I also think the hiring process is crucial when dealing with remote workers. As much as possible, introducing potential hires to members of the team other than just managers is crucial to success, so that the team gets to know the potential hire and vice versa.
Without doing this, you're increasing your likelihood of personality clashes after hiring.
I really think this is just good practice regardless of whether the potential hire is remote or not. It gives the new person a much better idea of what the team is actually like, instead of just what the hiring person says, and demonstrates a commitment to an atmosphere where the team makes decisions, not just the managers.
I know GitHub uses their drinkups as part of this process in order to get to know a new hire, and I also know a lot of other engineering shops are including it more and more into their hiring process. In my opinion, GitHub's gatherings are able to about 'just having fun' because they do a lot of work to identify personality compatibility early on in the process