By Lance Cody-Valdez
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic came and went, Scientific American notes that the way we work has drastically changed. It used to be that everyone had to go into a physical office to complete their work, but in order to stay safe, many companies turned to a remote workforce. This strategy proved to be a success and now many organizations are moving in this direction, and yours can do the same.
Here’s some helpful advice presented by WyzGuys Cybersecurity on how to create a high-quality remote workforce.
Why Go Remote
The fact is that companies of all sizes can benefit from transitioning to a remote workforce as there are many perks for your business structure and your customers. From a hiring standpoint, going remote is great because you can find, interview, and hire employees from anywhere around the globe, so you can find the best talent without having to settle for staying within a 30-mile radius. Lano points out that remote work is also great for a company’s bottom line because you can cut many of the costs associated with having a physical office space, including buying desks, paying utilities, and providing parking.
The only major concern that can come up is that some managers fear it can be difficult to ensure that their employees remain on task even when they work alone. However, these fears can be put at ease by setting productivity expectations at the start and having regular check-ins with your staff to ensure that they are on task and so you can answer any questions.
Freelance Opportunities
Technology has grown so much over the last several years that just about any type of business professional can work from home. Even doctors can work remotely over telehealth platforms.
From a business standpoint, you can hire freelancers to assist with both customer-facing and backend positions, including IT professionals who can handle tech tasks, such as app development, web hosting, and hardware repair, among others. You can handle these freelancers the same as you do with your in-house employees, by making your expectations clear and following up as necessary.
Hiring freelancers will continue to be important because as time goes on, we will continue to see a world where physical offices become rarer and you will want your organization to be prepared so you aren’t left in the dust.
Finding Great Candidates
Hiring freelancers should be handled similarly to hiring in-house employees as it is still important that your organization takes the time to search for the best candidates. You will want to find people that are qualified for the intended position but won’t require micromanagement. You can find great people through the traditional methods of job fairs and word-of-mouth, but you can also use specialized websites who have candidates with experience working in a remote role. Not all job portals are the same, but compared to a recruiting agency, the efficiency and ease of finding qualified talent has never been easier. What’s more, you may only spend 30 to 50 percent what you would otherwise with a traditional agency.
Once you have a shortlist of candidates, it is important that you interview them in person with a video program like Zoom. This tech has been amazing because it allows us to interview candidates from anywhere and many programs even allow you to provide assessments to the candidates so you can see their talents first hand.
It is important to meet candidates face-to-face because that allows them to see that they are working for a real person with real expectations and they can put a face to the name whenever they reach out for assistance. During the interview, ask questions about how the candidates manage their time and stay on task. The answers will be important for your eventual hiring decision.
As you can see, we are now living in a remote world so you’ll want good remote employees who can adapt to the times. Consider the advice discussed here – including finding and hiring talent that’s best suited to handle remote tasks, such as tech work – and make great, informed decisions.
WyzGuys Cybersecurity provides cybersecurity services ranging from cybersecurity awareness training and information certification training for employees to security audits and file and email encryption. Contact us today to learn more! 651-387-1668
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About the Author:
I am a cybersecurity and IT instructor, cybersecurity analyst, pen-tester, trainer, and speaker. I am an owner of the WyzCo Group Inc. In addition to consulting on security products and services, I also conduct security audits, compliance audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. I also teach Cybersecurity Awareness Training classes. I work as an information technology and cybersecurity instructor for several training and certification organizations. I have worked in corporate, military, government, and workforce development training environments I am a frequent speaker at professional conferences such as the Minnesota Bloggers Conference, Secure360 Security Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the (ISC)2 World Congress 2016, and the ISSA International Conference 2017, and many local community organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, and several school districts. I have been blogging on cybersecurity since 2006 at http://wyzguyscybersecurity.com