How to set up a remote hiring policy

Finding the right candidate for a position is always a challenge for the HR team. But with the shift to remote work, the hiring and recruiting process has become even more complex. To ensure quality standards are met every time an organization hires new employees, it can be helpful to create a remote hiring and recruitment policy that outlines the basic principles and procedures to follow.

But what elements should such a policy contain? And how to set up a remote hiring policy that helps improve quality of hire and increases efficiency throughout the remote recruiting process?

A hiring policy is a formalized set of rules and guidelines that describe the practices and procedures an organization adheres to when hiring new employees. In other words, it’s a general framework for the internal hiring and recruitment process. Another term that is often used in this context is recruitment policy.

Usually it’s the HR department that is in charge of creating such a policy which should cover all aspects related to hiring and recruitment that are relevant for the organization. Since remote hiring is different from traditional hiring and poses additional challenges, a remote hiring and recruitment policy must include additional aspects that are specific to hiring remote teams.

The general purpose of hiring and recruitment policies is to have a standardized framework that ensures the business adheres to the same standards and follows the same processes every time a new employee is hired, i. e. to ensure consistency throughout the entire process.

Having standardized procedures increases the overall process efficiency and reduces the likelihood of errors. It can also help improve the quality of hire when candidates are assessed based on a standardized set of criteria that not only focuses on skills and experience, but also takes into account aspects like team fit. 

Another important reason why businesses should set up a recruitment policy is that it can help prevent bias in the hiring process. Not only does this increase fairness towards all candidates, but it can ultimately help protect the business against hiring discrimination claims or rumors spread by rejected candidates about unfair hiring practices. 

Remote hiring policies cover all these aspects, but also offer an important additional advantage: They help organizations deal with the unique complexities and challenges of hiring remote employees. These challenges include assessing a candidate’s remote-readiness, creating a smooth end-to-end virtual hiring process, and conducting remote job interviews—to name but a few. A remote recruitment policy provides guidance on how to address these additional challenges. 

Learn more about the challenges of remote recruiting in this chapter of the Lano Employment Academy: What is remote hiring and how does it work?

Policies for hiring and recruiting typically provide information on:  

• Which channels are used for spreading the word about open positions

• How applications are received

• How the initial candidate screening is carried out

• What criteria successful candidates have to fulfill

• What the different steps are for assessing candidates

• How interviews with candidates are conducted

• What paperwork needs to be submitted at what stage of the process

• What the onboarding process looks like

A remote recruiting policy will include these standard elements plus a set of guidelines that are specifically needed when hiring remotely, namely:

Ethics and diversity

Remote hiring gives businesses access to a much bigger talent pool and opens the door for applications from diverse candidates. Managing candidates with diverse backgrounds and enabling a bias-free, ethical hiring process is not an easy task. Hiring ethics and diversity are therefore two key elements that should not be missing in a remote recruitment policy.

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Remote-readiness

Employees need to possess certain qualities in order to be successful in remote positions. This includes being able to work independently and having good communication skills. They should also be reliable and well-organized. All these qualities must be assessed when recruiting for remote positions. A remote recruitment policy should provide guidance as to what questions to ask candidates to test their suitability for remote work.

Read more about this topic in: How to find out if candidates are remote ready?

Team fit

Assessing whether a candidate would fit in with the rest of the team is always more difficult than checking if he or she has the necessary experience and skills. But choosing a new member for a remote team is even more difficult since it’s usually not possible to have the team meet their new teammate in person. A remote hiring policy can provide guidance on how to successfully hire for team fit as a distributed company.

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How to hire for team fit at a remote organization

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Remote hiring technologies

Managing the recruiting and hiring process completely remotely from start to finish requires the use of various technologies. This includes online job portals, global employment platforms, tools for automated CV screening, and more. A remote recruitment policy should provide clear guidelines on what technologies to use and for which purposes.

In this chapter of the Lano Employment Academy you'll find out what technologies can help businesses hire remote teams. 

Remote interview process

Conducting interviews with candidates remotely is different to conducting in-person interviews. Not meeting the candidate in person has a significant impact on engagement and body language. Plus, scheduling interviews with candidates in different time zones and keeping track of all applicants is challenging. A remote recruitment policy should not only outline what needs to happen before and after the remote interview, but also include guidelines for conducting the actual interview.

Here you read about how to set up a remote interview process in more detail. 

Setting up a remote hiring policy is an individual process for every business, and no two policies are alike. Content, length and the level of detail can vary greatly from one remote hiring framework to the next. But there are a few things businesses should keep in mind when creating their own remote recruitment policy: 

• Keeping it simple and to the point is key.

• Every business is unique and the selected hiring criteria should reflect that. 

• Since discriminating against candidates can have severe legal consequences, the remote hiring policy should be designed to avoid compliance issues.

• Hiring and recruiting is a complex process. Having a small team work out a first draft and then sharing it with the rest of the HR department helps ensure all the necessary aspects are covered. 

• A good remote hiring policy combines the organization’s individual hiring philosophy with clear instructions on recruitment practices and procedures and clear hiring standards.