Since the outbreak of the pandemic, businesses have been forced to work remotely, either fully or partially.
From in-person meetings to online video calls, many things have changed in the way companies operate today.
Although this new way of working brings many benefits—higher productivity and fewer absences—it also presents tough challenges, one of which is remote onboarding.
While before the pandemic, new employees could shadow their seniors and build relationships during break times, the virtual world operates differently. Without the warmth of face-to-face interactions, employees may feel lost and unwelcome in their new workplace.
So, how can you overcome these challenges and create a remote onboarding experience that is as warm, connected, and supportive as offline onboarding?
Here are 9 great tips for successful remote employee onboarding. But before exploring them, let’s first look at the basics of remote onboarding.
What is remote employee onboarding?
The remote employee onboarding process is a procedure for welcoming, training, and guiding new employees to get acquainted with their new roles and responsibilities. All of this takes place in a virtual environment with the help of video calls and other employee onboarding software.
Just like an online training program, the purpose of remote onboarding is to provide employees with a comprehensive view of the company’s culture, processes, and policies, and to help them confidently begin their new journey.
A smooth remote onboarding process lays a solid foundation for new employees by providing a clear picture of what the company expects from them and what they can expect in return. This helps them stay on track and make meaningful contributions to the company’s growth.
Since remote onboarding is conducted through online platforms, it is crucial to organize regular formal and informal meetings. Although these meetings cannot replace the cozy coffee breaks and exciting in-person training sessions, they can help employees feel less isolated when working remotely.
What is the difference between onboarding and orientation?
Onboarding and orientation—these two terms are often used interchangeably because both processes aim for a single goal: turning new employees into effective resources. The only difference lies in their duration and implementation.
Orientation is a one-time process that takes place immediately after an employee joins the company. In contrast, onboarding is a continuous process that includes a series of events lasting three months and sometimes up to a year.
Employee orientation includes a quick greeting and a brief introduction to your work and processes. On the other hand, onboarding is a broader term that includes but is not limited to orientation.
While orientation usually lasts about a week, onboarding is a thorough process involving regular meetings where new hires can interact with colleagues and gain a deeper understanding of their specific roles.
9 golden tips to help remote employees succeed from day one
A remote work setup does not give employees the natural opportunity to integrate with your work culture. That is exactly why remote onboarding must be carried out carefully to ensure employee satisfaction and long-term success. Here are 9 great remote onboarding tips to make the new employee journey less daunting and more fulfilling.
1. Give new employees a warm welcome
The onboarding process actually begins before the employee officially joins the organization. You can kick things off early and set the right tone for the employee journey by surprising them with a welcome gift package. Freebies and personalized gifts for employees, along with a letter from your CEO, are the perfect recipe to double the excitement of new hires. You can send this welcome kit right after sending the offer letter and receiving the candidate’s acceptance. This is a great way to create a sense of connection with the candidate even before they meet the team they’ll be working with. Such gestures not only help new hires feel less stressed but also enhance your company’s reputation. Candidates will love to share their experience on social media, which will get people talking not only about your brand but also about your excellent onboarding system.
2. Make the first day memorable
Do you remember your first day at a new office? Unfamiliar surroundings and unfamiliar people. It must have been overwhelming, right? This used to happen even when everything was normal and remote work was not common. Imagine how gloomy the first days of remote work can be for new employees! Now that you know the anxieties of the first day at work, you can implement a system to help new hires feel welcomed and more comfortable while working remotely. Keep the first day light by showing new employees videos of great days at the office. Surprise them with warm welcome emails , video messages from team members, and short notes from those they will be working with. You can also organize an online lunch to break the ice, share some laughs, and help new hires feel comfortable on their first day.
3. Assign a buddy
Ask any HR professional for the best tips for remote onboarding and they will surely emphasize the importance of a Buddy System. New employees often feel isolated in their early days, especially in a remote work environment. This sense of isolation can quickly worsen if not addressed in time. A recent survey of over 2,000 Americans working remotely found that 7 out of 10 employees still feel isolated in a virtual work environment. In fact, only 4% of new hires are satisfied with remote onboarding, while others don’t know how to stay connected with colleagues. Clearly, new hires need a buddy and mentor to help them overcome the challenges of remote work. You can assign them a buddy who will answer all their questions and help them understand the team’s rules. The buddy ensures that new employees always have someone to guide them whenever they face difficulties at work or simply need a friend to lean on. When employees feel at ease and integrated into the team, their work performance will reflect that.
4. Set up online meet-and-greet sessions
One of the toughest challenges in remote onboarding is that despite many measures, employees can still feel isolated and confused most days. So, what’s the solution to this persistent problem? Online meet-and-greet sessions are very effective in a remote work environment. Especially during onboarding, short online meetings give new employees the chance to get to know colleagues and understand how the team operates. These meetings don’t have to be all work and no fun. You can always incorporate casual conversations and fun virtual icebreaker games into official meetings to help new hires relieve work pressure. The onboarding process usually lasts at least three months, which is a long time. So, make sure these meetings are not mechanical. Instead, they should be enjoyable and equally focused on work. In the early days, you can also arrange one-on-one meetings with team leaders and department heads. Such close interactions will build trust in new employees and help them integrate faster into your work culture.
