Running a remote startup has evolved significantly with the rise of cloud computing programs and better access to talent worldwide. This has allowed aspiring entrepreneurs to launch their ventures and succeed in their market, regardless of industry or location.
If you plan to launch a company from the comfort of your home, you will need a solid team of remote professionals. This step of developing an effective team will take time, effort, and careful planning to ensure you get the best talent for your business.
The guide below will provide a step-by-step process for building an effective remote team for your home-based enterprise. The article also includes critical practices for managing your remote employees.
Identify What Your Business Needs
Companies require a varied group of professionals to operate smoothly. However, there are specific expertise you must prioritize further to ensure your venture’s success, especially in its initial stages. Understanding your particular requirements is crucial to identify these professionals.
In developing an effective team, first, you must determine the tasks integral to your business operations. These are the projects that will help you gain more clients and revenue. For instance, if you plan to launch a digital marketing agency, you will need professionals like content creators, graphic designers, and marketing officers to cater to your target market effectively.
That’s not to say you only need one department to keep your business running. You need to fill specific roles to turn your venture’s wheel effectively. For example, digital marketing agencies still need customer service representatives, accounting, and IT personnel.
Recruitment Strategies
Hiring remote employees is much more accessible today thanks to online platforms like LinkedIn, Indeed, and Monster. However, this accessibility has made the market more competitive and saturated with millions of applicants worldwide.
You might not acquire the best talent for your business without the right approach. To help you out, consider the following steps:
Craft a Clear Job Description
Your job descriptions must help potential applicants understand the role and set expectations for working with your company. It must be direct but filled with insightful and enticing information to encourage talents to apply.
When writing a job description, you must include the following factors:
- Job title
- Employment type (full-time, part-time, or freelance)
- Responsibilities
- Qualifications
- Company overview
- Compensation and benefits
- Working schedule and conditions (on-site, hybrid, or remote)
The key to making your job descriptions more effective is to understand the role yourself. Some employers make the mistake of publishing generic descriptions and demanding tasks not included in the job. This practice damages trust and quickly drives employees away. That’s why it’s best to know the specific duties you require to boost transparency and avoid such an issue.
Highlight Company Perks and Benefits
One way to attract top talent when developing an effective team is to showcase the benefits they enjoy if they work with you. You don’t need fancy programs at the onset. You can start with essential perks like a robust compensation package, incentive bonuses, and equitable vacation and sick leaves.
You can also provide retirement savings options like a 401k or Independent Retirement Account (IRA) with a rollover IRA. Providing these avenues for retirement savings can be valuable in attracting and retaining talented employees while supporting their long-term financial well-being.
Check the Candidate’s Remote Work Capabilities
Not all professionals are fit for remote work. That means when going through applicants, you must prioritize specific skills to help you find the right candidate. For instance, an excellent remote employee has great time management, independence, tech-savviness, and organizational skills.
You can determine whether applicants possess these skills between resumes, interviews, and references. Know more about a candidate’s experience working remotely, mainly how they collaborated with their team members and resolved issues with such an arrangement.
Meanwhile, don’t be so quick to dismiss applicants who don’t have remote working experience. Asking thorough questions about them will help determine if they possess the skills needed for remote work.
Use Multiple Communication Formats
Remote work involves multiple communication methods, from chats to virtual calls. Use them in your interviews to gauge how well potential employees communicate in different formats or channels.
For example, remote teams often exchange information through email. You can use that in your initial messages to see how well the applicant responds in written format. Check for conciseness, structure, and promptness in every reply.
After that, you can move to synchronous communication. Virtual meetings through Zoom and Google Meet are better than phone calls when hiring remote employees since they’re more common in a work-from-home setting. Determine how well applicants communicate in these channels during calls. Plus, see if they can handle such technologies with ease.
In developing an effective team, consider it a red flag if the applicant fails to communicate in various channels or methods.
Test Your Applicant’s Skills
Asking for examples of an applicant’s previous work is a common practice to strengthen their case before hiring.
However, you can elevate their credibility further by assigning them a new project from scratch with a realistic timeline. This tactic will help you determine how well the candidate’s skills match your requirements.
Plus, it will allow you to identify how well they manage their time.
Onboarding Remote Employees
Onboarding employees is much more challenging for remote teams when developing an effective team. However, certain practices can help ensure that you properly welcome newly hired members. These are the best steps you can take.
Get Them Online Immediately
Setting up all the necessary accounts on various platforms is vital before onboarding new employees. These include credentials in messaging, video conferencing, and collaboration apps. Provide them with user access immediately to familiarize them with your tools and processes early. Doing so will also allow them to connect with team members right away.
