You've certainly based your decision to go 100% remote on sound logic. An increase in talent base size and reduction in hourly costs are two of the most common reasons to move to a remote workforce.
I run Scalable Path, a network of developers and designers. A significant part of the business involves finding and retaining great talent. So I'm very familiar with some of the pain points you describe. I've found that, if you carry out the following basic steps, you will see a much higher retention rate within your remote team.
Our own remote onboarding process has 3 goals:
- Facilitate the seamless integration of new contractors into team and project workflows.
- Enable management to monitor performance of new hires easily
- Ensure talent are matched with projects that challenge and motivate them
We do this by following these steps:
1. Set up a regular communication channel
Setting up a regular and reliable line of communication is vital. It ensures that the contractor immediately feels included in the business, and as such will be more accountable to it. Regularly touching base also means potential problems can be caught early. We encourage our Team Leaders to have two major touchpoints: a daily standup with the whole team and a weekly 1-1 session. These meetings can be short, but they should be about more than just work. It's important to connect with your remote workers like you would with onsite staff.
2. Make sure everyone is using source control
This may be Captain Obvious to most of you, but less experienced developers and project managers may not realize how essential source control can be - until it’s too late.
Because source control links code to its author, it serves another function, it enables you to see the quality of work of an individual. This can be particularly useful in the early days when you are onboarding a contractor, or if you feel a contractor may not be performing as expected.
3. Project Management Platform
If correctly utilized, your task management platform can serve as a complete introduction and information repository for your project(s). Many of the leading products do more than just managing tasks. They also work as chat rooms and file storage.
Just be sure you own the task management access. This is beneficial because you can add and remove people from the platform without losing historical task information. It also means you can slowly bring developers into the fold with specific isolated tasks for them.
4. Time Tracking
Let me preface this by saying that trusting your contractor(s) is crucial to the success of a project. Contractors should be judged on their productivity, not their attendance. What really matters is whether they are getting things done. Pouring over and questioning every entry on a timesheet is counterproductive and breeds distrust.
That being said having daily, or at the very least weekly, access to contractor's hours and task descriptions is a simple way to gauge the level of effort being spent on a project. Particularly useful at the beginning of a relationship, to see if time spent equates work/productivity committed.
Many of these steps help to make the workflow transparent to everyone. It is this transparency which is key to the successful retention of remote workers.
5. Orientation
Last but not least, it is vital to help orient your new team members around the business. From its culture to the location of documentation they will need. Even the most basic onboarding process will help settle your new employees. In turn, this has positive effects on job satisfaction, productivity, and stress. What’s not to like?
Good luck with your search.