Remote Work…Still?

Even as employees are returning to the office, there is still considerable interest in remote and hybrid work.  Linkedin has noted that while job ads featuring remote work are declining, they receive far more applications than in-office positions.  Specifically, even though advertisements for remote work make up less than 20% of all job ads, they receive over 50% of all applications.  If remote work is here to stay, there are several questions to consider moving forward.  At the recent annual meeting for the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology, three important questions were discussed which may be relevant to your organization.

How are you interviewing remote workers?  Interviewing is an important moment for organizations to present themselves to employees as a welcoming, professional place to work.  Communicating your culture through digital means can be very difficult.  However, there are some advantages to digital communication that can be beneficial. Interviewers can break up the interview over a few days rather than having one long process.  Interviewers can also allow remote applicants to turn their cameras off or disconnect in order to avoid Zoom fatigue.

Are you making compensation adjustments for remote work?  Traditionally, employees’ compensation is affected by the local labor market but remote work challenges the definition of the labor market.  While most employers remain focused on the local labor market, some are slowly starting to consider employees’ geographic location in setting salaries.  The Economic Research Institute reports that in a recent survey, almost a third of participating organizations reported making compensation adjustments for remote workers.  Whether or not this makes sense for your organization’s strategy and compensation philosophy is something to consider.

How are you onboarding remote employees?  Onboarding employees is a critical period for new hires in which they learn a great deal about their position, their organization, and their coworkers.  Onboarding remote workers is particularly challenging as these employees may not have the same opportunity to connect with their fellow employees as in-office employees do.  Remote employees may need more opportunities to connect with others and employers may need to spend energy building connections that came more naturally in-person.  Further, preparations need to be made to make sure that remote employees have all their technology in place and operational before their first day, which means working with them ahead of time to make sure the are ready to work on day one.