You must do this step days before a new employee joins. Keeping new employees in the dark will make them feel anxious and disconnected from your company.
Provide Everything Early
Supply all the necessary information, documents, and other essential details integral to your business when onboarding new employees. That way, they can understand the company’s branding, goals, and values early. This approach will help new employees feel more included and comfortable working with the team.
Create a Sense of Belonging
Isolation is common for many remote employees, and it could lead to demotivation, significantly affecting a remote worker’s performance. So, prioritize making your new employees feel welcomed and included on day one. Help them connect with the company and their new coworkers.
For example, you can host virtual meet and greets with the whole team. Members and new employees can introduce and state fun facts about themselves to break the ice and establish a connection early.
Another helpful way to combat isolation is to assign an orientation “buddy” to new employees. This mentor or peer will act as a point person new employees can contact for questions and other inquiries regarding their work.
Setting a Collaborative Environment
Collaboration is much more crucial for remote teams. The good news is that many tools are now available to help work-from-home employees exchange ideas and create better output. The following are the most crucial ones you must have.
Communication
Instant messaging and video conferencing platforms help facilitate real-time interactions between remote employees. This allows team members to address issues promptly, make decisions effectively, and maintain connections with each other. Some of the most famous examples of these programs are Slack, Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams.
Project Management
Project management tools provide a centralized channel for teams to organize and assign tasks effectively. These tools help team members track projects, monitor timelines, and identify issues based on missed deadlines. Among the best project management tools available today are Asana, Trello, and ClickUp.
File Sharing
File sharing and storage tools are crucial in supporting collaboration among remote teams. These platforms provide a centralized repository for essential documents and other assets integral to the company’s operations.
Aside from that, these tools support collaboration by allowing team members to review and edit documents in real-time. This increases productivity and reduces the need for back-and-forth communication. The best examples of these tools are Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox.
Team Building Activities
Team building activities can help enhance communication when you focus on developing an effective team. This reinforces a sense of belonging and reduces disconnection among members. They can also help boost collaboration, allowing them to learn more about each other’s strengths and work cohesively toward a common goal.
The good news is that you can still conduct numerous team-building activities even with your remote setup. Some of the best ideas you can use are virtual icebreakers, online games, workshops, quiz nights, and digital scavenger hunts.
Of course, there are times when the team doesn’t have to do anything but bond with each other. You can host virtual coffee or lunch breaks where members can chat casually and build personal connections in their conversations.
Performance Evaluation and Rewards
One of the many challenges owners must face when running a remote company is incentivizing employees. Rewarding them is an excellent way to keep them productive and motivated to work. Conducting evaluations is the best way to determine when to recognize and reward employees.
Here are the best practices to follow.
Establish Clear Performance Metrics
Clearly define measurable goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) for each role, ideally on each employee’s start date. That way, they know what to expect and work with motivation in mind.
These metrics vary depending on the employee’s role. However, the most common examples of these metrics are turnaround times, work quality, responsiveness, error rates, and profitability.
Use Performance Management Software
Tracking a remote employee’s performance is challenging. However, through the right tools, this task becomes highly accessible.
A performance review software allows managers to effectively evaluate their remote team’s performance. Many platforms offer goal-setting and tracking features, real-time feedback, engagement surveys, and rewards and recognition. Through these programs, evaluating employees becomes more streamlined, allowing for more unbiased and effective reviews.
Some of the best examples of these platforms are BambooHR, ZohoPeople, ClickUp, and HubStaff.
Conduct Regular Evaluations and Rewards
Consistent evaluation and rewards are an excellent way to motivate remote employees to do their work. You can establish recurring schedules for when these reviews will take place to set your team’s expectations further. That way, they’ll know when a potential reward could be coming.
Moreover, conducting regular evaluations provides an excellent opportunity for owners to review each employee’s performance. Doing so ensures that all team members will be recognized for their work.
Tailor Rewards to Every Employee
Financial gain is an excellent reward to employees after an evaluation. However, there are other incentives you can explore for your remote workers. It could be additional time-offs, professional development opportunities, and flexible working hours. Communicate with your employees to know their preferences and better tailor their rewards.
Elevate Your Support
Once your business grows, consider expanding your employee benefits. Over time, you can offer better healthcare, wellness programs, and family-friendly policies like maternity and paternity leave.
Remember that these benefits might differ depending on your employee’s location. Consider their specific needs and offer them suitable packages.
Develop a Robust Remote Team
Creating an effective remote team is a multi-step process requiring careful planning and implementation. It can get overwhelming. However, following the steps mentioned above, you can attract and retain the best talent for your business.
