How to Adopt the Trending Culture of Remote Hiring?

Remote hiring is no longer just a novel idea—today, it’s a reality for many of us.

In the U.S., 4.7 million employees, or 3.4% of the workforce, work remotely. That number is ever-increasing. And as more and more industries embrace remote work, it’s apparent that recruiting should be no different.

More importantly, as the world continues to witness the increasing number of COVID-19 cases, it’s clear that a switch to remote recruitment is necessary if you continue hiring. Whether you need web, mobile app developers, or an entire software team, remote hiring is the future.

Regardless of the industry segment, the world needs to adapt to this conversion, and the sooner they transform the better will be the results. COVID-19, or coronavirus, is pushing recruiters to innovate and reinvent their style of hiring remote developers which shall ultimately align with the greater goals of their company. 

While it goes without saying that making a complete transition of hiring remote web and app developers will take time, remote recruiting has already been a reality for many companies that others can learn from.

Why Should you Consider Remote Hiring?

Businesses of all sizes take advantage of new technologies to offer remote working opportunities to employees. And the benefits of working with a remote or agile workforce are already well documented. We have discussed the best practices to manage remote teams earlier.

Companies that encourage remote hiring and allow employees to work ‘where, how, and when they want’ are reporting the following benefits:

1. Increased Productivity

With all the modern comforts of home beckoning for our attention, it would be understandable if employers saw a dip in productivity, yet the opposite is true. Employers registered that they were skeptical as to how they’ll manage remote teams, but on putting it into action, they could reap more results in the form of timely submissions and lesser errors leading to more productivity.

2. Positive Impact on Employee Health and Wellbeing

In our recent survey conducted on employees, we concluded that our employees are more happy and satisfied while they work around their loved ones. It's less strenuous and more enjoyable leading to a balanced lifestyle and healthy physical and mental well being. Does this prove why a remote software development team is a must-try? Definitely, without a doubt!

3. Significant Cost Savings

Remote hiring is a blessing for businesses when it comes to cost-saving.

• It Reduces Office Costs: Studies suggest that companies with remote workers save $10,000 per employee each year in real estate costs. You scale back the office costs of furniture, bills, cleaners, and office supplies, and tend to see fewer sick, which can cost $1,800 per employee annually.
• It Reduces Wasted Time: Research suggests that on average, employees could be wasting over eight hours per week on non-work-related activities; that’s 20% of the time! However, if you hire developers online or remotely, then billable hours are only the hours spent working on projects.

4. A Larger and Diversified Talent Pool

When you need to hire employees locally, you limit your talent pool in terms of expertise and diversity. In contrast, hiring developers remotely lets you access the very best talent across the globe. Younger people are comfortable to communicate quickly and easily across the globe, and they want – and expect – the same opportunities in their careers.

Flexibility in the workplace is one of the most important factors for millennials, and in order to attract young, highly skilled talent, remote hiring is a major bonus.

5. Ease of Doing Business in Multiple Time Zones

Hiring globally means you can get the best engineers, developers, etc. in the world. With this global team, you create more diversity of thought, which can result in more innovation and revenue. A big advantage of a team working across multiple time zones is the fact that you can essentially run operations around the clock.

Have you got all the time zones covered? If yes, it means someone in the world will always be working and serving customers without the need for late-night shifts.

How to Onboard Remote Employees?

This pandemic is accelerating the need for a new kind of leader. As more companies choose to hire remote workers for web development or app development, they face the challenge of creating an onboarding process that accomplishes this goal for virtual employees.

But, at YTII, we have drafted a toolkit which has proven to be successful in the past and guarantees success in the future. Are you specifically hiring a remote software development team for all your coding needs? Let’s jump into the process:

Part 1: Filter Out the Right Candidate

“Is your team using chatbots to facilitate initial candidate screening during the application process?”

Often, companies throw up generic job openings while wanting to hire a developer or a software team. This puts the candidate in a fix unable to decide if they want to work for your company or not. In remote hiring, companies don't have a local reputation, it's up to you to sell your company just as much as the role.

Highlight the Following Points in your Remote Hiring Post:

• Day in the Life: Defining day-to-day roles makes it more suitable for the employee to decide if they are meant for a role. They understand what a day entails if they associate themselves with the employer. 
• Cross-Functional Connections: During agitated times, remote dedicated developers stumble upon projects that require a group of people with the same skills, knowledge, and experience to come together remotely to reach the goal. If the employee can be informed about the communication channels and know-how welcoming experts are in such situations, it'll give him/her a better insight into the company and their culture. Remote workers require constant communication, says Ning Wang, CEO of Offensive Security, a cybersecurity firm that operates 100% remotely. 
• Contributions: An employee must be given a complete hand out. It includes the key qualitative or quantitative goals to be achieved. It ensures the candidate to self analyze themselves before sitting for the interview.

On the basis of these, you can create a cohesive recruiting experience and hire remote employees easily. Receive the right set of candidate applications and the process to filter out will be much easier.

Part 2: Interview

Once you have shortlisted the remote developer for hire, invite them for a video interview. You could have rounds of interviews where there could be a technical and a personal round. 

