Mavenology.

Work-from-home flexibility and remote offices have become a staple in the tech world and beyond – in fact, we hear from our candidates that it’s a main perk that catches their eyes when looking for a new job! Now, in the wake of coronavirus concerns, many employers are encouraging or requiring their employees to work from home to help mitigate the spread of the virus.  

If your office is going remote, we’re here to help! Maven Recruiting Group has worked with remote companies for years, and we’ve accumulated some best practices on how to hire remotely and how to best leverage your remote Executive Assistants and Administrative staff.  

What responsibilities can our Executive Assistants and Admins tackle remotely?

Executive Assistant tasks certainly transition to remote work. Think about scheduling, calendar management, email correspondence, travel planning, expense report processing, slide deck and board meeting prep. An EA can just as easily complete these tasks on their laptop at their kitchen table. Tasks such as triaging priorities and demands, project management, vendor management, and event planning can be accomplished with the same strong communication skills from home as from the office.  

Administrative support staff are a crucial business component, and even when a company goes temporarily remote (as many currently are), business leaders can’t let those tasks go uncompleted. Remote administrative staff can get the job done.

Additionally, your EAs can act as your point person in “taking the temperature” of team members during this time. Executives need all the leverage and capacity they can get as they respond to the evolving business landscape and considerations. EAs can position themselves as a check-in point and sounding board for your teams to help buffer and escalate communications as needed, as well as to extract important insights about your team’s culture and feelings.

How can we continue to drive hiring forward?

Just because your company is working remotely doesn’t mean your hiring needs have disappeared. Your top executive still needs that EA, your admin team still needs that Parental Leave coverage and ultimately your office still needs that Office Manager to make sure everything is in place upon return. Your business is not stopping because of remote work, and neither is your hiring.

If your business has made the decision to go temporarily remote, we highly recommend conducting video interviews via Zoom or Skype to prevent losing momentum. In addition, whether for temporary staffing or permanent hiring, Maven’s candidates come to you fully vetted through our own multi-factor evaluation process, which includes an in-person interview, and should provide you some additional confidence if you decide to bypass live meetings temporarily.

Listen to and share our latest podcast about being a remote Executive Assistant.
We recently launched a two-part podcast episode featuring LJ Cohen, current EA to the Partners of Uncork Capital and former EA to the CEO of Houzz, where we discuss remote support and how to get it right. If your Executive and Administrative Assistants are temporarily transitioning to remote work, we advise you to share this episode so they can effectively support you and your team from afar.

Support goes both ways.

If your team is transitioning to a remote office for the first time, remember to provide support to your staff as well. Dedicate time for weekly (or more frequent) conference calls with your EA staff to ensure they are able not only to communicate important business updates and insights, but also feel supported by you.