Remote work is here to stay. Many organizations are embracing work-from-home arrangements and this has only escalated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hiring work-integrated learning (WIL) students for remote positions is a great option to access a broad talent pool. If your company is rapidly growing, you can hire a student without providing a physical workspace for them.
To help you work with WIL students remotely, we've connected with our employers and students and collected some best practices. Please see them below:
1. Clearly communicate guidelines and expectations
Many WIL students are new to the workforce and have not had remote work experience. It’s wise to establish a central place for staff to access supporting documents from home. This would include work from home policies, guidelines, expectations, ways to obtain support, and notes on flexibility.
During orientation, clarify the following with your WIL student:
- Expected hours for the role and if there is flexibility
- Expectations for responding to emails after hours
- What to do if there is a work task they cannot complete in their remote setting (e.g. sending or receiving physical items)
2. Offer a clear system for tracking and managing work
Be clear about how your WIL student can track their work, be accountable for their actions, resolve conflicts, and keep in touch with core members of the team for guidance and collaboration.
Here are some ways to keep your WIL student accountable:
- Provide your WIL student with a timesheet and a way to track their work
- Provide training on productivity tools and collaboration software (i.e. how to navigate file servers, where to save files, how to use Skype or Teams appropriately)
- Provide clear expectations for tasks, deadlines, and daily output.
3. Provide reliable technology and resources
Most people only require a computer, phone, strong WiFi and reliable software to work in remote locations. Decide in advance what resources the student will need. Will you be providing those resources or will the student need to use their own devices? Are there privacy and/or security concerns if they use their own device? It’s also good to have open communication channels, along with a reliable video/phone conferencing system (i.e. Outlook, Skype, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Slack).
Talk to your student about the resources they will need to do their work:
- Talk to your WIL student about setting up their workspace and if there are any resources they might need to complete their work effectively
- Let your WIL student express concerns about their workspace so you are aware of them if problems arise (e.g. if the space is shared or the reliability of WiFi)
- Create a course of action if the student unexpectedly does not have access to the technology and/or resources required for the position (e.g. if the student is using a personal laptop for the role and it breaks down during the experience)
4. Ensure supervisor visibility and communication
In order to successfully supervise a WIL student, the supervisor should be present, visible, and available to be reached online. This defines an expectation that the student will also be present and available to the supervisor.
Here are some best practices for visibility and communication:
- Schedule a regular one-on-one meeting with the WIL student and supervisor
- Establish communication norms for urgent matters
- Invite the WIL student to regular staff and team meetings
- Let your WIL student know if you will be unavailable for several hours. For longer periods of absence, provide an alternate contact person
5. Integrate your WIL student
Integrating a new WIL student into the team is critical to their success. While working remotely, you are likely thinking of new ways to unify your team and keep everyone connected, so extend these initiatives to your WIL student.
Here are some ways to integrate your WIL student while working remotely:
- Virtually introduce (i.e. through email or video conference) the new WIL student to the team
- Invite the WIL student to participate in team meetings, social events, and team building activities
- When providing regular feedback to your WIL student, talk about how they are developing collaboration skills like teamwork and interpersonal communication