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You’ve been tasked with assembling a new location independentteam, and as a project manager who has just started in your role, you’re not sure where to begin. Don’t panic! These tips from SourceAbled will walk you through key steps like incentives, recruiting candidates, and mastering location independent management.
Benefits of Telecommuting
Why are location independent team workers an asset? WeWork states that telecommuting can lead to a better work-life balance for both employees and managers, boosts productivity and eliminates inefficiencies, and reduces real estate costs for businesses. Allowing location independent work also makes companies more attractive to top talent. Roles like social media management, content development, web design, graphic design, and IT software support can usually be done location independent.
Incentive Recruitment
With the rise of location independent work positions, companies are often looking for ways to incentivize potential job applicants. One way to do this is by offering rewards and incentives. These could include gift cards, bonuses for meeting certain goals or milestones, opportunities for professional development, or even a flexible work schedule. By offering these types of rewards and incentives, companies can attract top talent who value work-life balance and the ability to work location independent. Additionally, these incentives can motivate employees to perform at their best, leading to increased productivity and job satisfaction.
Social Media Recruitment
People who are interested in location independentteam opportunities will generally browse online job boards like SourceAbled and social media platforms for new openings, so if you want to recruit tech-savvy employees, make sure to leverage social media campaigns. For example, you can try out a Facebook ads maker and get access to customizable ad templates. To create a Facebook ad, you can include your company’s logo, your brand color scheme, preferred fonts, and essential text. After completing your ad design, you can download it right away.
Screen Candidates
How can you assess whether or not an applicant would be a good fit for your location independentteam team? You’ll need to screen and interview candidates online. To navigate the process, ECS suggests holding phone interviews for first-round screenings and then using video conferencing software to conduct any subsequent interviews. A video interview can help you get a better idea of whether or not a candidate is a good culture fit. Just like you would for a candidate interviewing in person, you should still contact the applicant’s references, review their social media posts, and administer a skills test online if necessary. When screening candidates, ensure you are focusing on the skills and experience needed to screen candidates in as opposed to screening candidates out based on criteria irrelevant to the position, such as gender, ethnicity, or physical ability.
Inspire Accountability
As a new project manager, you’ll want to emphasize accountability amongst your location independent team, especially if some of your team members are higher in seniority. To accomplish this, you need to demonstrate authenticity and prove that you value each individual team member, even if you haven’t met in person. Matrix recommends carefully documenting and tracking all key action items, building camaraderie during meetings, and clearly discussing and outlining expectations.
Smart Management
Of course, maintaining accountability is just one aspect of an effective location independent team management strategy. What else can you do to keep your team on track? Document all key processes, schedule frequent check-ins so that you can stay up to date on project progress, and encourage collaborations between employees to bring your team closer together.
Make sure to create regular opportunities for team members to share their ideas and recommendations, too — most of the time, the best suggestions for process improvements will come directly from your team. Finally, depending on where your employees live, you might even want to schedule occasional in-person events to give everyone the chance to socialize!
Recruiting the right employees for your location independent team takes time. But bringing location independent workers on board can be a great strategy for future business growth. With these tips, you’ll be ready to tackle incentives, social media recruitment, and more.
For Rangam’s neurodiversity and disability hiring solution, visit SourceAbled today!
