Remote Management: How to Hire and Sustain a Team That Will Thrive

There’s no time like the present to think about hiring for remote positions — or at least offer the option to existing employees.

With advances in technology, expectations towards remote working access are changing. In fact, a new survey Justworks and TheSquareFoot conducted together found that 57% of employees feel remote capabilities are very important.

Perhaps more surprisingly, 42% of employees surveyed said they would take a lower-paying job if it offered a greater degree of workplace flexibility.

Remote Management Tips

One way to offer that flexibility is by hiring remotely. Whether you’re planning on building a team fully comprised of remote staff or simply want to add the option, you’ll open your workplace to all kinds of benefits, including recruiting and retaining talent with flexible workplace options.

We’ve rounded up our best content on how to approach remote management before and after the hire, so that your team can flourish.

Hire with New Techniques

A Quick Guide to Hiring Remote Employees (eBook)

• Tips for Remote Recruiting - Although you want your employee to have the same skillsets and resume as an office employee, it’s also important to find someone who is particularly self-motivated and trustworthy in completing work with little oversight. This eBook provides several tips for finding someone who fits the bill.

• How to Ask the Right Interview Questions - An interview for remote staff is different than for in-house. This eBook provides three tips for remote interviewing — such as identifying how the candidate would stay involved — along with tips from CEOs who have been there.

• Team Integration - Learn how to seamlessly integrate your remote staff with the rest of your team. As Justworks’ CEO Isaac Oates put it, “Making each employee feel like they’re part of the circle is essential to a functioning workplace.”

• Remote Communication - Figuring out how to manage people miles away isn’t easy, but a proliferation of remote management tools will help smooth the bumps. See what software and technology we recommend, such as screen-sharing software and Slack.

• Compliance and Legalities - When hiring both inside and outside the United States, different laws and forms apply. This section gives a quick overview of which forms and laws to keep an eye on. 

You can download the eBook for free here.

Hiring Remote Employees in a New State: Know the Rules

When you’re hiring remote employees in a new state, different rules apply.

This blog post gives an overview of some of the must-dos to watch out for with remote employees, such as:

• Unemployment insurance

• State disability insurance

• Commuter benefits

• Payroll taxes

• I-9 forms

For example, did you know that if you have new employees in California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, or Rhode Island, you’re required to withhold state disability insurance?

Change Your Interviewing Approach When Hiring for Remote Jobs

Altering your approach to the interviewing process for a remote candidate is sensible. This post describes some aspects of the interview process you should change.

Specifically, this blog covers:

• Statistics on the Modern Workplace - In 2015, a Gallup study found that 37% of workers have worked remotely at some point in their career. Learn the implications of working with a larger pool of candidates used to remote work, and how that landscape is continually changing.

• Why You Need to Change Your Interview Approach - Consider how to interact with remote staff from afar, and which aspects of your managerial style might need to change. For example, what is your potential employee’s communication style, and how will that function in a remote capacity?

• How to Ask the Right Interview Questions - Does your candidate already have remote work experience? What does she find to be the pros and cons for remote work? Questions like these will help determine her fit to the open position.

Retain Your Best Talent

3 Surefire Ways to Make Your Remote Employees Loathe You

After lots of thought and preparation, you’ve hired some remote employees! But are your remote management skills up to par? From failing to follow up to not trusting your employees, we walk you through how to manage employees from afar.

This post also offers several tangible ideas on how to manage remote staff, from scheduling regular meetings to connecting on software like Join.me.

This Company Has 0% Attrition. Here’s How They Keep Quality Employees

Read an in-depth profile of a company that is composed entirely of remote employees — and has an impressive 0% attrition rate.

This post walks through the seven tips SavvyApps uses to hire and retain quality remote talent, such as holding weekly town halls online and offering competitive benefits through Justworks’ PEO model.

When it comes down to it, “The bottom like is supported by having people that are excited and passionate about what they’re doing,” said founder Ken Yarmoush.

Flourish as a Company

Working Remotely: How to Increase Productivity Outside the Office

If you’re looking for ways for both you and your employees on how to increase productivity (or just find a better working groove), this piece is chock full of tips.

This blog post covers:

• Why It’s Important to Step Away from the Office - Remote work is beneficial for many reasons. From limiting distractions to building employee/employer trust, this section builds a case for why remote work helps companies flourish.

• How to Increase Productivity - Did you know that a moderate level of ambient noise (about 70 decibels) will actually help increase your productivity? This section covers an array of remote office tips, such as how to keep a schedule, take smart breaks, and even dress the part (yes — that’s still a thing, even if you’re working on your couch).

3 Ways Museum Hack Encourages Bonding With a Distributed Team

As our guest writer from Museum Hack put it, “While an organic salad bar can be a cool way to bring people in, it’s team building events that keep people around and happy.” And even though it’s harder to do that with a remote team, it’s no less worthy.

In this blog post, Museum Hack outlines three different ways to encourage team bonding, even for team members who have never met in real life before. One of our favorites? Starting a Mr. Rogers group. Click here to more learn about it.