A study of over 50 million job listings in Europe from 2018-2021 revealed invaluable insights for small business owners. The researchers found that remote listings required +25% more skills for the same position in-office position. 1
The reasons for these results:
Remote work attracts a huge applicant pool. Due to a lack of geographical barriers and desire for remote work, job seekers flood remote listings. Employers see the increase in applicants and raise the bar for qualifications.
Since there isn’t the opportunity for in-person impressions, employers are relying more on verifiable credentials.
Training becomes more difficult. In-person interaction still holds value that remote work can’t replace. Training in a remote environment is less effective, so employers focus on hiring people that don’t need much of it.
Remote positions often pay slightly more than in-person positions, on average. Most remote job listings are seeking senior level applicants in technical and/or specialized fields.
You Can’t Miss
When you’re solidifying your market position, maybe even achieving rapid growth, hiring becomes a sensitive requirement to survive. You must hire to accommodate the growth, and you must hire right. You can’t afford the delays caused by hiring too many people that don’t work out. Each person that turns over means you’re likely bogged down by filling those gaps until someone else is hired. Cycles of these setbacks while scaling can be too much for founders to overcome.
Hire Remote Employees?
Seeking remote workers solves many problems. but presents new issues that small businesses may not be able to handle. Remote work dissolves geographical barriers to all the talent you may need, but it creates culture and training gaps.
Only seek remote workers for positions that don’t require an employee to be ingrained in your company’s culture. Remote work should only be for administrative, transaction focused tasked. Think virtual/admin assistant or customer service reps that take phone calls and follow a script when dealing with customers. These positions will flow similar to the equivalent positions in any other company.
In-Office Only?
When a person will have a level of agency in the position, these positions shouldn’t be remote. These are managers and other influential people in your organization who will make decisions on how to deliver the product/service to your customers. You, the Founder and leader of the company’s culture, need to have a strong influence on how they approach their job.
The frequent, in-person interaction is necessary to communicate and build that culture. Wise leaders will even allow them to contribute to developing the vision and culture of the company.
At the very least, these positions should be hybrid. That h-word should open up the talent pool enough to connect you with the right applicants.
Remote work is for specialized personnel where you can verify their experience and depend on them to hit the ground running on day one. Don’t hire a remote worker with an intent to train them heavily. This will either cost too in order to be effective or won’t work at all. Focus on technical ability or their ability to process transactions without supervision.
1 There’s a Higher Bar for Working from Home: https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/theres-a-higher-bar-for-working-from-home
