Category Archives for : HR Planning

Working remotely does not need to be a disruption to foster meaningful relationships between mentors and mentees. There are multiple whiteboard and remote collaboration tools that enable you to continue training and mentorships with ease in real-time.

Creately, together with Gren Gale at PM Results held a Twitter chat to explore ways of training and mentoring remote employees to enhance the productivity of the workforce. Given below is a curated version of the discussion.

Q1) New remote employees usually struggle with reduced access to an ‘over the shoulder’ instructor support; how to overcome this problem?

Gren Gale points out that many companies do not have clearly defined processes. Often only a few people know how exactly the processes work. He says that this may lead to confusion among new remote recruits.

“I recommend companies analyse and document their processes. While this isn’t a five-minute job and may divert busy people, it’s work you should definitely undertake. I recommend you look at Lean Six Sigma to analyse processes and you can use Creately to collaborate on and document them.”

He further suggests that both office-based and remote workforces should build a knowledge base.

“All of your processes should reside on a knowledge base together with the expert knowledge that resides in people’s heads but never gets written down. The work hygiene stuff like expenses, payroll and HR policies should be there too.

It’s a good idea to include authors for each page in the knowledge base and a contact icon so people know who the experts are to ask questions.”

Q2) How to make information easily accessible to remote employees, especially online?

To this end, Gren Gale highlights the importance of having structured meetings – which are minuted – for remote teams on a daily and weekly basis.

“Questions like how are you doing? Are you stuck with anything? Or how do you feel about work? should be asked. Setting goals and then measuring how well new employees are doing is essential for both the management and the morale of a new employee.

It’s a good principle to organise daily team ‘stand up meetings’ and invite new employees to these. Employee engagement packages formalise these arrangements and I’m a big fan of these for remote or hybrid work.”

He also mentions that an organizational chart is also an essential tool for new employees.

“Try finding your way around a remote team or worse still, around a client of the remote company without any sort of organizational chart and you’re in big trouble. You need a chart that shows what people do and who they work for and how to contact them.”

He also recommends the use of employee engagement software to ensure that new employees are being supported by their managers and lets senior management know otherwise. Furthermore, organizing social events, face-to-face and online, will help new team members socialize with the rest of the team.

“I’m a big fan of a ‘wall of fame!’ whicis is somewhat similar to an org chart. The wall of fame contains images of people on the organisation chart with a short description of their background and hobbies.

It lets everyone on the team know what their colleagues look like and provides scope for small talk. Hey you’re a movie buff, keen cyclist or music lover. It opens up everyone’s background and interests and that helps inculcate the feeling of being in a team.”

Q3) What qualities qualify a person to be a good mentor to a remote employee?

Qualities such as being patient, being prepared to listen and making sure you are knowledgeable about the subject area or know where to get the information are both common to one-on-one and remote mentoring.

However, Gren Gale highlighted some skills that are specific to remote work.

“Both mentors and employees are required to be totally comfortable with the remote work technology, have an understanding of how the company is organised and who does what, and have an idea about the sorts of insecurities and frustrations remote workers might experience. A common feeling for new remote workers is imposter syndrome – are they good enough?”

He stresses that it is vital that mentors are sensitive to and understand this. it’s a lot harder to measure your performance against others when you’re remote. He adds that people leading teams remotely in particular can suffer from imposter syndrome.

Q4) How to find the right balance between overloading a mentee with information and expecting them to achieve their goals with the highest level of accuracy?

Gren Gale states that it’s important to give people simple tasks to do as soon as possible so they can feel they’ve achieved something and that they are able to find their way through this new organisation and make stuff happen.

“Imposter syndrome can lead to demoralization of new employees. As I mentioned earlier, I would recommend making use of employee engagement packages. They help with goal setting and reviewing. The strength of these packages is that employee satisfaction or unhappiness or lack of one-to-ones is flagged up in reporting to senior management – it ceases to be invisible.

He points out that it ultimately comes down to good management. However, being a remote manager is a whole lot harder than being office-based. It is important to make training a priority for all of your managers.

“I’ve managed a large team spread right around the world and I can honestly say I found it twice as difficult as managing face-to-face.”

He added that it is also important to train and support managers for remote work or their stresses may rub off on new employees and turn them off and demoralise them.

Q5) How important is it to match the mentee with the right mentors?

