COVID-19 Changed the Workplace. How Do You Grow Your Staff in a Remote Work Environment?
Take a look at the local roadways, and you can see that the workplace has changed. Many people are driving into the office. However, the roadways are relatively empty compared to the traffic seen in February 2020 and before.
COVID-19 has changed the world. One of the biggest changes occurs in the way in which businesses operate. Employers had to set employees up to work from home. The process worked. There were kinks to work out. However, even with the kinks, the process worked.
Now, as business continues to operate, employers are looking to expand their workforce. However, Coronavirus tells them there is still a need to work from home. How do employers use the virtual workspace to hire, onboard, and let people continue working from home?
1. Find the Right Virtual Meeting Space for Your Needs
Potential employees are not willing to risk their health to go into a location for an interview. Therefore, you need to meet them online. The reality is there is a slew of virtual meeting programs to meet online.
Find the one that works best for your needs. Sometimes, you need a platform that isn’t as well-known as the others. ZOOM and Google Meet are two of the most popular online meeting spaces. However, millions of people utilize them every day. Therefore, they can be slow and experience a ton of problems.
As with the interviewee, you are competing to find the best candidate for a job. You must put your best foot forward take the time to find the right meeting space that allows you this opportunity. The fewer glitches you experience, the more appealing your workplace becomes.
Your IT experts can help you find the best virtual meeting space and learn how to use it properly to meet your needs.
2. Offer Flexibility
Employees may no longer need to commute to your workplace on the highway. However, computers are not perfect. There are times when getting online on time is not an option. The issue does not lie with the potential employee. Instead, it lies with an internet provider or technology. In this new virtual environment, you, as an employer, need to be flexible.
If an interview starts 10 minutes late or needs to move to a phone interview, allow it. If the potential employee communicates the issue well and before he is late, take it as a sign of innovation and determination instead of a sign of issues to come.
3. Embrace Virtual Onboarding
Onboarding is arguably the most important piece to acclimating a new hire to the workplace. It includes company policy explanations, benefit explanations, and essential on-the-job training. Many employers and benefits specialists enjoy the in-person, face-to-face opportunities to get to know new employees while acclimating them to their new work environment.
However, most onboarding can occur through a virtual meeting environment. Once again, using a virtual meeting place gives you the opportunity to meet face-to-face and get to know one another while helping the new hire get acclimated to the company and its culture.
Do not use this time to be a talking head. Otherwise, a webinar could assist in the process. Instead, make the process interactive. Allow for conversations to occur. Virtual meeting places make a two-way conversation easy and accessible.
Additionally, use a platform that allows employees to select their benefits and fill out the paperwork online. Take the time to find the right onboarding software to make the process seamless. Employees should not need to print documents and send them back through scanning, fax, or USPS mail.
4. Track Hours, Work Completed, and Communications with the Proper Software
Employer tracking software has come a long way in the past decade. You can now require employees to use apps or programs that track their hours, mileage, valuable communications, and completed work. The process can be seamless.
As a result, a virtual office space can become as efficient and setting up an in-person workspace. You have peace of mind that employees are working and are held accountable. Employees feel safe working from home instead of an office.
WorkplaceHCM Can Help You Achieve an Efficient Virtual Office
The technology is available to make working from home a seamless transition for staff and employers. WorkplaceHCM has offered online options to clients for timekeeping, onboarding, and training well before the pandemic took over the world. Let us help you bring your virtual office to the next level.
Call us at (856) 334-9711 to learn more about how we can help you and your company create a virtual work environment.
