The statistics show us that most employees want to work remotely from the office. Recruiters are no different, but it’s safe to say that most staffing agencies prefer their recruiting teams to work in-house. But here’s the problem; studies also show that employees are much more productive when they work from home. Can recruiters work remotely and still be successful?  

Remote Workers Are More Productive  

The staffing industry may be the last holdout on the remote work issue; 66% of companies now allow remote workers, and another 16% are fully remote. But there’s still a hard line of management in the staffing industry that believes remote recruiters won’t work. The consensus seems to be remote recruiters won’t be productive, and it will be challenging to track their efforts.   

This idea is wrong all the way around. There is now extensive research on the books proving that remote workers are more productive than those in traditional office environments. Stanford University concluded two years of research on the topic and found that work-from-home employees were so much more motivated that they added a full day of work productivity to their regular activity. They had less distraction, got to work earlier, and even worked longer in addition to being more productive. Turns out, eliminating that office commute was also a health and morale booster. Employee attrition decreased by 50%, workers were healthier, and they took less time off. Another study showed that employers also saved money on overhead and operating expenses when employees worked remotely. Still, another study showed remote workers were less stressed (and more productive).  

Easing Into The Remote Model  

While the staffing industry may be a little slow to adapt to the new world of remote workers, we believe modern technology gives managers all the tools they need to harness the power of their recruiters—no matter where they work.  

For employers considering allowing recruiters to work remotely, evaluate these best practices to ensure your success:  

  • Invest in a cloud-based applicant tracking system (ATS) that will enable recruiters to work from anywhere. These systems allow very tight controls over recruiter activities in real-time. Managers can run reports that track all relevant KPIs. Intuitive logic in the software will help you immediately spot any red flags that signal a problem.  
  • Allow remote work once a week to start, but only give the privilege to recruiters who are hitting the numbers. This will provide the entire team added incentive to buckle down. Set clear targets for every remote worker by month and by quarter. If something starts to slide, bring them back in-house and try it again once they’re back on track.  
  • Keep yourself highly available to remote staff in the same way you would be for someone popping into your office.  

Exelare has the perfect cloud ATS to help managers run their teams effectively. Our software was designed exclusively for the rigors of the staffing world, giving teams intelligent software to automate mundane tasks like resume harvesting, while also making use of sophisticated tracking, analytics, and real-time reporting. This is software designed for the modern workforce. Contact us to take a test drive today.