The short answer is, extremely important! It is also essential to find mentors who are comfortable with the technology and with the concept of remote mentoring. Gren Gale points out that many companies resorted to remote work during the past 18 months as a temporary measure, rather than a long term pattern. Therefore, it is possible that mentors may not have a lot of experience in remote mentoring and how people may react to what they are trying to convey. Hence, patience on the part of both mentors and mentees is vital.

“This needs to be on the 1:1 agenda with your manager. How is your training going? How are your mentors? The same thing needs to be asked of mentors. If it’s not working, change it. Getting mentors together also makes sense. There’s lots of learning to be gained and the more these guys talk and review what they’re doing the better they’ll get at it.

As is the case for managers. It’s worth considering training mentors in what they need to consider for remote mentoring to give everyone a better chance of making it work.”

Q6) What advice should a mentor give when helping mentees to align their goals with that of the organization’s?

To this end, Gren Gale states that communicating goals to all employees via available communication channels is incumbent on the senior management. This is why it is vital to have a clear line of communication in place.

“Goals should cascade down from the top with each level completing the goals set for the level above. Managers should always be delegating goals that align with the organisation’s goals. Once again this comes down to simple, good HR principles. Set people measurable goals and monitor their progress against those.”

Ensure that goals are measurable, achievable and fit with the objectives which your manager has been given by his/her manager.

Q7) How can a project manager keep track of assigned tasks in bigger and dispersed teams?

Gren Gale points out that the most effective solution is to use an appropriate project or task management package which allows you to stay on top of things with real-time alerts and notifications.

“Personally, I’d rather talk to each team member about their progress, in addition to receiving the progress data they enter via the project management package. However, this can be time-consuming. If you can’t get everyone together in one virtual room, then look at how you’re going to communicate effectively on progress.”

He further added that there are innovative project management and meeting software that aims to make things fast and efficient. If a project management package is out of the question for you, then make sure to at least maintain an action list with a clear task allocation and deadlines.

Q8) How to build and maintain trust within a remote working team, especially among new recruits?

“No. 1 is don’t be a disembodied voice on a video call. Show your face! Turn on the video even if everyone else has it switched off. If you’re going to prove your professional credibility you need to be very organised. Maintain risk, issue and action lists and keep your plans up to date. Share each of these with your team. Stay on top of change.”

Gren Gale also suggests that it is always better to concentrate on making active efforts to fill the gaps in your knowledge, in addition to conducting your own research into unfamiliar technical areas, in order to stay up to speed.

“The way you act and treat the people in your team will earn you respect. You need to respect their culture, customs and personalities as well as run the project in such a way as to gain respect.

Inevitably project management involves a degree of subtle manipulation to get what you want when you need it from the wide groups of people who are involved in delivering a project.”

However, managers should also be careful not to seem like political manipulators or someone who is not aligned with the common goals of the team. The key here is to build trust.

“I’ve always found that if you trust and support people they’ll nearly always deliver for you. The most respected people are those who appear to have no hidden agenda but are working towards the common goal.”

Q9) How to set and properly communicate the expectations of a job role to a newly hired remote employee?

Issues may arise regarding the expectations of a person’s job role when there is a lack of clarity or understanding about it among employees. However, when this happens remotely, such problems can amplify in your mind. Glen Gale highlights that communication is the most effective solution to overcome this.

“Communication in remote teams is key. Managers must hold one-on-ones with each of their teams on a regular, preferably weekly basis. These meetings must include goal setting and review as well as explicit questions about how an employee is feeling.

Team meetings and short daily ‘stand-up’ meetings are also important components in communicating what the team is trying to achieve and should lead to issues with new joiners being resolved more quickly.”

Q10) What steps can both the manager and new recruit take to foster a positive relationship with each other and avoid issues?

Gren Gale stresses that honesty and openness on both sides is essential to spot any problems. This applies to office-based staff too. However, one thing that is worthy of note is that people tend to have less inhibitions on a video call than face-to-face. This may be a positive for remote work!

“It is also helpful for new employees to be able to talk about their managers with other staff to get perspective. Some managers may appear to be less approachable but people who know them may say don’t worry they’re fine after they get to know you.”

He adds that remote companies should strongly encourage social interaction between staff. This can be done by appointing social managers or social organisers in teams. They should go the extra mile to encourage new employees to take part. 

“There are so many ideas on this front both online and real-world social events and ice breakers. You’ll find some in my books or just google it and you’ll find lots more! I’m also a big proponent of team meet-ups. Organised events to get everyone on a remote team together for a couple of days. This helps everyone bond and work as a team.”

