Blog #5 in 5-part blog series: Your Hunch About the Difference Between Hiring for Remote and Onsite Jobs was Right…and We Have the Data to Prove It

In the fifth installment of our series, we delve into the tangible hiring and development strategies for remote and onsite/hybrid roles, as highlighted by our comprehensive study. Our Hutrics hiring platform leverages advanced, predictive analytics to assess candidate experiences, situational judgment, personality, and work environment compatibility. These methodologies, grounded in extensive research and robust statistical analysis, demonstrate up to 97% accuracy in predicting job performance and loyalty without adverse impacts. Importantly, our platform’s algorithms account for the distinct performance and retention factors in remote versus onsite/hybrid roles. This enables clients to recruit individuals suited to their specific role requirements effectively. Moreover, the platform offers hiring managers vital coaching tips and developmental insights, ensuring optimal management and integration of new hires from day one.

Big Picture Implication #1: Remote and Onsite/Hybrid Roles are Very Different—Act Accordingly

Organizations tend to treat a job the same in remote vs office/hybrid applications…but they are NOT– organizations need to rethink assessment, hiring, and management approaches for remote versus in-person/hybrid roles.  In fact, managers that have both in-person and remote workers need to behave quite differently – this is much more difficult than it sounds, as we all tend to be “ourselves” in different situations. The Hutrics study clearly shows the myriad of ways that the profile of success (performance and retention) varies across personality, work environment, experiences, and skills.  Since more than a quarter of US workers are fully remote, the differences we found have significant implications for many organizations and their leaders.

Big Picture Implication #2: Hiring Assessments—One Size Does Not Fit All

Many vendors will claim to have ‘magic’ assessments that work for all kinds of jobs. Unfortunately, they can be fraught with adverse impact and less than optimal validity—and that is only the beginning of the story. Now that we have a clear understanding of the differences between remote and onsite/hybrid roles, the need to have insights and profiles from hiring assessments for these two role types could not be more important. Until now, there’s been an assumption about what differentiates these two role types—with no science or validated assessments to back up the assumptions. That changes now, and so should your approach to hiring assessments.

Big Picture Implication #3: Help Hiring Managers Maximize Impact on Day One

As mentioned in Implication #1, remote and onsite/hybrid jobs are different—and managers should manage these individuals accordingly. That is easier said than done—so why not make it easier for your your managers by giving them what they need to help manage individuals specific to their role type. Most hiring assessments just give you a ‘yea’ or ‘nay’ on who you should hire—but to be truly effective at maximizing performance and retention, your assessments need to provide developmental recommendations based on role type (i.e., remote versus onsite/hybrid) for the hiring manager to use on Day One.

Big Picture Implication #4: Rethink the Role Type to Fit the Candidate

We now know that certain individuals may be quite successful in onsite/hybrid roles but may not be effective if you put that same person in a remote role (or vice versa). This provides a very unique opportunity for recruiters and hiring managers. For example, if you find a superstar who would do great in a remote role but you posted the job as being onsite/hybrid, you could work with the hiring manager and the organization to make the role remote. This way, you won’t miss out on a great employee and you can flex to them to maximize performance and retention.

Big Picture Implication #5: Don’t Forget Career Development

The information provided in a hiring assessment is valuable far beyond making the initial hiring decision. Having a comprehensive view of every new employee in your organization across numerous facets (personality, fit, skills, experiences) AND knowing that they will be more successful in one role type versus another (remote, onsite/hybrid) is extremely useful for future career development. Your ability to place an employee in their next role—and do it correctly—and provide a playbook to that person’s new manager in their new role provides a high level of additional value to your career development processes. Hutrics provides the platform to serve this information (data and playbook) to your leaders in real-time to facilitate this process.

Summary of Key Findings

• Hutrics uncovered the specific ways in which remote and onsite/hybrid roles are different and:
  • How to effectively measure these key differentiators without any adverse impact
  • How to measure them with a short (20 minutes) online assessment process
  • How to manage individuals based on their role type to maximize success

For more information about Hutrics’ comprehensive leadership assessments (that include competency assessments along with personality, working memory, culture fit, experiences) and how they can help you achieve better business results, contact us today.