Hiring Remote Workers – 5 Essential Qualities to Seek

Remote work has been the trend even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck.  It has increased since March.  And, it will likely continue for the foreseeable future.

Structuring a virtual team has been essential in maintaining many firms over the past six months.  If you plan to hire new employees or replace lost workers during Coronavirus, you will likely have at least some of them work from home.

remote workerFive Remote Worker Qualities

If so, some rules of thumb regarding the five qualities you want to look for in your remote workers are:

1.Pleasant and Friendly

You might believe if someone performs competently at their job, it makes little difference whether you like them as a person – especially if they’re working remote. That may be true until you hire member of staff you can’t stand.

A great worker at what they do, however, presents a dilemma. Do you keep them on board because of their skills, even if they get on your nerves when you interact?

Co-workers who are negative, complain excessively, and act negative toward you will poison communication with them or dealing with them in any capacity.  Releasing them will frankly be a massive burden off your thoughts.

Clearly there are candidates you can find who possess both talent and don’t drain your work enjoyment.

It’s even acceptable to employ a person who’s just reasonable in performance but has an inspiring outlook. If they’re teachable and willing to be trained in the way you company handles things (see point number three), then you can help them develop into their role.

Teaching someone to be more pleasant to work with, on the other hand, isn’t nearly as easy.

2. Proactive

You need remote workers who are going to take action on their own or take the initiative to come to you when it’s appropriate like when they:

  • face a technical issue
  • need guidance or clarification
  • have a suggestion for how the process could be improved

Ideally, they should report the problem to you so you could address it. They shouldn’t ‘fly blind’, and then you have to redo their work.

When you’re interviewing and hiring remote workers look for people who come across as slightly more aggressive and outspoken. These are frequently people who tend to be more proactive.

3. Open to Being Taught

Your business evolves over time so your remote workers need to be willing to adapt and change. That means they have to be willing to be trained.  If not, then they’re not going to be able to continue to perform effectively.

A remote employee that refuses to accept teaching and is complacent about absorbing changing practices can’t continue producing high quality.

4. Timely Communicators

When your staff is not collocated, communication can slow down. Instead of face-to-face meetings, you send emails, or maybe make phone calls.

But there’s no guarantee when you’ll get a response.

Willingness and ability to communicate in a timely manner is an important quality – especially in remote workers. But emails that go unanswered for days or messages that don’t get returned can’t be tolerated.

In these uncertain business conditions, quick communication could be absolutely vital to the success of a project or even survival of your company.

5. Receptive to Feedback

You hire people to boost your business and to take pressure off you. When you offer them feedback and constructive criticism, they should respond positively. Plus, they should use these comments to put them into practice and improve their skills.

So, if you offer a virtual worker constructive criticism and then you see they don’t apply it – they’re not qualified.

Additionally, keep in mind the added cost of team members who won’t relate to feedback. When you pay someone to complete an assignment, and then you have to spend extra time fixing their work, it eats up your hours and your budget.

However, if a remote worker ignores feedback, gets defensive, or doesn’t use criticism to improve their ability- – Bye, Bye!

Summary

Hiring and training remote workers has a learning curve. Look for candidates who are proactive, receptive to feedback, open to learning, quick to communicate with you and pleasant to work with. If you can do that, you’ll build a team that will help you take your business to the next level.

Want to improve your team recruiting strategy even further? Call Flexicrew to help you attract talent who can effectively work remote as long as this pandemic lingers.

What the $2 Trillion CARES Act Means for Small Business Owners

Paycheck Protection Program

As of April 16, small business relief funds offered through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) had been depleted.

On April 27, PPP officially reopened at 10:30am EDT. The program was refunded with another $310 billion available to small business owners. If you haven’t already, contact your bank or preferred lender! If you need more help and clarification on what PPP is, if you qualify and how to ensure your loan is forgiven, keep reading…

The $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on Friday, March 27.

The legislation includes a number of business-boosting relief programs, the largest of which is the Small Business Association’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program or PPP.

As of Wednesday night (April 15), the SBA is reporting that 1,562,000 PPP applications have been approved, totaling over $329 billion.

