After experiencing what it’s like to work from home due to
the COVID-19 pandemic, many HR professionals now appreciate the benefits and
want to continue working remotely. Today’s business environment makes this
attainable. So how do you build your remote HR career? Let’s dive in.
Can HR work from home? The common misconceptions
It’s been a common belief that HR can only be successful if
they are located onsite. When the pandemic forced people in different types of
office jobs, including HR, to work from home, perceptions changed. HR
professionals proved they could establish better priorities and successfully
support their employees and organizations in a remote work setting.
In fact, 85% of HR professionals reported they believe they can
be effective working remotely. What’s more, Flexjobs found out that HR & Recruiting is the top growing career field with
fully remote jobs.
Even though some HR jobs lend themselves more to working
remotely, we believe that all HR jobs can be done in a remote way if set up and
enabled in the right manner.
There are some common misconceptions based on outdated
beliefs about why HR shouldn’t work from home. Let’s break them down:
1. Needing to be visible and available in person for
employees
Does HR really need to be always available to employees
physically to be effective in their role?
The reality is that even before COVID and the expansion of
remote work, HR was capable of supporting employees from a separate location.
For example, you might have had one HR
Business Partner acting as the HR touchpoint for five worksites who
would visit them periodically.
Now, with new HR technologies and
especially digital service delivery, it’s realistic to manage accessibility and
day-to-day interactions. Multiple channels of service equip employees to engage
with the HR function regardless of location and time. With self-service tools,
chatbots, phone support, video calls, and collaboration platforms (Slack, Zoom,
Teams), Human Resources professionals can be more flexible about where they
work.
What’s more, managers and employees who have an HR office
within sight can make a habit out of stopping by every time a problem occurs.
HR professionals may find themselves continuously dropping what they’re doing
to help whoever shows up at their desk. They can also end up getting pulled
into situations that are outside the scope and focus of their role. This makes
it more challenging to prioritize and emphasize strategic work.
2. Ability to work with the organization’s leadership
In the past, executives often considered HR to be strictly
an administrative function. It may not have occurred to them to include HR in
the decision-making process. HR leaders had to assert themselves to have a
voice, and having a visible presence helped. Fortunately, this has changed for
most organizations.
In the current business climate, there is an understanding
that a strong HR strategy is a key to success. HR is now elevated into a
crucial role in setting and achieving business goals. When you adopt a
strategic perspective and partner with leadership, you don’t need to be onsite
all the time. As leaders also start working more flexibly, they will inevitably
make sure that HR is included in meetings and decisions.
3. Accessibility for crisis management
HR certainly has an important part to play during crises.
Typically, this has meant being physically present, so management may wonder,
“What if something goes wrong and I need HR to be onsite to help?”
Working remotely just means that you need to better anticipate
and prepare for these types of incidents. If you have the right processes and
routines in place, you can manage unforeseen circumstances appropriately
without being there. It’s not necessary to be in the office 100% of the time to
cater to the 5% of unforeseen circumstances.
4. Missing out on interaction with colleagues
Comradery and helpful brainstorming certainly transpire when
people gather at the same location. When you work remotely, it just takes a
little more effort to engineer connections from time to time. You can always
plan offsite team sessions every quarter to discuss priorities and progress
face-to-face.
Some companies have gone fully remote and are able to find
creative ways to connect. Instead of using funds for buildings or rent, they
have a budget for getting teams from around the world together more frequently.
How to start your remote HR career
The misconceptions about HR working remotely are gradually
being broken down. So what do you need to do to start building your remote HR career?
Remote work is best for people who really like their job and
have intrinsic motivation to do it to their best ability, even if no one is
watching over them. If working remotely is your priority and the right fit for
you, there are ways to prepare yourself and find the right HR position.
First of all, determine what you want your next career move
to be.
Now, let’s take a look at a few ideas for landing a remote HR job:
Competency Assessment
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Take the 5-minute assessment to find out!
1. Explore why you want to work remotely
Even though it is possible for HR to work remotely, there
are some limitations you need to consider, and some elements of the job might
be harder. Every person is unique, and different personalities will deal with
working remotely in their own way. Be sure you have thought out your reasons
for wanting to pursue a remote career.
It might be helpful to ask yourself:
- What
is the overall benefit working remotely provides me as an individual?
