Economy3 challenges of talent management in times of remote...

3 challenges of talent management in times of remote work

(Expansion) – Attracting and retaining talent has become a challenge for many companies. Work flexibility is currently one of the main demands of employees and a value offer for employers.

However, remote work implies challenges for organizations, especially at three levels: recruitment, induction processes and organizational culture.

Recruit without geographical limits

Hiring remotely in Latin America is a growing trend. A global report based on the analysis of more than 100,000 employment contracts in around 150 countries made by Deel -unicorn specialized in payroll management for remote teams- showed that international hiring is increasingly popular, so much so that the rate of growth by region places Latam at the top of the podium with an increase of 286% and Mexico as the country that hires the most outside its borders.

As companies, opening ourselves up to the possibility of hiring foreign professionals gives us access to diverse profiles with a high level of specialization, and we verified this when we expanded to Colombia last year when we were looking for a sales profile.

We find very competent professionals and, at the end of the process, we recruit different positions with very good credentials at a highly competitive cost.

In addition, today there are international payroll solutions that allow establishing labor relations mainly under the contractor or service provider model and with the possibility of paying in the collaborator’s currency.

Successful induction and onboarding

A study by the Brandon Hall Group – a global human capital management research and analysis company – found that a strong onboarding process can increase retention by up to 82%; But a study by Gallup, an international performance research and management company, found that 9 out of 10 employees believe their organization mismanages the process.

Onboarding was already challenging when we were physically in the office, but with the rise of flexible working this has become even more complicated. Before, going to someone’s Human Resources desk or asking your closest colleague was the answer to many questions, but today it is a challenge to provide all the information that a new employee requires and do it effectively.

How to efficiently inform the process to download your payroll receipts or how to convey the value of teamwork if everyone works from home? Undoubtedly, providing employees with this source of resolution of doubts favors the fulfillment of their tasks from the first day and helps to impregnate them with the organizational culture.

Today there are cutting-edge solutions for this, such as virtual advisors powered by artificial intelligence, but there are also options with a more human touch, such as the onboarding buddy , that is, an onboarding companion to offer key support in the first days.

We implement the latter because, by providing context, the onboarding buddy favors the understanding of the functions of the new employee; lets you know how you can contribute to the team’s success; it also sheds light on cultural norms, leading to a smoother transition; and, the more meetings with this colleague, the greater the perception of new collaborators about how they can be more productive in less time.

Organizational culture in transition

Before, the organizational culture was absorbed into the daily life of the office, it was experiential, but COVID-19 changed the landscape. Today we are divided between the apology for the home office and the longing to live with colleagues.

For example, the Microsoft 2021 Annual Report on the future indicates that 70% of the workforce want more flexible work options and 82% agree that this improves their productivity; but also 65% of those surveyed want more time with their teams and 56% of the employed mothers of families agree that mixing home and work is a challenge.

Starting to modify the culture and organizational policies to migrate to a hybrid model focused on employees would be the ideal from my perspective. There are already companies in Latin America that experiment with dynamics such as resting one Friday a month or trying “asynchronous weeks”, that is, scheduling a week each month in which meetings of any kind are not allowed. Everything has to be resolved through emails, platforms like slack or other resources that do not generate interruptions and increase productivity. Goodbye jointitis!

Unfortunately there is no magic formula to make this transition successfully, each organization has different collaborators and requirements, but it is important that there is a genuine willingness to create solutions that adapt to the changes of the present and future of work.

In my opinion, organizations that adopt flexibility in a reactive way and only try to adapt their culture without a real transformation in the background, will be losing competitiveness in the market. Commitment and courage are required in an age of change…and as a famous British writer said, why should we fear change? If life itself is a change.

Editor’s note : Emmanuel Olvera, co-founder and CEO of Hireline, the recruitment portal specialized in information technology profiles in Latin America. Follow him on and The opinions expressed in this column belong solely to the author.

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