The days of employees being limited to where they can work based on their location are over.
With 44% of organisations expecting remote working to be a long-term feature of their future work practices, they have an opportunity to rethink and redesign the way they work.
This includes recruitment and talent management.
Remote working has opened up a global talent pool for companies to tap into. This is a pool of dedicated people who, though skilled and looking to advance their careers, might not want to relocate their lives for a job opportunity.
This is particularly true for younger workers and new graduates, some of whom might not be able to move close to a central office due to city centre living costs.
What this means is that businesses might miss out on the right (and best) candidates for roles purely because of where they are based.
While not all businesses are planning to introduce remote working full-time for all employees, many are planning a more flexible, hybrid model.
According to our 2020 Future Ready Report, 75% of businesses expect to make some kind of changes to their business model, and 44% expect remote and flexible working to remain in place in the long term.
This fits with the expectations of recruits.
According to research by Owl Labs, 81% agreed that the ability to work remotely would make them more likely to recommend their company to a friend. Furthermore, 71% agreed that the ability to work remotely would make them more likely to choose one employer over another in their next job.
This is something we’re seeing with our own new recruits — they all want to know whether they’ll be office-based or given the option to work remotely.
Also, while the idea of joining a company without seeing the office, or meeting colleagues in person, might seem strange, recruits don’t see it as an issue.
According to research in an article by Raconteur: 70% of candidates would be comfortable accepting a job without meeting any of the team in person.
Nearly three-quarters (72%) say that with the right information on a company (photos, videos and culture interviews), they would accept a role without visiting an office, and only 22% think a video interview would be more stressful than an in-person interview
What this means for businesses is that they must now invest in remote working technology to support this shift to remote recruitment.
Many businesses have already started to adapt their recruitment policies to meet the needs of remote candidates.
A survey of 140 Global HR, talent acquisition and business leaders across multiple industries, revealed some insights into how they’ve adapted to the pandemic.
The report found that 59% of global HR leaders have been interviewing candidates over video, 67% are using virtual onboarding programs and 82% of hiring managers will continue interviewing candidates by video.
It also found that 41% are happy to onboard starters virtually and 32% are confident about making offers without first meeting face-to-face.
This all relies on the right communication infrastructure and network.
For example, if recruitment teams are conducting more interviews over video, they’ll need access to high-bandwidth networks that can handle the large amounts of data passing over them.
HR teams can also handle the onboarding process using tools like AI assistants.
New employees can be automatically enrolled and use the AI platform as a single source of information to answer frequently asked questions.
Whether it’s how to log in to internal systems, who to ask for help with IT, who their line manager is, or even what to do in the event they’re sick and can’t come in on a given day. No matter the query, the AI assistant will be able to provide them with answers directly or redirect them to a member of the HR team who can help.
As well as being convenient for the employee, it means HR don’t have to spend the onboarding process answering repetitive questions and can spend more time managing employee welfare.
IBM is one company introducing AI into recruitment and talent management alongside Vodafone Business.
It can personalise the onboarding process and free up time for new employees to have more meaningful person-to-person communication with their new team.
It’s also being used as a means to provide tailored learning experiences for employees based on their job role and planned career progression.
Even when it comes to supplying devices, remote working solutions and device lifecycle management (DLM) are improving the way businesses deal with new equipment.
Using DLM, business administrators can order and arrange delivery of new devices. These devices have all the required applications and functions the new starter will need on their first day.
For employees, it saves them from spending their first day setting up their laptop or devices.
Read our full guide on how Device Lifecycle Management is helping improve remote working for businesses and employees.
Candidates have become much more comfortable with the idea of recruitment using technology, rather than in person.
As employers plan for the future, they must adapt to the changing requirements and expectations of workers — both younger recruits and experienced members of the workforce who are also adapting to new technology and ways of working.
And this includes adapting recruitment processes and how they attract this new generation in the first place.
Want to know more about how remote working solutions can be adapted to improve your business’ culture and processes? Check out our guide.
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