Doing so helps you more easily compare candidates. Pay special attention to how well the applicant communicates during this part of the process. Effective communication is the key to remote hiring.

Timely Tip: Don’t forget the importance of phone calls as a communication channel!

Part 3: Managing the Team

On finding the desired candidate, begin with the formal onboarding.

A remote software team will be different from the onsite team and the onboarding process should always be flexible and constantly evolving as your company grows.

After completing the paperwork virtually, inspire them to do their best and introduce them to their colleagues. Don’t let them be out of sight and out of mind. Involve them in projects as much as possible. 

On project basis remote hiring, employees tend to ask if they will be managed by the client or the home company. It mostly depends on the company, but, at YTII when remote software developers are hired from India, the home company manages them. The client has direct access to them and can alter/ discuss anything as required.

Timely Tip: Use video and online meetings to facilitate onboarding 

A strong work culture with commitment and good communication will win the war.

Adapting to Remote Work Culture Takes Time! But if Done Right, it can be More Salutary than Onsite Work!

A decade ago, most employers would have baulked at the idea of employees regularly working from home and would have laughed it off. One major concern most employers had for hiring remotely was a loss of productivity.

How productive and efficient can an employee be when they're not under constant supervision by co-workers and supervisors?

Fun Fact: 77% of remote employees say they’re more productive when working from home

But, the advances in communication technology and internet access, teleworking has become an accepted practice in many offices, both in the U.S. and globally. This type of work isn't done entirely from home: Remote developers turn to coffee shops, coworking spaces also using different software as desk booking to reserve spots, and some even travel the world while maintaining their career goals.

How interesting can this get? Can you imagine people falling in love with their work? They choose their own vibe, their own working environment, and deliver results. Could it get any better? Ponder upon it!

"The modern workforce is increasingly mobile, collaborative, dynamic, and comprises multi-generations, all with different communication preferences," said Stacey Epstein, CEO of Zinc.

However, many companies have resisted hiring web developers for various reasons while others haven't invested in teleconferencing and telework tech to support remote workers. Still, many other businesses have dipped their toes by hiring offshore developers and creating a work-from-home policy to run their development operations remotely.

Remote Hiring is the Long-Term Strategy

In the long run, fighting the change may do more good than harm. Many employees now expect remote work opportunities. According to Buffer, 99% of current remote workers would like to work remotely for the rest of their careers. 

Furthermore, according to Global Workplace Analytics, 37% of remote employees would take a 10% pay cut to continue working from home. Because of this increasingly popular trend, some refuse to accept an onsite position, knowing they can find a more convenient and flexible gig elsewhere.

Do you think you’ll miss out on unique talent if you do not encourage hiring remote developers? That’s food for thought! 

While Coronavirus has taken a devastating toll on employment, many industries have been forced to downsize and rethink their business strategies, but as employers look toward recovery, remote hiring can be an essential tool to hiring efficiently and safely.

Every individual is driven by a different force and identifying an employee's strengths and weaknesses play a crucial role in enhancing remote productivity.

How are Tech Companies Reacting to it?

The economy is tanking from the crippling impact of the coronavirus, but businesses at the biggest technology companies are holding steady — even thriving.

Amazon said it was hiring 100,000 warehouse workers to meet surging demand. Although the entire world in maintaining social distance by staying indoors, the other side to it is that people have increased screen times leading to a boom in the industry.

“The largest tech companies could emerge on the other side of this much stronger,” said Daniel Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities.

That shift is likely to speed up as millions of employees are forced to work remotely. It is indeed putting a strain on corporate technology infrastructures. Our researchers say this could be the right time to hire developers remotely and launch new tech products and software. As people are spending a lot of time looking for new innovative concepts.

Perhaps, the crisis represents an opportunity for tech companies to entwine themselves ever more deeply into customers’ lives. 

How can Companies Ensure they Beat the Odds and Come out on Top? What is the Future of Remote Hiring?

The major shift to remote hiring will cause a redistribution of workers away from high-density cities like NYC, Cupertino, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. 

World's biggest companies will not comprise multi-storeyed buildings anymore. Instead, they'll be small cozy offices with more than 90% of remote employees sitting in their comfort zones and working on multiple projects from all across the world.

Hiring remote software developers is not a passing trend; a solution to COVID-19 that will go away when society reopens. It is a new way of life. The largest tech companies in the world have all confirmed this — Facebook, Google, Twitter, Square, among others — and as go the tech giants, so go the rest.

It’s Time to Adapt!

Today’s recruiting world is giving talent teams no other choice than to adapt to remote hiring. Some industries are hiring more than ever. Others are hiring less. Even within specific industries, open roles may be changing. Fortunately, new technologies are empowering recruiters to keep building businesses as they continue to source, engage, and hire the best candidates with confidence.

The trend has been set in motion. And it appears it will become a tidal wave that defines the 2020-22s and beyond. So let’s not wait for the world to stand still because that’s never going to happen. Rather, buckle up and hire top developers from India remotely, that are extremely talented, and cost-efficient in the entire pool.