This is especially important during the onboarding process because it offers yet another way of building a strong team-oriented culture, even if the employees do not work together on the same premises. The way we work is changing, and remote onboarding has become a key part of bringing new hires into the fold without needing them to be in the office. This digital welcome gets new starters acquainted with the company culture, values, mission, and their specific roles. It’s a multi-step process that ensures they’re familiar with the company’s products, services, and how things work around here.

However, don’t rush to cram numerous team-building activities into the first week, as that can also be overwhelming. Whether it’s over Zoom or in person, new information and new people are a lot to take in. So, rather than filling a new employee’s first week, schedule weekly or monthly events so that new hires always have something to look forward to. So, in addition to training material based on the company’s mission and vision, you can provide custom training materials and resources depending on a person’s role and seniority. To do this, it’s best to create a training hub with one or multiple trainings per category for each new employee to complete.

Frequently asked questions

However, this isn’t always practical since remote employees usually work from various locations. If that’s the case at your organization, you can https://remotemode.net/ easily conduct a virtual gathering via a Zoom video conference. Curbing some of the isolation is worth doing when onboarding remote employees.

In this article, we’ll highlight ten remote onboarding best practices and their benefits to ensure the smoothest experience for new hires. Regular check-ins and follow-ups are key to keeping the lines of communication open, so you can provide timely feedback and support. They make the process more efficient for managers and give new hires a chance to connect with peers who are starting out at the same time, which can help them feel less isolated.

Ensure line managers have thorough training lined up

Moreover, use video coffee chats and other ice-breaker activities to break the ice. Some apps, such as Donut, allow employees to chat with a company representative through the internet. Onboard employees can also receive useful information about company resources, such as knowledge bases, training software portals, and cheat sheets. During remote onboarding, new employees may have questions about the company culture or the history of the company. If you can provide answers to these questions, it will help the new employee feel more connected with your company. You may also want to introduce new employees to tools such as DocuSign to streamline the document signing process.

Managers have a major impact on employees’ productivity and engagement, as well as other factors that create a great place to work such as… Finally, and because getting to know everyone remotely can feel a bit daunting, redirect them to your HR software’s directory – this will be a good way to put a name on every face and understand who does what for more context. Once you’ve made sure their tools are up and running, encourage them to post a message on a Slack channel (or send an email) so the rest of the team knows who they are. You’ll, of course, make sure you introduce them during one of the company-wide meetings so everyone has a chance to say hello. For example, if you celebrate birthdays or a person’s first 30, 60, and 90 days at a company, share this information and add it to their calendars to give newcomers something to look forward to.

Make sure they’re a good candidate for remote work

In addition to the capital that’s required to hire and train a replacement, indirect costs account for two-thirds of what companies actually spend on employee turnover. It is estimated that a quarter of organizations incur expenses from employee turnover that total up to 40% of their yearly earnings. This can help new hires feel more connected to their colleagues and the company, even if they are not physically present. It can also help to ensure that new hires have the resources they need to be successful in their new role.

• While new hires will likely be familiar with what your company does, provide joining employees with a deep-dive into your products and services.
• Lastly, creating a space for questions (like a Slack channel) is a great way to let new hires get all of their questions answered in one central place.
• But an onboarding orientation, the first step towards being fully onboarded, should take anywhere from a 4-hour half-day to two full 8-hour days.
• Your new remote employee has needs that you need to help with to ensure their onboarding experience is a good one.
• And remember, you need to be sure your office has the right setup in both the virtual and physical workplace.

Employing a self-paced eLearning component in your program for new hires has several benefits, most importantly that it is available on demand and can be consumed at any time, on any device. It is also reusable, so after the initial work of creating a course, it can be sent out to all future new hires as part of the remote onboarding program. The first step you can take is to create a quick reference guide that explains which tools your company uses and how to get started with them quickly. Once the remote employees have met their new team, make sure they are also introduced to the rest of the company.

Great managers = Great workplaces?

You can do this by surveying employees to assess their understanding of the company’s values and to solicit feedback on how to improve them. If necessary, create a training program to reinforce these values and to help your employees integrate them into the company’s operations. Continual reinforcement of company values is critical in keeping the culture alive and relevant in your business. Matching a new hire with a peer mentor with similar experience is an effective method of facilitating remote onboarding. When selecting peer mentors, make sure they have a stellar performance record, are team players, and have a successful track record in a remote environment.

While on-site this happens organically, in the case of a remote employee, it should be facilitated properly. To create courses, you can use iSpring Suite Max, which we mentioned when talking about organizational structure. With iSpring, you can easily create a course about your company, build compliance courses with interactive quizzes, and record video tutorials on how to use your business software even if you don’t have any previous experience. Many common practices can be applied directly to remote employees, but some become more important than others when you’re working with remote staff. Onboarding doesn’t have to wait for the first day — there are steps you can take immediately to make a new hire feel welcome as soon as they’ve accepted the offer. This not only sends the message that you’re excited to have them on the team but also gets some of the more mundane onboarding tasks out of the way so you can make their first day on the job memorable.