15 Remote Hiring Tips for 2021

With a year that saw a global pandemic force an unprecedented number of companies and individuals into remote working we decided it was the ideal time to reflect on how to make remote working work for you. As numerous businesses across a host of industries (tech, finance, insurance, commerce etc.) are moving towards more permanent remote constellations it has become clear that the future of work that was predicted has arrived in full force.

So to make sure you are ready for remote work and in preparation for 2021 we put our heads together and came up with a checklist on our top fifteen need-to-know tips when hiring remotely!

✅ #selfcare

Hiring internationally presents its challenges. It's important to remember that everyone is adjusting to a post-COVID, remote, world. Never be too hard on yourself. Managing an international team can be tricky, especially how to be fair and treat employees equally on a global level. It’s a balancing act as countries offer different vacation days, benefits, maternity leave, severance, and termination regulations.

✅ Benchmark salaries

Salary benchmarking is important as countries have different social costs both for the employee and employer, as well as costs of living but it is a tricky to navigate. If you’re running a global benchmarking exercise for the first time, we recommend this comprehensive article by People Collective.

✅ Be compliant

Ensure your company is compliantly employing every teammate and not in violation of any employment laws. Contracting is often a quick and easy solution to get a relationship started, however it can present some risks. We have taken the liberty to outline a few risks when it comes to employing contractors rather than full-time employees.

✅ Make foreign subsidiary decision

Deciding if it is worth setting up a local entity in a given country is not simple. You will have to weigh up a variety of factors, your budget, expansion or growth strategy, resources etc. Our co-founder Guenther has written on the topic to help you with your decision.

✅ Remote communication ready

When bringing on a remote hire it is vital that you have all the right tools in place straight from the get-go. Think about having a combination of synchronous and asynchronous tools and systems in place to facilitate effective online communication as your team might be working across quite different time zones. Ones that we like the most and use daily are Front (great for team inboxes and commenting on emails), Zoom (love the break-out feature), Slack (add ons compatibility is so useful), Notion (where the magic happens) and Monday (keeps us organised).

✅ Decide on PEO or EOR?

When hiring remotely it’s important to think through what employment service would be the best match for your company and your remote talent. Unsure of what a PEO or EOR is and how they can help you hire remotely? We’ve covered the subject here.

✅ Remote office set-up

Given that remote employees don’t work out of a shared office where there are strict regulations on their work set-up it’s even more important to be conscious of your team’s well-being. Make sure that wherever they work, they have the correct constellation for their physical and mental well-being by conducting a remote desk assessment.

✅ Connected team culture

Building a connected team culture has become tougher now that we're missing a lot of the nuances of face to face interactions that everyone was so accustomed to. Some cool tools to boost employee engagement include Donut (organises virtual coffee catch-ups), Water Cooler Trivia (for weekly team quizzes) both of which can be added to Slack. Check out our report on other start-ups that are leading the way in building a remote team culture through games, retreats and other activities.

✅ Virtual interview prepared

Each market is vastly different in terms of interview procedure, background checks, perks, and benefits. Here we discuss how to prepare for your remote interviewing process. Like IRL interviewing, remote interviewing should follow a similar process, but with the wrinkle that you will be interviewing across different time zones and cultures. We've also reflected on 5 Global HR trends for you so that you can ensure you are up-to-date on the latest best practices when it comes to people ops.

✅ Get informed about international public holidays

Managing international public and bank holidays for all your remote employees can be a challenge. We have some tips on how to strike the right balance between respecting cultural norms and managing team responsibilities.

✅ Know your legal and tax risks

As a result of the pandemic many people began working remotely not always from their permanent country of residence. Some moved to their holiday homes or to live with friends or family and others took the chance to relocate to their dream exotic location. As a remote employer it’s critical to know what you need to worry about when your employees work from abroad and that’s why we’ve outlined it clearly.

✅ Be aware of permanent establishment risk

When working with remote full-time employees or contractors it is important to be aware of permanent establishment (PE) risk. We have answered all your pressing questions on what to watch out for when it comes to PE.

✅ Remote onboarding prepared

Make sure you’re ready for a smooth onboarding right from the get-go. This means setting up your new employee not only with the tools they need, but also making sure they meet the broader team in group and 1 on 1 settings. For remote onboarding, we recommend teaming up the new hire with a buddy to make sure they have a go-to person for any and all questions. Go overboard with meetings and scheduled 1 on 1s during the first month. Default to more, not less, during the first few weeks of employment.

✅ Know how to pay your remote employees

Paying employees across different countries is complex. We have outlined all that you need to know when it comes to paying your remote employees as well as the differences in international pay cycles which can sometimes include a 13th and/or 14th month salary.

✅ Employee development opportunities

Go virtual with your learning and development programmes, making things like video and self-paced learning modules available. Check-out our report for the latest remote learning tools.