5. Provide self-learning tools
Just like customers, employees also love self-service features. It allows them to learn at their own pace and avoid bothering HR, colleagues, and supervisors with minor issues. “The days when employees called or emailed the HR service center for answers to frequently asked questions are almost over.” With a self-learning system, new employees always have a reliable resource to guide them in situations where they are confused or need help. For example, if there is a company policy or a leave application process that new employees need guidance on, they can refer to the employee handbook or internal knowledge base for the necessary assistance. The employee handbook serves as a single platform, giving new hires quick access to important information about your policies, products, vision, mission, culture, and more. To help employees make the most of this self-service system, you can integrate it with a communication platform like Slack. This way, employees will receive instant updates on any changes or additions to your employee handbook, right in their Slack dashboard. Not only does this make learning easier, but it also helps new hires maintain productivity from day one. Here is a short video guide on how to create an employee handbook using employee handbook software for new hires.
6. Bring fun activities into the virtual world
Do you remember the good old days at the office? Back then, connecting was easier, filled with fun, laughter, and open conversations over coffee, long walks, and team lunches. While people remain the same, the context has changed. But that shouldn’t stop you from creating a friendly and joyful work environment; new employees will love to join in. Think of all the fun activities employees participated in during office days and turn them into a virtual experience. For example, you can organize online coffee or tea sessions, or online trivia games where teams compete for a gift basket—these are great options. You can also organize games like Food Quizzes, fitness challenges, or activities where employees share their perspectives on working from home. Remote onboarding culture doesn’t have to be isolating. Instead, it can be just as engaging and fun—if not more so—than the office days of the past. With these fun activities, new hires can feel comfortable and build strong bonds with everyone in the teams.
7. Set clear expectations from the start
New employees must clearly understand what your organization expects from them so they can start off on the right foot from day one. In a virtual environment, where the first days are filled with expectations and uncertainty about what to do, what to expect, and whom to seek help from, setting expectations is even more important. Explain the roles and responsibilities, and show how they align with the company’s overall success. Ask team leaders to present the company’s goals and the contributions expected from new hires. This level of clarity is crucial to help them prioritize their work and achieve quick success in the first few months. As new employees’ roles become more complex with more responsibilities, they will be able to adapt to changes more easily. All thanks to the solid foundation built from the early days. Since productivity is one of the biggest challenges of remote onboarding, a structured onboarding program with clearly set goals and expectations can be a powerful assistant. It can help new hires get off to a good start and increase productivity by up to 70%.
8. Conduct online training sessions
Creating internal documents or an employee handbook is certainly a great way to enhance the onboarding process. However, you can also conduct online training sessions to speed up learning. These training sessions can focus on the new role the employee is hired for, the products and services they will be working with, and the standard operating procedures your company follows. The IT specialist (SPOC) can join a session to discuss password management, device security, and other tools your company uses. Department heads can join discussions about the long-term and short-term goals new hires need to achieve and the processes the team follows to complete tasks and get approvals. Similarly, the HR team can organize sessions on basic HR processes that employees can handle themselves. Organize Q&A sessions after each training so new hires have the opportunity to ask questions and get all their concerns addressed. In addition, you can also give them access to your training courses for self-learning anytime, anywhere. What else? Weekly one-on-one meetings with new hires are another way for you to update them on tasks, discuss potential issues, and help them settle into their new roles.
9. Personalize the remote onboarding process
While some parts of the onboarding process, such as organizing online lunches and SOP training, are quite similar, other parts should be tailored to the specific needs of new hires. According to research, the average onboarding process includes 54 activities. Some of these, especially administrative tasks, can take up valuable time that new employees should spend on truly important work.
Therefore, a personalized learning path is needed to connect new hires with the right programs they need for development while eliminating unnecessary activities. To have a suitable onboarding process, you first need to analyze the overall skill level and knowledge of new hires using online assessments and quizzes. Use this data to fine-tune the remote onboarding program and help employees feel directly involved in the process. Include specific online courses and training sessions in the process to impart the right skills to new hires and help them meet the real requirements of the position. For example, for a new member joining your content marketing team, the courses can focus on how to write engaging content and how to optimize content for search engines. On the other hand, for a new associate joining your HR team, the onboarding process can include training on how to interview candidates and how to promote discipline in the workplace. Remote onboarding checklist.
Remote employee onboarding during COVID can be quite tedious. Sometimes, the lack of direct, real-time communication makes even the simplest tasks exhausting. Here’s a quick remote onboarding checklist to get started:
· Send them a welcome kit including a small guide highlighting your company’s rituals, vision, and mission.
· Arrange one-on-one meetings with team leaders, department heads, and colleagues.
· Organize an online introductory lunch to break the ice and help new hires feel less anxious.
· Give them access to your employee portal and help them become more independent.
· Use knowledge base software to create internal documents highlighting the new member’s KRAs, company policies, and culture.
· Familiarize new employees with the tools you commonly use when working remotely. For example: time tracking tools, project management, expense reporting, etc. Check in with new hires once a week to identify any issues they are facing at work.
· Prepare a schedule for the first few weeks, clearly stating the training sessions and meetings to attend.
· Regularly collect employee feedback and incorporate it into the onboarding process. Don’t forget to celebrate new hires’ achievements as the onboarding process comes to an end.
Most importantly, do everything you can to let new employees know that they are one of you! Give new hires every reason to stay with you Remote onboarding at this time is not easy. Since remote work takes away those comfortable moments like bonding over lunch and building long-term relationships in the office, you have to make even more effort for successful online onboarding.