In continuing upon the theme of employee engagement from my last few blog entries, I will offer a perspective around remote hiring and onboarding. I’m prompted by the peculiar circumstances many of us find ourselves in. While the economy recovers and—as a result—hiring numbers increase, social-distancing efforts remain in place in many work settings to mitigate the pandemic’s infection rate. Large numbers of employees—used to the usual Monday-Friday office routine—operate, for now, from home.
Does the approach to hiring or onboarding radically change for those of us still working entirely in a virtual work environment? I would say these processes, foundationally, should remain the same as in-person ones—driven by purposeful engagement. However, it can be conceded that a considerable degree of personal connection is lost when entirely relegated to remote communication. Make the most of the modification, though, and conduct your hiring and integration processes as thoroughly as possible.
You continue to hire for fit, bringing on personnel that will lend to the synergy that drives a positive workplace culture. Intelligence will always be a criterion in hiring, but look, also, for a job candidate’s willingness to learn. Today’s world is ultra-competitive. There’s a good chance that every applicant is adequately skilled, so consider how the team will function with the hire. Seek complementarity to augment, to fit in. You don’t want someone diminishing the team dynamic.
From the moment the right hire is made, the critical component of onboarding begins. And it’s wise to budget extra time when it takes place remotely. Orienting new personnel without the benefit of face-to-face interaction will likely require more attention and more patience. It’s worth it because getting employee engagement right from the outset is necessary! Here’s an equation that’s invariably true: Good employee engagement leads to high morale; high morale leads to productivity.
Within the myriad of acronyms that permeate contemporary culture, WFH has become part of our vocabulary during the past year. “Work from home” abruptly became the reality for many of us. We quickly learned to adapt the way we conduct business and communicate. For the time being, certain office rituals can’t be perfectly duplicated via computers or telephones. That’s all right! It’s up to us to remotely engage—employees and customers alike—in a professional and personable manner.