The workforce of the future will be remote
After over a year of what feels like non-stop Zoom meetings, that might strike you as pretty obvious, but even before the pandemic, remote work was on the rise. Remote work has grown 140% since 2005. And the pandemic has only accelerated this shift.
LinkedIn data shows that remote job listings have nearly tripled since March. Many employers plan to continue allowing workers to work remotely even after the pandemic. A Gartner survey found that 82% of leaders planned to allow some form of remote working, going forward.
Remote work is here to stay
Enabling that shift is a priority for today’s CEOs and talent leaders, and for good reason. For the most part, employees are embracing remote work. A survey of 10,000 employees from across the globe conducted on behalf of Cisco found that a majority of respondents (87%) believe that flexibility leads to greater productivity and nearly two-thirds (67%) say working from home has improved their mental health.
Are you hiring the right talent for a digital-first world?
Hiring talent that will thrive in a remote working environment requires new insights into an employee’s skills and attributes, such as:
- Are they able to work independently, amid distractions?
- Are they self-motivated and conscientious?
- Can they communicate and collaborate with other team members using digital tools like Slack, MS Teams, Google Chat, or Zoom?
- Can they manage their time and balance life/work priorities?
- Do they adapt well to change?
- Are they innovative and resourceful?
In other words, how do you know if a candidate has the discipline, flexibility, and resiliency that remote work requires?
When it comes to a remote workforce, reference data can fuel better hiring decisions
Digital reference checks can make it easier for employers to evaluate a candidate’s ability to work remotely if they ask the right questions. SkillSurvey Reference® can help recruiters evaluate the competencies required for success by soliciting feedback from references through scientifically vetted digital surveys. Getting references from peers and managers who have observed a candidate “in action” is a reliable way to find and hire great candidates faster. Using SkillSurvey’s digital-first platform, recruiters can discover candidates who are dependable, able to manage their time, take the initiative to solve problems, and can effectively communicate across roles.
Those attributes can help your organization build consistent and successful remote teams. Research conducted by SkillSurvey on a sample of 40,871 job candidates across a diverse range of industries, job families, and job levels demonstrated that candidates with higher ratings on behaviors related to the ability to work remotely had references who were more likely to work with them again in the future.
Plus, online reference checks provide a simple digital experience for everyone. It takes just minutes for a recruiter to enter a candidate’s information and select a job-specific survey. After candidates enter their references, the references are emailed or texted a link to complete the surveys online and it provides alerts and notifications throughout the process. At least 85% of references complete them, and references can access surveys 24/7 on any device via a link in an email (or via text message).
Build a talent referral database
Going digital can also help your organization grow its talent pipeline of new potential candidates. That’s because digital reference checks can incorporate recruitment marketing tools. References are highly qualified contacts, often from the same industry or job area as are the candidates you’re currently hiring. Using digital reference checks, you can invite references to join your talent pool and all their latest contact information and career information is at your fingertips.
Post-hire data for deeper insights
SkillSurvey also offers a Post-Hire solution that provides an automated way for your organization to gain better insights into what should be among your top recruitment metrics: the candidate hiring experience, hiring manager satisfaction and if your remote onboarding programs are working. Onboarding new employees remotely and keeping them engaged can be a challenge: those simple conversations at the water cooler that new employees rely on to get the lay of the land are now mediated by technology—if they happen at all. With set it and forget it automated feedback tools in place, you can understand if new employees are receiving the appropriate training, making the right connections, and gathering the experiences they need to make them successful in their roles.
