Lorraine has been working in Recruitment for over 20 years and now specialises in remote recruitment positions having worked remotely for RGC for many years. She shares her first-hand knowledge and provides advice to agencies during these unsettling times.
What’s been your experience of the last week?
Working in Rec2Rec, an industry often first to be impacted when there’s financial unrest, I hear what’s happening in the market faster than many others.
On 16th March 2020, when the PM declared ‘non-essential’ travel was to be avoided and workers should stay home, my phone and inbox sprung into life. A stream of messages from recruiters in need of help following recent redundancy. Many, let go immediately, some offered to be retained on the payroll for three months, without pay.
Since then the government announced the scheme to pay 80% of an employees salary if they remain on the company payroll which will of course help many. Some agencies are offering half pay for the next three months, others reducing the days paid per week from five to four until further notice. I’m recommending every recruiter should take this when offered. Leaving without any redundancy pay naturally isn’t wise.
Will companies now buy-in to remote working?
Trust is really being tested now. I left my previous recruitment position in a large corporate agency purely because I wanted to work from home and this was rejected by the organisation across the board. This same organisation now has allowed any employee to work remotely and has given them to tools to do this.
I’ve specialised in recruiting for agencies who employ remote workers for the past six months – and more recently working for myself. Having spoken to many who were asking for this benefit I knew the market was there. The demand is from millennials, parents of young children or work returners, all who want to work from, whether from the UK or overseas.
Whilst the existence of the cloud has been around for some time enabling employees to work remotely, many previously castoff it off for fear of lack of visibility. We have the tech but there’s been anxiety of losing control of staff productivity.
Now companies who previously rejected a virtual workforce have been thrust into needing to adopt to it. Aside from adapting communications, operations and day-to-day process, recruiters have had to accept remote working in a response to Covid-19.
“From my view, the agencies who have been able to be agile, quickly adapt and transform is a good thing. But the agencies that really embrace the change and shift their mindset will reap rewards in the long run.”
What to bear in mind when hiring remote workers?
Many of my clients enjoy a life working remotely and are comfortable managing their staff this way. A few clients recruit purely remote recruiters who work from home. They provide the laptop, mobile and some use technology to monitor productivity such as outgoing calls and emails.
Agencies need to realise that whilst one employee enjoys a morning Zoom call to plan their day, another may only want to catch up once a week to discuss financial predictions or interviews arranged. Employees are usually encouraged to communicate with their colleagues regularly in order to keep them engaged and motivated. Whether that be texting a colleague to ask about a shared client or phoning them to have a moan about the weather, we all need to feel part of something.
Hiring remote workers is the best part of my job. My work life balance improved, I was able to do the school runs, manage my own day and workload.
“It has also increased productivity and given me space to be creative.”
Why should agencies consider offering remoting working for good?
There’s a large pool of talent waiting to secure themselves a remote recruitment role and these are experienced recruiters - people who can self-manage, self-motivate, know how to do their jobs and are happier working in their own homes, wherever that may be.
“If your agency can offer working from home, this will set you apart from the rest and allow you to attract and retain the best possible talent.”
From an employers perspective, in order to attract these talented individuals there are of course considerations to be made and questions to ask applicants. Why are they looking to work from home? What does home look like for them and who else might be there? Do they have a separate workspace? How would they expect to be managed? Are they flexible to work later or earlier if needed?
Apart from saving on property costs, a strong reason to employ remote workers is to offer a highly valued benefit to workers which will improve staff retention. Like any employee, trust of your staff is key, this is no different for remote workers, but you’ll need to be comfortable with relinquishing some control.
For all the recruiters temporarily working from home, make the most of it. If you find it is right for you there are roles available that offer remote working 100% of the time with the same benefits as office-based roles.
“You can have it all and your agency might now be more open minded than they previously once were.”