The longer we stay in lockdown the more important it is to find ways to reinstate regular business routines so that employees don’t feel like they are left in this state of limbo forever. But as we settle into our new rhythms and strategies one might wonder whether remote performance reviews still have a place. We need to resist the urge to completely write this year off and assume that we should only go back to performance reviews once things return to normal.

Performance reviews are essential to ensure the efficient management of individuals and teams, in order to achieve their goals and organizational success. And in a time where the survival of businesses depends on how effectively they can manage their remote staff, effective performance management is the key to create alignment and a shared understanding. It clarifies what has to be achieved and what individuals or teams have to do, learn, and develop to be successful in these challenging times.

How to Adjust to COVID

Even before the pandemic, performance reviews brought with it a level of stress amongst employees. People are hesitant about being criticized and prefer to avoid difficult conversations. Working from home has created a sense of isolation and loneliness which could be exacerbated by remote performance reviews.

We must acknowledge that this is no ordinary review and won’t be treated like one. Communicate to employees the need for remote performance reviews and clearly lay out how the process is going to take place.
It’s important to make changes that account for physical distance, technology hiccups, communication difficulties, and other factors that make remote performance reviews less than intuitive for many managers. And most importantly, organizations cannot rely on strategies that only work well for in-office conversations.

Setting Expectations

Acknowledge that both the organization and its employees have had to undergo significant challenges this year. During COVID-19 restrictions, compassionate leadership should be a priority. As a manager, you need to adapt and tie employee performance with well-being.

The format:  Explain in writing how the remote performance review will be conducted. Clearly lay out the steps, how the employee needs to prepare, whether it will be done through a video call and on what platform etc.

Invitees – Outline who will be present during the review. How many rounds it will involve and the purpose of the presence of each member present. 

Duration – Send a calendar invite well in advance. Usually, it’s best to give employees between one and two weeks notice so they can prepare all the material required for the remote performance review. Include how long the meeting is expected to last in the invite.

Structure – In your calendar invite and/or the corresponding email, break down what you will discuss. The topics you will be going through and how you will be measuring their performance. 

Conducting the Remote Performance Review

Connect via video

Body language communicates a lot of detail and the best way to have meaningful conversations is with face-to-face interaction. Video calls are the next best thing to being in the same room with an employee. You can use Creately’s in-built video conferencing feature to have conversations with employees while you go through their performance criteria, review the work from the previous year, and set a goal for the future all in real-time on its infinite canvas.

Have a conversation guide

Performance reviews are not a general-purpose catch-up meeting. Focused, concise, and thought through meetings are the most effective. Prepare a conversation guide with the topics you need to touch upon, the different parameters of evaluation you need to go through, and specific sections you need feedback from the employee. Be structured and focused; while you should have some flexibility, it’s important that you get through all the assessment areas in the stipulated time. 

Provide the opportunity to ask questions before the session – Set aside a designated period for your team members to discuss any questions or concerns they have. This empowers them to prepare and share.

Setting clear expectations can help you and your team stay on task throughout the review, even in a virtual setting.

Use templates and analysis tools

It’s important to understand what you are evaluating and how you will measure performance. Structured templates ensure clarity of thought and streamline the remote performance review process so everyone in the organization can be on the same page. Employees can get a better sense of what to expect so they can prepare themselves and have more meaningful discussions when it comes to the face to face conversations.

Personal SWOT

This tool is great for individual self-reflection. It provides employees with a structure where they can honestly assess both their positive and negative traits and discover areas of improvement and hidden potential. You can send the self-assessment exercise to employees a few days before the remote performance review. With Creately, managers can review the completed SWOT analysis using SWOT analysis tool and add their inputs and comments to each section.

SMART goals

Performance reviews are as much about charting individual career paths with employees as they are about evaluating past performance. During a remote performance review, it is important to reassure employees that their contribution is critical to the company and path a forward-looking trajectory for both the individual and the organization. 

Setting goals can refocus intention and provide context to the efforts.

SMART goals are concrete targets that you strive to achieve over time. Managers and employees should draft these goals together. “SMART” is an acronym that describes the most important characteristics of each goal. You can use Creately’s SMART goals template to plan your goals

Action plans

This document lays out the tasks you need to complete in order to accomplish your goal. It breaks up the process into actionable assignments based on a timeline. An action plan template will outline all the necessary steps to achieve your goal and help you reach your target efficiently. You can assign a timeframe to every step in the process. Depending on your needs and preferences, you can use this document to set single or multiple goals.