The good news is that loan applications have officially been approved by the SBA, and money should be in the accounts of more than 1.5 million small business owners shortly.

One PPP loan tracker puts the total estimated loan disbursement figure at $16.4 billion as of Wednesday night.

If you’d like more on these loans and other relief available through the $2 trillion CARES Act, continue reading…

The text of the bill can be read on the official Congress website right now.

Affect On Small Businesses

Here’s  how this will affect small businesses.

So far, reporting on the bill indicates that it includes:

  • $349 billion for small business loans
  • $50 billion for companies who retain employees on payroll to cover 50% of workers’ paychecks
  • SSA payroll tax deferment (6.2%) for companies
  • $500 billion in loans for larger distressed companies
  • $130 billion for hospital funding
  • $150 billion for state and local governments

The CARES Act primarily provides relief to small business owners through SBA loans.

Need Assistance Hiring Temporary Workers

If you need some assistance in recruiting and hiring workers in this uncertain labor market, contact Flexicrew today.

7 Leadership Qualities Of Great Business Leaders – to Beat Pandemic

 

 The Leadership Qualities Of Great Business Leaders

A few short weeks ago we were all living our lives and conducting business normally, but suddenly everything turned emphatically worse.  We had to quickly figure out how to respond to this crisis as it pertains to our unique business circumstances.

As we look forward to loosening restrictions, and the worst part of the pandemic to pass, we are still faced with many critical business decisions.  Now, more than ever companies need strong leadership to make those tough decisions to achieve business recovery.

In researching back-to-business success criteria, we came across Brian Tracy, an Internationally renowned speaker, writer and counselor on leadership, selling, self-esteem, goals, strategy, creativity, and success psychology.  After decades of researching and training executives and developing insights into what makes great business leaders, we included his infographic to quickly, simply and succinctly highlight 7 ways to recognize and copy the leadership qualities necessary to overcome for your company the dual challenges of COVID-19 and the economic recession it has thrown us into.

Here are Tracy’s findings on leadership which not only apply in these uncertain times but will help you lead your organization when conditions get back to a more normal state.

7 Leadership Qualities Infographic

 

Summary

If you buy-into these 7 qualities, print them out and pin above your computer.  Better yet, post them around your work environment for employees to focus on how to act to best navigate through the COVD-19 crisis.

The business owners and management that follow these prescriptions and get the most out of every dollar spent and demonstrate the impact of their decisions on revenue, profit and cash will be well positioned to come out of this chaotic environment looking like a star.

If you need assistance finding individuals who possess these leadership qualities, contact one of our recruitment professionals Today.

Flexicrew Continues Taking Protective Measures for Coronavirus

Daily changing developments in the news creates unease and a worrisome and uncertain environment

March 18, 2020, 11:03 ET – CHATTANOOGA, TN.

This week Flexicrew Staffing has temporarily closed our physical offices to protect the health of our candidates and internal team members, while actively continuing business.safe practices

The firm has been closely monitoring COVID-19 and following current guidelines from the leading health and government authorities.  That ensures they are taking the appropriate actions to protect their clients, staff, temporary employees and the communities where they do business.

Flexicrew has successfully protected its network from natural disasters, infections and other types of emergencies for over eleven years.

The staffing agency arranged business crisis procedures to assure continued reliable service.  It has primed certain operational team members to deploy to alternate locations in the event of facility-specific staffing shortages.  All team members received guidance and ongoing communication on proper risk-reduction practices, hand hygiene, operating at safe distances and appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Team members have been encouraged to voluntarily self-quarantine if they believe they are at risk and to report if they themselves or others exhibit signs of symptoms related to COVID-19.

“There is nothing as important to Flexicrew,” stated CEO Bill Brennan, “than protecting the wellbeing and health of our colleagues and partners.  Our firm is grateful for client and staff loyalty and we appreciate the privilege of serving those with whom we have connections.”

Note to Media:

For more information on Flexicrew, Inc. please contact Misty Brennan, CEO of Flexicrew companies at 1-866-720-3539 or by email at info@flexicrew.com  In addition, please be sure to check out the Flexicrew, Inc. website at www.flexicrew.com.