Adapting Hiring To a COVID-19 World - Why Remote Workers Are Critical

This is the third installment of a multipart series on things that medical device companies need to do differently in a COVID-19 world. If you want to see the other parts, I will include links at the end of this article as well as a way to get my job hunting book free. In this piece I will focus on remote workers. Let’s face it, medical device is way behind when it comes to telecommuting. Most companies insist that the people they hire live in their area or relocate. This is simply outdated thinking for many knowledge worker jobs. I understand that for many jobs, like manufacturing assemblers, this isn’t possible; but for many engineering, R&D, quality, regulatory, clinical, and marketing jobs, remote workers are a very viable option. When challenged, employers just say that they prefer to have people interact face-to-face. In this article I will bust some myths and provide some info to help move the dialogue forward.

Remote works - If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, besides the fact that people hoard toilet paper in a crisis, it’s that a remote workforce can be productive. Even with kids at home and the disruption caused by a pandemic, people are still able to move projects forward. Some more progressive companies are even hiring and onboarding. That means that the traditional excuses people make for insisting that their workers are in the office are not accurate.

Talent shortages in medical device will get worse - Companies will need to embrace this change because, well, it’s our new reality. Everyone is a remote worker so why not abandon your old geographical biases and hire the best person for the job. There are two other reasons why managers must evolve from the old-school thinking that hires must be made in the office. First, more and more candidates are reluctant to relocate. They don’t have to and they don’t want to. It’s just the way it is. Back fifteen years ago, sure, candidates could be convinced that relocating was a reality for career growth, but it’s just not that way anymore. Second, massive talent shortages in medical device will get worse not better because of COVID-19. Don’t believe me? Let me explain. This pandemic is a fearful time and, well, people’s reaction to fear is to crawl up in a hole and hide. That means that they become change resistant. People simply don’t want to change jobs if they have a job when things are uncertain. If past experiences like 9/11 are any predictor, it will take a minimum of six to twelve months for many employed candidates to again be open to looking at new opportunities. In a crisis, the only people who tend to be open are the unemployed and folks who have a company that is about to collapse. Unless you want to hire people from outside of medical device, your talent pool is going to get pretty small, very quick.

The bottom line - COVID-19 has been a terrible thing for the world, but one of the few bright spots is the fact that adversity caused by this should act as a catalyst to change outdated processes and procedures. My advice to you is to hire the best people regardless of where they live. If you don’t evolve, you will end up hiring the local person that’s “in your backyard,” not the best person that is out there. Employers will have less choices moving forward, but one choice that they can make is to open up their geographical pool and meet the needs of qualified candidates instead of just focusing on their outdated approach. Stay tuned for next week where I will dive deeper into the HR and onboarding things that also need to evolve to meet COVID-19 challenges and propel medical devices into the twenty-first century of competitive hiring practices.

Here are links to the past articles in case you missed them:

Part I -Hiring Changes Medical Device Companies Will Need to Make to Scale for COVID-19

Part II - Medical Device Scaleup in COVID-19 World: Phone Interviewing is Critical