Things to keep in mind

Do’s

• Approach your evaluations with more flexibility, leniency, empathy, and compassion.
• Recognize and show appreciation for the people who are working hard and are engaged. It’s critical for their morale and for your organization’s ability to retain them.

Don’t

• Be too critical of poor performers.  Give them a grace period to get used to working remotely and to turn things around.
• Let biases creep in. Make decisions based on data. Ask colleagues and get more information on how well other employees are communicating, collaborating, and helping.
• Think of it as just something that needs to be completed. Use remote performance reviews as a tool to identify blind spots and hidden opportunities in the way your business operates.

All things considered, despite the challenges of remote performance reviews the benefits can be overwhelmingly positive. It gives you a chance to connect with employees and have meaningful conversations with them about their performance. But more importantly, hearing directly from employees during these peculiar times will give you a better understanding of the challenges they face. You can then create policies that take these factors into account and make decisions that create a more efficient remote working environment.

Working from home is the new normal. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed the way we work, many teams had members working remotely 100% of the time, and many of them received their training virtually. 

Where technology has made it possible to conduct remote interviews, hire, and onboard employees online, training them virtually has become much easier with the tools available.   

Training is critical to the development of an employee, whether they are just starting their career or have many years of experience. 

The same principles of training teams onsite apply to training remote teams, but the latter requires a more methodical approach. In this post, we’ll walk you through the best practices of training remote employees successfully, and the tools you can use during the process. 

How to Train Remote Employees 

Below are some of the best practices you can follow when managing remote employee training. 

Walk Them through the Training Schedule 

Once you evaluate your remote employees and identify their training requirements, lay out the relevant training process for them, and create a schedule. 

Share the schedule with the trainees to allow them to familiarize themselves with it. As required walk them through it and clarify what is expected of them during and at the end of the training. 

Maintain a Consistent Training Schedule

Make sure that the training program is incorporated well with the daily responsibilities of the trainee. This will help motivate them to complete the program faster and keep it consistent than a training program that takes place once and never again.  

Use Video Conferencing Whenever Possible 

Lack of in-person supervision is a common challenge in training remote employees. However, this can be effectively overcome by leveraging video conferencing.

It’ll help you build a personal connection with the trainee, ensure they are paying attention, evaluate their performance, create a more interactive experience, and guide them through the learning process yourself. 

Tip: Schedule regular check-ins with the trainee to learn their progress and discuss issues they may have encountered. 

Make Sure Their Learning Material is Easy to Access  

The ability to access learning resources anytime from any device is important to a remote employee. As such make sure you have provided resources that can be accessed with or without an internet connection and from any device. 

• Use a learning management system to keep training material centrally located and accessible from anywhere 
• Send resources that can be downloaded and referred to offline 
• Use Single Sign-on access to training platforms 

Encourage Informal Learning with Peers  

In an office, a new employee can turn around and ask for help from the person sitting next to them, or discuss things while having lunch or by the water cooler.

While remote employees can’t do the same, you can encourage these interactions online with the help of the communication platforms you use.

Create Slack channels, Whatsapp groups, etc. where the trainee can share their issues and peers can share tips, best practices, and resources to help them out.   

Keep Things Interesting 

To keep remote employees engaged and motivated to continue on with their training program you can 

• Reward their effort with certificates recognizing their progress 
• Set milestones to keep them going 
• Use different training methods such as video training, gamification, etc.  

Invest in the Right Tools for Training Remote Employees

To successfully carry out the above steps, you need to invest in the correct set of tools. Here you’ll need

Learning Management Systems (LMS) 

LMS streamlines the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, automation, and delivery of training programs for remote employees. They’ll help you build personalized training courses for remote employees based on their training needs. 

Here’s a list of LMS software you can consider for employee training. 

Communication Tools 

Training an employee requires constantly communicating with them. To do so effectively with a remote employee, you’ll need more than a telephone. T

There are many communication tools out there that provide video conferencing, instant messaging, and screen sharing. To name a few

• Zoom
• Slack
• Skype
• MS Teams
• Google Meet  

Whiteboarding Tools 

On-site, you can use a whiteboard to explain company processes and strategies easily with visuals.

