10 Best Practices for Onboarding Remote Employees

According to research at Microsoft, new hires with onboarding buddies were 36% more satisfied with their experience in the first 90 days than those without. This is important because up to 20 percent of new hires leave within their first 45 days, which can cost employers up to twice that person’s annual salary in today’s tight labor market. Over the first few weeks, be sure to schedule face time with senior company executives from a range of departments. Familiarizing the employee with the various parts of the business lays the early groundwork for an employee to envision a long-term career within the company. Crafting an information knowledge based about the company and the new hire’s role expectations can help new employees settle in and find answers they may not have thought to ask. Preparing your team to welcome new hires can help to build team morale and create harmony between new and existing team members.

This goal can be achieved by reviewing the following 4 tips to ensure organization and efficiency for smooth remote onboarding. Eventually, people realized that they could work remotely, which opened up the avenue of a remote onboarding process.

Tips For Effectively Onboarding Remote Employees

New team members simply need more check-ins to help them stay on track with the onboarding process. Consider a stand-up meeting every morning where you start the day together and help your team member prioritize their tasks for the day. You could even leave the agenda for these stand-ups completely empty. It’s just about having ample opportunity to get to know each other as well as address any questions or struggles. This ERG is especially useful when the remote employees are in different roles, because learning in one role could benefit everyone in the group. You can provide prompts for the group meetings to have more intention or allow for free-form discovery and natural conversation.

• New hires may even feel connected to the team before every meeting.
• Remote workers will need to have the proper technology for remote onboarding.
• Not just because of the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns; but also because increasing numbers of employees wish to work remotely as a way of balancing their work and domestic lives.
• It’s something I’ve had to adapt to since joining People Managing People.
• New hires will be prompted to complete different types of challenges and tasks like snapping photos, taking videos, answering questions, providing feedback, scanning QR codes and more.

Communicate with new hires in advance of their start date to help them get set up with the proper devices and accounts to start remote work. They should already be in contact with their manager before their first day. In order to position them to be successful, share with new employees the best practices for remote work. A new employee should have a team member they feel comfortable approaching remote onboarding best practices at all times, someone whom they can ask both trivial and important questions. By having this formal mentorship established from day one, the mentor can get to know the employee really well and serve as support throughout their career. Depending on the size and organizational structure of the company, an employee’s mentor may be their manager or someone on a different team.

How Long Should Remote Onboarding Take?

Using this business ID card template, you can create a card that everyone in your company will want to wear. This practice will assist you in making necessary improvements and improving the process for future members. The answers to new hire questions, for example, can be compiled into a centralized repository for easy access in the future. If training is a part of onboarding, make it engaging and interactive. Sitting in front of a screen just receiving information for too long can be exhausting. Include interactive features like quizzes and polls or breakout rooms where they can talk with other trainees.

Now that we have established the importance of a seamless remote onboarding process, let us dive into the nitty-gritty details of how to build an effective one. During such meetings, you can go over anything from your pets to your agency timesheets and check whether they bring proper productivity into the team. One way to create the opportunity for connection is to have new hires, whether they’re onboarding remotely or face-to-face, create a short video introducing themselves to the rest of the team. This allows them to share their hobbies, passions, or any interesting tidbits that might help them connect with other colleagues. As time passes and you successfully onboard a stream of new employees, you’ll start to see gaps in the materials or questions that commonly pop up. As such, putting together an FAQ and cheat sheet could streamline your onboarding process.

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In order to keep the exciting energy alive during the entire onboarding process, avoid using video chat platforms that engender exhaustion; no one wants to experience Zoom fatigue right when they start work. Instead, try using a virtual office space, where socialization feels natural, akin to everyday face-to-face interactions. Remote workers will need to have the proper technology for remote onboarding.