Remote Working Series

Many employers concerned about security and data integrity will provide a laptop or computer to their remote workers for home office use. In addition, there are other items like office furniture, additional hardware and software packages that can be supplied. Whether or not the items are provided by the employer or by the employee, here are questions you can ask to establish if the employee has the right home office set-up to work successfully for you. It is also a helpful guide to anyone wanting to set up a home office from scratch. 

Company culture guides the behaviours and attitudes of employees. As Frances Frei and Anne Morriss put it: “Culture guides discretionary behavior and it picks up where the employee guide leaves off.” 

This means that a strong company culture is especially important when the team is working remotely. 

A positive company culture results in enthusiastic, happy and productive employees leading to successful overall company performance.

The success of onboarding and inducting a new remote employee is essential in ensuring that the new recruit feels part of the team from the beginning and that he/she has a clear understanding of what the expectations are. The onboarding and induction should include the setting up of a virtual office, introducing the new employee to the entire team and specifying the rules of engagement.

Hiring remote workers widens the talent pool beyond a geographical location. It enables companies to tap into top skills nationally and globally. If a candidate is being interviewed for a remote based job, they can be interviewed via video or telephone. Read the article on how to conduct video or telephone interviews. This will give the interviewer a good understanding of how the candidate projects, using remote communication tools.