Having remote employees is always a challenge, but you can make it easier by hiring the right people first.
If you’re handling a startup or a small business where you thrive with a limited budget and resources, having remote employees who work from a different location really is a smart choice. Instead of having to rent a big office space, you make it your goal to work successfully with your employees in the cloud.
But of course, because of the big shift on the nature of the workplace, there’s the challenge to effectively manage your employees from afar. The same shift can also be a factor in selecting and evaluating the people you will hire.
With that said, here are some of the qualities that remote employees s possess:
1. Proactive in Setting & Sharing Goals
It’s fairly easy to differentiate a proactive remote employee from a reactive one.
A reactive one still waits for you to set the goals. They are more likely to complete to-do lists without much eureka moments. On the other hand, a proactive employee suggests new ideas, creates their own projects, sets professional and personal goals, and recommends solutions to problems.
So when hiring remote employees, make sure that who you are hiring enjoy working on their own. If they are working in a team, these traits should prevail once they start collaborating with their fellow members.
There’s a sense of relief knowing that your virtual employee can move forward without much of your supervision.
2. Always Available
You can always trust a great team player to be always available on call. Mobile and web connectivity makes it easier to connect with geographically-dispersed employees.
Meanwhile, the opposite of these players easily duck behind technology, making it harder for remote managers to connect with them.
Remote employees must feel responsible to try to stay connected. Otherwise, they will fail to meet your needs once you contact them. Although the both of you should be responsible for it, great virtual workers know that the obligation is on them. So no matter what happens, they are always there when the need arises.
If they won’t be available at particular times of the week or the day, they should have the initiative to let you know about it. They should also leave information on how you can still be contacted in case of an emergency.
Although there’s a sense of freedom with working remotely, they also understand that with that freedom comes the responsibility of being available as much as possible.
3. Focus on Results
There are organisations that put more emphasis on the presence of employees in the office rather than the output they put to the table. We’ve all known that there are some people who have positions in organisations who don’t actually do anything.
In outsourcing, delivering clear results is everything. Presence only comes second to it. Great remote employees focus on accomplishing goals on the ideal time. The sooner a task is completed the better because you can use the time saved for starting new tasks.
4. Constantly Seek Learning Opportunities
Most of us assume that remote employees often have very specific duties to the extent that they only focus on a set list of tasks in hand. While this makes managing them easier, it’s still great to know that some of them have the desire to learn something new.
Great employees push for development and learning opportunities. They do not just settle for what they already know, but they strive to gain exposure to new skills. Although this can be irritating at times to employers, there will come a time that these new learned skills will come into play to their advantage.
5. Push to Become Irreplaceable
In the event that your business downsizes, you’re always forced to let a few employees go.
Instead of complaining about how unfair the situation is, great remote em push themselves at the forefront and impress you with what they can actually do. They know that in order to be not among the unfortunate roster, they have to prove how valuable they are to you. And they surprisingly enjoy doing that.
Before hiring someone continents or miles away, ensure that you will be able to recognize these traits in your candidates. No matter what your business is, the success of it depends on your ability to wisely select and evaluate employees. It might be challenging at first, but everything will fall into place once you’ll get the right fit for your organiation.
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