When what you explain in words is accompanied by a visual, it makes more sense. You can create the same experience with remote employees by using an online whiteboard software like Creately. It’ll help you explain concepts more effectively with visuals and diagrams. 

Project/ Task Management Tools 

Although used for managing projects, these tools can be repurposed to track, manage, and assess the training progress of remote employees.

You can use it to create the training schedule, set deadlines and milestones, and monitor their progress. Here you can use tools like

• Asana
• Trello
• Favro

Document Management Tools 

These help organize and manage permission to all training material and resources online. You can use tools like

• Google Drive
• Google Docs
• One Drive

Check out more useful tools for remote teams.

Got More Tips on Training Remote Employees? 

Even if you don’t get the chance to guide remote employees in-person, technology has made it possible to effectively train employees online. We hope these best practices will set you up for success with training your remote employees. 

Want to be a more productive team while working from home? Here’s our practical guide to working from home. 

We’d love to know any other best practices you follow when training remote employees. Share your tips in the comments section below. 

Remote working is no longer the exception. It has become the norm. 

With major tech companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook allowing their employees to work from home indefinitely in the aftermath of COVID-19, remote working projects itself as the future of work.

While many teams have shifted towards working from home, companies have found themselves interviewing and hiring new employees remotely. 

In this post, we’ll be talking about the next step, onboarding remote employees. Read on to find out

Remote Onboarding Best Practices

We’ve all been there before, once or several times; the timid newcomer in a new office. 

And the stories are many to tell – including many awkward introductions and waiting countless hours for everyone to vacate the lunchroom so you can finally have your meal in peace. 

But the experience is a lot different to a remote employee. 

Employee onboarding is crucial to help new hires integrate themselves into the company, team, and culture. While on-site this happens organically, in the case of a remote employee, it should be facilitated properly.  

Welcoming the New Remote Hire 

Welcoming a new employee virtually is a lot different than doing it physically; while it involves the same set of steps, they are done differently, or more – virtually. 

• Prior to their first day, make sure the new hire has all the basic equipment (i.e. a laptop or desktop) to start work. If you prefer they work on a device given by the company, ensure that they are handed to them at least a week early.  

• Get the new hire to install and log in to all the software and HR and communication apps the team uses. Send them the links to the tools and credentials along with the welcome email.

• Walk them through how the team works; work and leave policies, schedule requirements, and other guidelines they need to follow during working hours. Maintain an intranet or internal wiki documenting how company policies and culture works, to make this step a lot easier. 

• Explain to them how and when to use the different communication and task management tools. For example, use Slack for urgent messages, and turn on video for all meetings with co-workers.

• Conduct an all-hands video call to officially introduce the new hire to the team. Everyone can individually introduce themselves to the new hire during the call. If the team is too large and an individual introduction from everyone will take too much time, you can share an organizational chart created using org chart software with the new hire to help them learn the titles and reporting relationships between the team. 

Tip: At Creately we make sure to add our title when we complete our profiles in Slack which is the chat platform we use to communicate with each other. So anyone new can quickly click the profile picture and get an idea of what each team member does. We also make sure to welcome them in the general channel first thing in the morning.

• Explain the company vision and mission to the new hire, helping them understand how what they do will help achieve the overall company objectives. 

• Get them to fill out all the necessary paperwork, like tax forms, job contracts, offer letter, and other HR-related documents, virtually. You can rely on an online documentation service and an e-signing service to deliver the paperwork and get their signature online. 

Setting Expectations 

Clarifying individual goals to the new hire is just as important as explaining the company and team values and objectives. 

While making sure that the new employee knows their tasks and responsibilities, the projects they’ll be involved in and the systems/ tools they’ll be using, create action items along with milestones and deadlines to help them understand what they are expected to do. 

Tip: Start with a small project that requires them to collaborate with others in the team and do role-related research. This will help them talk to other people and grow their relationships, and understand the nature of their work.

Assigning a Mentor/ Buddy

A mentor can help new hires settle into their role and responsibilities smoothly while helping relieve their anxiety. 

And to a new remote hire, a mentor is even more important; as they haven’t officially met any of the team members, having someone to rely on for information and work-related and non-work related questions is important to get them quickly acclimated to the organization and in their new role. 

Tip: Make sure to do a separate one-on-one video introduction between the mentor and mentee to help them get to know each other first.

Scheduling Regular Check-ins

Schedule regular check-ins to discuss their work progress and learn any issues they might have come across. You can also make it an opportunity to obtain feedback from them on how they are adapting to their new work role, learn about any training plan requirements, and discuss future plans.  

