any sort of weather – snow and ice can’t keep them from coming in to work. And in general, remote workers are absent from work less: a recent study found that the sickness absence rate for remote workers was 0.9% on average compared to 2.2% who work in an office.
- Hiring remote staff is a great way for companies that want to expand their workforce, but do not have the office space to bring in any new employees. This allows companies to grow without the increase in added overhead of acquiring additional space.
All the best,
Signe
Signe Pihlstrand, SanovaWorks Vice President