How to Grow Your Remote Business
According to some research , 60% of businesses that implemented remote work policies during the COVID-19 pandemic will keep those policies.
As more companies are offering remote work options, companies will need to learn how to grow their remote business if they want to attract the best talent. However, running and growing a fully remote business uses very different strategies than an in-office business.
Keep reading to learn about the top strategies a remote business can use to grow and succeed.
Benefits of Having a Fully Remote Business
Before we look at the different strategies, there are many benefits to running a remote business that make it worth it. Starting a remote business will not only give you a competitive advantage in the talent pool, but it will also make your business more efficient.
For example, you’ll have a bigger talent pool to choose from. You won’t be limited to the talent near your office, and you could even find talent halfway across the globe. This way, you’ll also have a more diverse and remote workforce because you can hire remote workers from different cultures and backgrounds.
When employees have more flexibility due to remote work, they’re more likely to have an outstanding work-life balance. They’re more likely to stay with your company when they have a better balance, improving your retention rates. Not only will retention rates be great for your culture, but they can also help you save money on your hiring costs.
When employees are more loyal, they’re also likely happier and more productive. This can help your business grow faster. Not only will you have the best remote teams to run your business, but having no office building will also lower your overhead costs.
You can save this money and put it into growing your business. You can put the money back into hiring better talent or paying your employees more to retain them. You’ll also save money by not worrying about renting or building an office and paying for office furniture, workplace necessities, and utilities.
Choose the Right Employees
If your remote business is successful, you need to hire the right remote employees. Thankfully, you’ll have a large talent pool to choose from, and with the right solutions, you can even easily hire employees from other countries.
You’ll need to interview candidates with video conferencing software when you source candidates for your open positions. It can be more challenging to interview over the phone or Zoom, but with their resume in hand, you should be able to gauge if they’re a good option for your business and a culture fit.
One thing to look for in candidates working in a remote environment is to ensure they’re self-motivated. It can be harder to manage employees when they’re not in a physical office down the hall from you, so you need to ensure they are responsible and don’t have to worry about micro-managing remote employees.
Set Expectations
You’ll need to set expectations with your employees once you hire them. If you’re hiring across multiple time zones, you will have many employees with different working schedules. You may want a schedule and structure so that employees know when to log on and work. However, an asynchronous schedule might work better.
According to some research , only 50% of employees know what their employer expects from them. These expectations can be even less clear in a remote environment, so you can help by providing structure.
For example, how long should it take for them to respond if you message them? Will it be different for each platform? If you have asynchronous communication, then how should people notify each other?
For Zoom meetings, should they have their camera on or off? Are there any timesheets to fill out? You should include this information in your onboarding process so remote employees know precisely how to do the best at their job.
Create an Employee Referral Program
If you’re a new remote business, you might start by finding employees from your current employees. Since you’re so new, it can be hard to convince someone with no connection to apply for your company. However, if a friend works there, the candidate is more likely to accept a position.
You can implement an employee referral program to encourage employees to refer their family and friends for open positions. You can offer promotions in exchange for employee referrals, which can help save your recruiting staff time, which can also save you money. And if you’re a startup, savings like these can help you scale rapidly.
Create Remote Culture
You’ll also want to create a culture where employees can quickly form connections with their coworkers. This can be difficult since there are no in-person interactions. However, this doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
You need to have a clear vision for your company and what type of culture you want to implement. For example, you can host virtual happy hours, trivia games, or coffee breaks where people can drop in and get to know each other without feeling pressured about talking to work.
You can also ensure that you have the right communication tools to let employees chat with each other and talk about things that are not work-related. For instance, if you use Slack, you can create Slack channels dedicated to hobbies that can bring people together. You may even want to create a business news channel so employees can feel like they’re in the loop and staying updated.
Embrace Automation
Automation can be a great tool that can help many remote businesses grow. You could find tools that automatically update time zones and make them more accessible for everyone to understand to help with scheduling.
You can also automate different parts of the recruiting process with powerful AI sourcing software. This can make it easier for recruiters so that they don’t have to spend all of their time sourcing candidates. This way, they can focus on growing your business and also have access to finding different candidates from all over the world.
Promote Flexibility
Having remote team members all over the country or the world can be challenging, but it’s also something to be proud of. You already show that you promote flexibility and should capitalize on that. You can offer even more flexibility by allowing employees to make their own flexible work schedules.
Not only will this help your employer branding, but you’ll also retain some of the best employees. The employees will know you’re measuring them based on their performance and attendance. This can also help employees feel empowered, which can be great for your company’s culture.
Start Growing Your Remote Business Today
These are only a few strategies that can help you grow your remote business, but many other strategies can also help you.
If you’re interested in learning more about growing your remote business, Recruiter.com is here to help. As a remote business, we have plenty of experience running a remote company. However, in addition to the experience, we also have plenty of tools and resources to help you grow your business.
Whether recruiters on demand to augment your human resources team or a powerful AI software, contact us today to figure out which solution is best for your remote business operations.
Get the top recruiting news and insights delivered to your inbox every week. Sign up for the Recruiter Today newsletter.