Got More Tips on Onboarding Remote Employees? 

Many aspects of work have fundamentally changed; from where we work to how we work. In our practical guide to working from home, we touch upon how to deal with and adapt to remote working successfully.  

We hope this post will help you with onboarding remote employees successfully. Share your experience with us in the comments section below.

Team Creately has been working from home for nearly two months now, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

How are things, you may wonder. 

By now everyone in the team has successfully grasped the technique of working from home while staying productive as ever. We’ve worked harder (mind you, without burning out and while maintaining a healthy work-life balance) than we’ve ever done before the whole lockdown situation fell upon us. 

And most importantly, we’ve been able to expand our team, and this is while everyone’s working from home. 

In this guide, we will shed light on the processes, best practices, and tools we’ve followed and used for successfully interviewing and hiring new employees, without even meeting them in person. Read on to find,

Remote Interview Best Practices

For us, the process for hiring a new team member remotely remains the same as it would in a general hiring process up to the point of shortlisting candidates. 

Our standard hiring process is discussed step-by-step in our post How to Increase Candidate Conversion Rate and Candidate Experience; in it you can learn how to, 

• Identify the hiring needs
• Prepare job descriptions
• Devise your recruitment strategy
• Screen and shortlist candidates

The following best practices will help you streamline the process of interviewing and hiring a candidate remotely. 

Conducting Interviews 

At Creately, we do three interview meetings with the candidate; HR screening, one-on-one discussion with the team manager, and one-on-one discussion with the CEO.

Below are some of the practices we follow to keep things effective during each of these meetings.  

Using the Right Tools to Conduct the Interview

When interviewing a candidate remotely, phone and video interviews are the primary channels available for communication. 

While you can rely on an audio call to conduct the preliminary interview, it’s crucial that you use video calls for later discussions.  

An interview done on-site gives you the opportunity to connect with your candidate easily as you can properly see and read their body language. During a remote interview, video can help you do this virtually. 

Preparing for the Interviews 

For an in-person interview, you’d get ready by reviewing the set of questions you’ll be presenting to your interviewee, by setting up the meeting room, perhaps even by checking with the candidate to make sure they are still attending. 

A remote interview requires preparation as well.  

• Set expectations beforehand. 

It’s important that you let the candidate know what you expect; this will include clarifying details such as the time the interview will take place, the communication as well as any other tool/s that will be used during the meeting, the names and designation of other people joining the call from your end, the meeting agenda, etc. These details can be listed in an introductory email that you can send in advance.  

• Make sure that your technology is in order.

Breaking off during the interview due to a faulty internet connection may not seem very professional. Make sure that you have properly installed or logged into the tools that you will be using, your devices are properly charged and most importantly that your internet connection is working properly, at least an hour before the interview. 

• Get rid of distractions.  

Make sure you are seated in a quiet place without any diversions (i.e. people walking around, a TV screen, messy bedroom, etc.) in the background. In addition, make sure to put your phone on silent and switch off any other alerts on your devices. And minimize your movements during the interview; if you are engaged in another task or walking around during the discussion, it’ll make it harder for the candidate to keep his/ her focus.

• Keep your interview questions ready. 

Having your questions prepared beforehand will help you have a meaningful conversation with the attendee. And it will also help you properly evaluate your candidate. This is especially important during a remote interview as you cannot prolong the meeting beyond the agenda trying to think of questions you should ask. 

• Dress the part. 

Although you may be working from home, you are still interviewing an outsider. So it’s important to look professional and give a good first impression. 

During the Interview

As opposed to an in-person interview, there are several things that you need to do and refrain from doing so during a remote interview. 

• Don’t make it too crowded.

For it will create unnecessary distractions such as uncoordinated questioning. Have only the necessary team members present, and unless they are speaking, they should keep their mic muted allowing the one questioning the candidate to do so without causing interruptions.

• Behave just as you would have in-person. 

Be mindful of your facial expressions, tone, and the way you conduct yourself during the interview. Smile and laugh as appropriate and help the candidate ease into the conversation. Wait a few seconds at the end of each sentence to make sure that you don’t talk over each other. And most importantly, keep your eyes on the camera or the screen, not at your own reflection. 

• Have a backup plan.

