The Upside of Hybrid/Remote Work

March 22, 2022

While many companies are struggling with the dual challenges of managing remote work while stemming high turnover, Chelsea Wood, Director of Recruiting at PAM Transport, has the answer and the data to prove it.

Chelsea leads 18 domestic recruiters.  Eight of these recruiters live in different states and work remotely.  Chelsea has used this hybrid approach successfully for the past 7 years, so the pandemic was not a driver for this hybrid solution.  Gary, her Vice President of Recruiting believed he could expand the hiring pool using remote recruiters and trusted it wouldn’t affect performance. Although numerous studies have debunked the myth that remote or hybrid work schedules reduce productivity, she has tracked her own performance results over the past 7 years.  Her data reflects comparable, if not improved, productivity when comparing remote and office recruiters.  Her top recruiter works remotely.  And she has only lost 1 team member to voluntary turnover in the last year (during the “Great Resignation” no less).

Chelsea believes the advantages of remote work are:

  • Interactions are more intentional. While she has more frequent contact with office staff, calls with remote team members are of higher quality.  In addition, she says, “Remote team members are less impacted by group think and negativity that is more easily spread in the office setting.”
  • Different time zones allow for expanded coverage over the day. And recruiters at home often work earlier or later.
  • Flexibility in dealing with personal situations results in fewer unexpected callouts (absences) as they can better balance their work and personal life.

This was part of a presentation on flexibility, remote work, and the need to adapt to the future and future generations.  We were so impressed with her leadership, we wanted to share her experience and results. And, although this probably hasn’t even occurred to Chelsea, it is her brand of High Performance leadership that makes these results possible.

For additional info on hybrid work, here is an excellent article by Sue Bingham – To Make Hybrid Work Solicit Employees input