The onsite workplace was impossible after the pandemic. Many businesses and institutions transition to the remote model to ensure business continuity. It is a temporary fix. But, the benefits of the remote model are making most companies adopt the hybrid model.
Over 60% of companies are considering the hybrid model. Additionally, most potential candidates emphasize job location as a critical factor during application. And, employees prefer some sort of remote work to achieve work-life balance. But, the remote workforce has its challenges.
For example, limited physical supervision limits access to managerial support. Communication challenges are partly responsible for little supervision and support. Besides, it leads to social isolation, making employees lose touch with the company.
However, modern human resources practices leverage technology to enhance remote workforce management. For example, AI for recruitment can help you source qualified remote workers swiftly.
This article lets you know the role of human resources in managing a remote workforce.
Roles of HR in Remote Workforce Management
1. Expanding Recruitment
Recruitment has been a significant HR role. But, a remote workforce presents a unique opportunity. You can source for highly qualified candidates without geographical restrictions. Additionally, with the help of collaborative platforms, you’ll cut relocation costs. Hence, the remote model allows you to access a larger global talent pool.
But, greater access to the larger talent pool is not easier. It may not also be necessarily better. But, you can still have an efficient search and recruitment process without physical interviews. You’ll need modern HR tools to transform the whole recruitment process for the remote teams.
For instance, AI recruitment platforms allow you to reimagine your talent acquisition. With a talent management platform, you can do candidate selection and screen faster, and efficiently. These tools can help roll out an unbiased recruitment process. Therefore, new recruits are the ones who are best fit for the position.
2. Enhancing Onboarding Through Virtual Platforms
Remote onboarding is different from the traditional one. You won’t need a couple of days of physical orientation. Nor a luncheon for meeting and knowing the rest of the team. You’ll have to re-imagine it when dealing with a remote workforce.
Other businesses may opt to facilitate the onboarding process without HR input. And that is one of the biggest mistakes companies make. Emphasizing learning ropes only through coworkers may be unproductive. Avoiding HR in the process may also limit overall cooperation across the company.
Thus, involving HR in the onboarding process will ensure productivity and culture building. Your HR can re-imagine the onboarding process to improve the experience. From automating the process to new hires’ feedback, HR enhances your onboarding process.
3. Improve Employee Engagement and Experience
Imagine your remote employee crushing from isolation. Or, worse still, taking forever to get critical communication from co-workers or management. Lack of employee engagement leads to social isolation, dissatisfaction and lowers productivity.
Furthermore, your employees can quickly lose sight of the company’s vision. As a result, you’ll not only have a performance problem but also lose them as valuable strategic assets.
A workforce with no physical location can be tricky to engage. One of the challenges of the remote workforce is engagement. It eventually affects employee experience.
Besides, it can also affect your strategic goals and performance. And, HR can provide the perfect solution to the problem.
Your HR can easily enhance employee engagement and experience in the remote setting. For example, it’ll ensure everyone is updated with organizations’ events and milestones. Additionally, you can put such vital events in your company’s newsletter. It will illustrate business goals.
Also, it will show new operations and initiatives. Hence, every employee will understand their contribution to business goals and initiatives. Employees will more likely be excited if they positively contribute to the company’s performance. So, HR can facilitate regular feedback to ensure employee satisfaction.
Apart from direct feedback, performance reviews can help understand employees’ input. Besides, HR can have a personalized evaluation of each employee’s productivity.
Having such an evaluation is critical in knowing areas for improvement and rewards. For instance, if a remote employee has a burden at home, you can reschedule their work. It will help boost morale, productivity and improve their work-life balance.
4. Enhance Communication Amongst Remote Teams
Remote teams are more likely to feel on the sideline, especially critical projects and company decisions. Additionally, they feel unwanted not only by the company but on-site colleagues too.
The impact of such feelings negatively affects remote teams-morale and interpersonal relations. In turn, it affects your company’s productivity and overall performance.
Moreover, employees can share their poor experiences online. Thus, affecting your future hiring process. In the long run, it can also affect your business’s success. But there is a solution to that: consistent communication.
And no one can do it better employee communication and set structures than HR. For instance, compensate for lack of physical interaction using videoconferencing. You can also use other collaborative platforms. For example, your HR can use Slack or Skype (or both). It will ensure every team member is familiar and comfortable with the platforms.
Such platforms allow remote teams to access information anytime regardless of the time zone. Additionally, it allows talent recruiters and managers to adopt an open-door policy. It will enable you and the company to accommodate onsite and remote teams.
Thus, HR can ensure regular communication to resolve the ripple effect of limited contact. It will help you eliminate morale, stress, and retention due to poor experience. Moreover, exemplary HR managers can go overboard and create relations with remote teams beyond work.
5. Foster Strategic Integration
The HR role evolves from traditional recruitment, compensation, and training to being part of modern business strategy. For instance, HR helps shape the company’s culture and values to direct energy and focus towards its strategic goals.
Takeaway
The post-pandemic remote workforce calls for creative people management practices. For instance, the remote workforce faces challenges like engagement and productivity. Besides, your company has limitless access to global talent alongside its hurdles.
As a result, your HR must have the capacity to handle its added responsibilities. You can leverage an AI talent management platform to help you manage your remote workforce.
