Hiring remote employees can be challenging at times, but they are often a fantastic asset to the organisation.  Considering the extra work and care taken in hiring the talent, the next challenge is figuring out how to retain them.  Our processes are usually set up for traditional in-house employment.  Some of these packages and supplements can be used, but they may need to be tweaked to suit the remote employee.

First up, you need to design attractive and fair compensation packages.  You can’t entice them with free snacks, unlimited foosball and bean bag lounging areas.

Attractive – remember, you’re competing against companies from all over the world. This means you must put extra effort into designing equally competitive compensation packages.  If you can’t increase salaries, consider other benefits like a mobile plan, stock options, or gym memberships.

Fair – You may have two remote employees; one is living in Sydney and the other in Thailand, and they are doing the same job.  Should you pay them the same or adjust their salaries based on their cost of living? You will most likely have to find a balance.  It’s best to build compensation and benefits packages that speak to your employees’ needs but also don’t create substantial salary gaps between team members.  This information often gets disclosed and can cause discord amongst colleagues.

Be open and transparent about equity and expectations with the potential candidates.  Create a salary formula to explain how you calculate employees’ salaries and the process used to increase over time.  It creates trust amongst the existing and new employees.

Offer meaningful benefits

Consider the benefits that matter to all employees.  When managing remote employees, enquire about what kind of perks would be useful to them to achieve their work.  You can even consider giving some of them as welcome gifts, such as noise-cancelling headsets for employees who will be working in public spaces, or adjustable desks for the people who like to stand while working.

Other benefits can include:-

Professional development

The majority of employees seek to grow professionally.  Consider including professional development opportunities when designing packages.  You could buy them tickets to popular conferences, enrol them into online courses, or subsidise further tertiary education.  Another growth opportunity includes involving them in a challenging project where they have to learn new skills sets within a supportive environment. 

Vacation plan

It’s common for remote employees to work longer hours than office-based employees.  This is because they do not commute and find it easier to keep going with a project if they don’t need to attend to any other obligations.  You could offer them a generous vacation plan.  If your organisation has an annual meeting where all employees are in attendance, offer to attach an extra paid 7 days’ vacation after the get-together.

Health and life insurance

Not every country has free or heavily subsidised health care.  Contemplate proposing health and life insurance plans for your employees and their loved ones, as part of their benefits package.

Memberships to co-working spaces or store discounts

If your remote employee works from a co-working space, buy them an annual membership.  They may prefer to work form a local café or library; you could offer gift cards for their daily food and beverages.  If you discover they are finding it difficult to establish an exercise routine, offer them a gym membership or yoga studio membership. 

At the end of the day, your remote employees are similar to office-based colleagues.  They want to be respected and valued for the work they do and have the appropriate resources and opportunities to be productive and successful.  You will just have to become creative in what you offer and how you provide it to your remote employees.