Overcoming the challenges of recruitment in the age of COVID-19

Rachel Robinson, EVP Public Sector Services at Teleperformance, comments on how businesses can successfully recruit, onboard and train new starters all while working remotely

The pandemic has forced people to work from home, and businesses to recalibrate and pivot their digital strategies to a new mobile age. This means business leaders are faced with the unique challenge of remotely recruiting, onboarding and training a dispersed workforce – or risk being left behind. Implementing the right solutions now can enable companies to fight back, thrive, and boost the economy along the way.

Leveraging technology

The remote work revolution has opened up the potential talent pool enormously. Businesses no longer have to recruit within the small radius of their typically metropolitan offices, including hiring people who aren’t able to travel, have disabilities, or even live outside of mainland UK such as on the Isle of Skye. Leveraging technology such as automation can increase efficiency, whilst integrating cloud with hyperconnected platforms can even enable businesses to hire and train employees on an international scale. Having access to more talent is of huge benefit right now, given the pressure piling on companies to balance both profitability and the safety of employees, whilst seamlessly servicing clients, partners and extensive supply chains. Teleperformance has even seen the quality of staff increase alongside access to a wider demographic. The next big challenge for business leaders lies in efficiently onboarding and training employees remotely.

Learning how to do a new job is always difficult and resource-intensive for any business – made even harder when working from home. However, new starters can be onboarded efficiently through a blend of technology and a variety of HR initiatives and benefits. One of the main challenges of not being in person is losing rapport and engagement, which can be greatly supported through gamified recruitment solutions – particularly effective amongst the younger generations. Teleperformance has developed a solution utilising gamification to replace face-to-face assessment centres, which they also use to train new staff, leveraging short 5-8 minute videos and interactive games. They have actually found people engage with this much quicker and learn faster than being taught by a manager in a classroom setting. 

If successful, the benefits of remote onboarding can be exceptional. Despite business leaders’ fears over a decline in output – data indicates that a good work from home policy boosts productivity, as well as alleviating punctuality issues. Focusing on the human touch, and implementing programs to make work fun and boost employee engagement, will prove instrumental to effectively hiring, onboarding and training employees during this pandemic – and beyond.