- How
does this fit with my broader life situation?
- What
are the limitations and challenges I may need to manage and how will I
manage them?
2. Fine-tune your resume
Even if you already have a killer resume, you should
consider tweaking it for your pursuit of a remote job. You want to be sure it
accentuates your ability to succeed while working from home.
Here are some skills you should highlight:
- Previous
experience and achievements with telecommuting.
- Times
when you have been a self-starter and worked independently.
- Tech-savviness
with specific applications and the ability to understand and adapt to new
digital tools.
- Writing
skills and ability to communicate well using text-based methods for
interacting with co-workers and employees.
3. Know where to look for remote HR career opportunities
Telecommuting HR jobs are out there, so you just need to
focus on where to find them. You can do some research and target potential
employers that are already operating in a fully remote capacity. They’re sure
to allow their HR team to work from home.
You can also find job boards dedicated to remote openings,
such as:
- AngelList connects
hiring startups with remote job seekers. You can complete a profile and
apply for multiple jobs with just one application.
- Alight provides
a variety of business services and has a job board with various types of
roles, including HR.
- Remote.co provides
resources to companies that want to offer remote work and lists openings
for remote positions.
- Virtual Vocations is
a job board dedicated exclusively to remote jobs in every field. A membership
fee allows you to view their full listings and access a dashboard to track
positions you’ve applied for.
- FlexJobs specializes
in remote, work-from-home, and flexible job opportunities, featuring thousands
of remote HR roles.
There are also HR-specific sites for job seekers with remote
job postings, such as HR
Jobs Remote and PeopleOpsJobs.
With many job boards, you can set up email alerts for
specific keywords. That way, relevant job opportunities land directly in your
inbox.
4. Demonstrate your key skills in interviews
Successful HR professionals already have many skills needed
to succeed in remote work, and you should strive to further develop them. You
can certainly use these to your advantage while interviewing for remote HR
jobs.
Be ready to showcase the following abilities:
- Concrete
examples of how you have worked effectively in a remote manner.
- Communication
skills that enable you to successfully navigate your stakeholder
relationships.
- Adaptability
in facing change and finding alternative solutions.
- Being
self-motivated and organized to complete superior, on-time work.
- Ability
to work independently but also maintain a collaborative spirit to build
relationships and seek out new ideas.
- Intercultural
communication skills for dealing with a diverse or global workforce.
- A
solution-oriented, critical thinking mindset for solving problems and
moving forward.
5. Improve your digital dexterity
Working remotely means using a variety of digital tools to
do your work, collaborate with your colleagues, and also enhance the digital
employee experience at your organization. That’s why you need to learn
how to leverage technology to drive value and be a digital change champion at
your workplace.
Some ways to improve your digital dexterity include:
- Getting
familiar with every type of work technology available at your current job,
even if it’s not something you’re required to use.
- Experimenting
with unfamiliar digital tools you may need to use for interviewing or in a
new remote role.
- Becoming certified
in Digital HR.
6. Build your remote network
Traditional HR networking groups are great, but you should
also find ways to intentionally connect with other remote HR professionals. You
will get a lot of inspiration and discover opportunities that you otherwise
wouldn’t. This is also an excellent way of tapping into shared wisdom and
expertise when dealing with issues from a remote perspective.
Here are a few ideas for building your remote HR network:
- Find
a public Slack channel or community and start real-time communication and
collaboration with other HR telecommuters.
- Leverage
your social media accounts to find remote HR groups, comment on relevant
posts, and create your own posts that invite interaction.
- Attend
virtual or in-person conferences that attract remote-working
professionals.
How to succeed in your remote HR job
Once you’ve landed a remote HR position, you can strengthen
the potential for its longevity by standing out as a strong performer.
Developing your abilities in the following ways can help you
flourish:
7. Be clear on the scope of your role, priorities, and
workflows
To be effective at working remotely, you need to have a
clear understanding of your key responsibilities. Discuss your role and
responsibilities and how they align with the business needs with your manager.
That way, you can prioritize the tasks and projects that have the most impact
on organizational performance.
Setting measurable goals and KPIs will help you track your
performance and the progress you’re making. It will be easier for you to not
only spot opportunities for improvement but also showcase your work to your
team and your manager.