No matter how prepared you are, things may still go wrong (i.e. power failure). Should such a situation occur, you need to be prepared to handle it successfully. Have alternate contact details such as their phone number or email by your side. This way, you can opt for an audio conversation with the candidate over the phone. 

Evaluating the Candidate  

After the HR screening, and before the discussion with the team manager, the candidate will be evaluated with an aptitude test. Based on the test results, the candidate will then have an interview with the team lead. 

Here are some of the approaches that have worked for us when evaluating a candidate online.

• Use behavior and time tracking software to track the activity of the candidate while doing the test. Prior to the test, notify the candidate that their screen will be shared and therefore they need to remove any confidential information out of view. 

• Or use a screen sharing software to monitor their performance. During our peer coding session, the candidate is requested to share their screen, so the team lead can observe as they write code and evaluate their skills.  

• Prepare the candidate for the test by explaining to them what is expected. We send them an introductory email which gives them a link to book a convenient time slot for the test using an online appointment scheduling software. The email also notifies them of the tools they’ll need to use and explains the guidelines on how to proceed during the test. 

• Take a few minutes before the test to remind the candidate of the guidelines via video call. 

Hiring the Candidate

Over the last month, five new members have joined Creately while everyone was working from home, scattered across the country. What’s out of the ordinary about it is that their recruitment was done entirely online. Without a single in-person interview.  

How did we do it? 

• To do the background verifications, we usually rely on phone calls, just like we would with any other recruit. We also maintain a database with records of all the information we gather. 

• After the final interview with the CEO, we send the offer letter via an e-sign service. This will allow them to provide their signature to the agreements using a browser or mobile. 

Tools for Conducting a Remote Interview

Here are the tools that we use to streamline our recruitment process. 

Airtable – Airtable allows to store information in a spreadsheet, but in a more visually appealing way. We make use of this software to keep a record of candidate information as well as generate forms that we use to collect data (i.e. email address, telephone number, LinkedIn profile, etc.) from candidates. 

Calendly – Is perfect for online appointment scheduling. This helps us get the candidates to select a convenient time for them from the available time slots for interviews/ aptitude tests. 

Google Meet – We conduct our video calls via Google Meet, which also allows for screen sharing, which comes in handy during the aptitude tests. 

Google Forms – Our aptitude tests are created with Google forms. And it integrates with behavior and time tracking software like Timify which we use to monitor candidate activity during the tests. 

Adobe Sign – This is an encrypted e-signature software that allows you to send, sign, track, and manage signature processes using a browser or mobile device. We use it for getting signatures for agreements and contracts online. 

Got More Tips? 

Where technology has made it possible to work from the comfort of your own home, interviewing and hiring the perfect employee to your organization isn’t impossible. We hope this guide will help you out with the process.

Good luck with your remote interviews! 

Got anything to add? Share your opinion on the comments section below.  

A couple of months back, things were very different. Being part of a team that works the entire week from home, wasn’t even thought of. But in this new reality created by the unfortunate spread of COVID-19, this has become commonplace. 

However, working from home had been trending among many organizations even before the dawn of the age of quarantine. Many teams have been practicing this effectively while successfully alleviating the many challenges inherent in teams that work from home. 

In this guide, we will discuss

• some of these common challenges of managing remote employees that you may have already encountered
• best practices you can follow to stay at the top of your game  

Challenges of Managing a Team that Works from Home

There are many challenges when it comes to managing a team, and when that team is spread across the continent or world, it gets even harder to lead them.

Identifying what negatively affects the performance of your remote team first, will get you closer to finding the solution you are seeking. 

When managing remote employees, you must have come across several of these challenges yourself, 

• Lack of in-person interaction. While managers worry that the employees may not work as efficiently as they might have done under their supervision, employees themselves struggle without support from their heads. This will also lead to difficulties in building trust between team members. 

• Different time zones that lead to scheduling difficulties. A meeting you want to schedule in the morning might affect the lunch break of one of your team members. 

• Lack of access to information including resources, documents, etc. When working from the same location you get to turn around and ask your co-workers for whatever you need. But when working from home, it’s an entirely different scenario. 

• Distractions at home. Unless you live by yourself, you are bound to be interrupted many times by the other residents at your house. This can have a negative impact on your productivity. At the same time, the lack of social interaction will lead to employees feeling isolated. 

• If your team is made up of people from all around the world, you may also face cultural and language barriers.   

• Cultivating your company culture might also suffer over time. Company culture is fostered naturally in an office, but it might not be the same for a team that works from home.  