Furthermore, you need to get to know the organization and
its teams and process to understand how your work influences others and where
theirs impacts yours. Make sure that you are clear about where you are involved
in processes and where dependencies lie. Besides creating effective workflows,
this also helps prevent misunderstandings.
8. Manage your stakeholders effectively, build
connections and trust
The first step to effective stakeholder management is to map
out who your stakeholders are.
In an HR role, your stakeholders are, of course, the
employees, but also your manager and team members, the managers who you’re
helping to manage people more effectively, and senior executives whose buy-in
and support you’ll often need to succeed with your HR initiatives. You need to
determine who you should be engaging with and the best way or format to do
that. An organizational chart is a useful tool to get an
overview of how your organization is structured.
Who exactly your stakeholders are will differ per project
you’re working on. For instance, if your project is to organize a series of
virtual team-building activities to engage your remote teams, you can create a
simple stakeholder map to get an overview of who is affected by or has an
impact on your project.
|
Primary stakeholders |
Secondary stakeholders |
Key stakeholders |
|
Remote employees |
Remote employees’ managers |
HR director |
|
HR agency specialized in virtual team building |
HR team |
Procurement manager |
|
Employee engagement specialists |
Make sure you have an agreement with your stakeholders on
how you will engage, keep in touch, and work together. This is especially
important if some of them are not in remote-only roles. You need to be
purposeful about building relationships, as it is not going to happen
organically. You won’t be bumping into colleagues or overhearing water cooler
conversations throughout the day.
Schedule one-on-ones and get to know your employees and the
leadership. As you learn what the people and the organization need, you can
meet those needs, build trust, and make a name for yourself within the company.
Be clear and confident about the value your Human Resources
role adds. Not being physically present means there will be times that you have
to explain to stakeholders what you’re contributing and how being remote does
not impact your ability to deliver.
9. Ensure good communication
Good communication in a remote work setting requires
over-communicating, documenting everything, and being able to communicate asynchronously.
This is both within and outside of your team. Also, it includes using a variety
of tools that you need to effectively manage projects and make work
transparent.
As we’ve already mentioned, working remotely will require
you to be more intentional about the engagement rhythms and opportunities you
put in place with your stakeholders. A great way to engage your key
stakeholders is to create a personalized communication plan based on their
preferred communication style. For an HR manager, it could look something like
this:
|
Stakeholder |
Communication style |
Action steps |
|
VP of HR Americas |
– Prefers informal communication |
– Call at least twice a month |
|
CHRO |
– Prefers brief written reports with key findings |
– Send a monthly written report on project progress and
learning points |
|
HRBP |
– Values personal touch and soft skills over hard data |
– Plan at least three meetings before year’s end |
If leading an HR team, members need to be clear on where you
need to be involved and when to pull you into discussions. Team meetings should
have a set frequency, with all key role players aware of the expectations to
effectively use the time together. Just because you aren’t in the room doesn’t
mean you shouldn’t be involved in certain decisions or situations.
10. Establish your workspace and some boundaries
Many people who work remotely end up blurring the lines
between work and private life. For your own well-being, you should develop a
philosophy on how you will approach working remotely. Then you need to create a
physical space and environment that sets you up to be comfortable and
productive.
Here are some methods and boundaries you may want to adopt
to be certain and transparent about how, where, and when you work:
- Designate
“work” and “no work” zones in your home.
- Set
a regular work schedule that defines specific hours you are accessible.
Then stick to it.
- Have
a daily routine just like you would when commuting to your job.
- Manage
the expectations of your family or individuals who live with you so they
know you aren’t always available just because you’re at home.
11. Focus on continuous learning
The world of work is changing, and you need to adopt a
learning mindset to be successful in it. Here are a few things you can do:
- Be
curious.
- Stay
abreast of new trends and developments within HR and the world of work.
- Enroll
in HR
certificate programs.
- Participate
in virtual and in-person HR events.
This, of course, goes for both remote and non-remote roles.
To summarize
Currently, there is an unprecedented number of possibilities
for remote HR jobs. If this way of working is your dream, now might be the
perfect time to go after it.
Finding and starting a remote HR position can be a challenge
at first, but with the right approach, you should be on track to success pretty
soon. Leveraging your soft skills and digital dexterity will help make the
transition to a remote HR job and thriving in the role easier. Good luck!