Best Practices for Managing Working from Home Teams

Let’s take a look at some best practices that will help you effectively overcome the challenges we discussed above. 

Use Proper Tools and Set Guidelines

In an office environment, you can always get your team together and talk about things and make plans. 

It isn’t as easy to do so with a team that works from home. But by integrating the right set of tools to your workflow, you can ensure that the team is on the same page even if you are not in the same location. 

Tools you need to invest in include, 

• Chat and video conferencing tools for communication. There are many options you can choose from; Slack, Zoom, Skype, etc. to name a few. And it’s important to provide a variety of tools to foster communication among team members during working and non-working hours as well. 
• Project/ task management tools to track performance.  
• Document/ file editing and sharing tools like Google Docs and OneDrive. Storing all files in one location will make it easily accessible to everyone.   
• Visual collaboration platforms to replicate your office whiteboard. An online canvas software like Creately can help plan your Sprint, brainstorm, collaborate on online wireframes tool, or analyze processes in-real time. 

Here’s an expanded list of more tools for communication and collaboration for WFH teams.   

As important as selecting the right tools is establishing ground rules on how and when to use them. Clarifying them upfront will save you time and confusion. For example, 

• Always be available on your chat platform when you are working, and if you are stepping away, notify others.
• Turn on video when you are attending an online meeting, or having a daily check-in meeting. 
• Break down individual tasks on the project management platform and estimate them by hours. 

Constantly Communicate and Engage with Your Team

Regularly communicating with your employees is an effective way to ensure that they can rely on you and consult you. It’s also a great opportunity to learn about their concerns, questions, and suggestions. 

You can have daily or weekly one-on-ones, team meetings, or you can simply send them a message on your chat platform asking for an update on what they are working on. 

Let your team know when you will be available and the best way to approach you. If an emergency occurs during an early hour, having your mobile phone number shared with your team will help them call you or send an instant message.

Also, encourage team members to use a public channel for their work-related conversations. This will allow you to monitor what’s happening and offer help where necessary. 

Here are some more communication best practices teams working from home should live by. 

Be Concerned about Different Time Zones 

When the entire team is scattered across different locations, you need to be extra conscious of the different time zones they are living in. 

• When scheduling meetings, make sure to check with everyone and their schedule and select a time that everyone is comfortable with. 
• Document key points discussed during your meetings so that you can share them with the team members who couldn’t be present during the discussion.

• You can also go the extra mile and record your meeting for them to view later or brief them on what was discussed, with a one-on-one the next day. 

Spend Extra Effort on Collaboration and Team Building

Two things teams working from home tend to lack are trust and team spirit. Without them, a team won’t be able to rely on each other and flourish in their relationships.

While using the right tools will provide your team with the platform to collaborate with each other, you still need to find more ways to help your team bond. 

• Start by clearly defining the roles and responsibilities and the reporting relationships within the team. A well-structured team that is aware of where they belong and whom they report to can avoid confusion and boost cooperation. 

• Encourage team members to interact with each other apart from work. They can have a Facebook Group or a separate Slack channel for fun conversations they would have had while having lunch or hanging by the water cooler if they were at the office. It’s an effective way to get remote employees to get to know each other on a personal level which will reflect positively on team bonding.  
• Leave a few minutes at the start of a meeting for casual conversation. 
• Arrange virtual team building activities whenever you can. They are key to promoting employee happiness and increasing their productivity. Here are some inexpensive virtual team building activities you can try right away. 

Be Clear about Expectations and Goals 

If you want the results you are seeking, be clear about them to your team. Setting clear expectations and defining the goals upfront will help you do this faster. 

To start with 

• Set clear goals for everyone on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis and discuss their action plan. 

• Frequently give your feedback on employee performance. Also, make it an opportunity to listen to their expectations as well.  
• Engage with your team regularly, offering them emotional support, especially if they are struggling with anxiety and stress.
• Set clear guidelines on what you expect of your team (i.e. wanting all emails answered within 24 hours). Document these and store them in a central location easily accessible to everyone. 
• Recognize and celebrate employee wins to keep them motivated. 

Got More Tips on Managing Remote Employees? 

The best practices we’ve discussed are inexpensive and can be implemented right away to ensure effective results. Want to add more tips to the list? Leave a comment below. 

Have you and your team started working from home recently? Here’s the practical guide to working from home as a team covering everything you need to know to stay effective and efficient.