Best Practices for Remote Employee Onboarding

We send everyone a $20 Grubhub gift card and use this meeting to get to know each other outside of what was on the resume. We ask questions like, «If you could eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would that be?» We may also play two truths and a lie. This way, your new hires don’t have to worry about device specifications during onboarding. You can also provide asynchronous options so that they can follow the process at their own pace. Remote onboarding became the norm during the pandemic while many businesses struggled with it.

• It is a tricky process at the best of times, and remote onboarding creates new challenges for HR teams.
• Remote employees look forward to concrete goals and an opportunity for one-on-one face time with their manager.
• Promote well-being programs that can be used for virtual team buildings too.
• This reduces the stress of them having to learn independently and allows them to focus all their attention on the tasks at hand.
• They also need to build a rapport with their managers and colleagues.
• She has covered business software for six years and has been published in Newsweek, Forbes, the Daily Beast, VICE Motherboard, Reason magazine, Talking Points Memo and other publications.

Whilst it is a small gesture, remote employees will miss out on office perks and therefore these need to be replicated in the home environment. This will make them feel connected to the organization and better understand the company culture and values. As an HR professional, you’re probably trying to understand how you can create an efficient onboarding process.

An HR Team’s Complete Guide to Virtual Onboarding

Depending on the company, onboarding can range from a few days to a few weeks. Both the employer and employee should feel ready for the first day of onboarding with a continued sense of preparedness throughout the entire duration. This goal can be achieved by reviewing the following 4 tips to ensure organization and efficiency for smooth remote onboarding. Consider, too, a virtual lunch hour with the entire team soon after onboarding. The exchange might alleviate some stress for an employee still settling into their role and, in the process, demonstrate a supportive company culture. Now that we understand the best practices for remote employee onboarding, let’s explore why it’s so important for an organization.

The second step, and most critical aspect that should be addressed, is how login credentials are shared. Kyla is part of the Marketing team at Kumospace, where she helps run the social media accounts and creates content. Kyla has many different passions outside of work, including volleyball, traveling, and restaurant dining.

Initiate professional development and personal growth from the start.

Use the People Ops methodology to set your new employees up for success. It is also important to note that it shouldn’t just be the manager who checks in. Someone from HR should also touch base and if your company is small enough, the Director of their department or CEO should take the time to check in, too. The first step you can take is to create a guide that explains which tools your company uses and how you use them.

Include specific steps or milestones they’ll need to meet and any other pertinent details and timelines. Welcoming a new employee virtually doesn’t necessarily have to be more extensive than in-person onboarding. Instead, create a schedule so new hires know what’s most important, and give them a realistic amount of time to complete tasks. Forcing a new hire to complete https://remotemode.net/blog/10-best-remote-onboarding-practices-to-adopt/ a confusing array of tasks is one source of a negative new employee experience. Making the most of preboarding helps you focus on higher-value aspects of onboarding on the employee’s first day. «Use this time to complete as much of the paperwork as possible, and use an HRIS [HR information system] to allow employees to e-sign documents,» Bond-Hillman said.

Include essential forms or documents that need to be completed

Effective onboarding aims to convince employees that sustained efforts over the long term can help them reap career jumps and financial rewards at your company. It prepares employees to fully commit to performing well and exceeding expectations. All employees should feel like they’re part of the team and clearly understand how they fit into the larger picture. An initial in-person gathering can also strengthen the quality of all the inevitable virtual meetings and communication going forward.

Have 30-, 60- and 90-day development checklists for new hires to assess their needs and confidence in different areas. Avoid the expectation that remote workers know everything by a certain date; instead, embrace the way they learn and the journey to help them get there. New employees will be eager to meet their future coworkers and vice versa. An introductory meeting with the entire team should be scheduled for their first day of work. In order to keep it fun and light, try playing virtual icebreakers during the meeting. Also, encourage team members to set up staggered virtual coffee chats and lunch dates with the new hire during the onboarding timeframe.

Providing a virtual mentor for new remote hires helps to give them a head start. While mentoring remote workers is somewhat different, it helps deliver positive and powerful effects for new employees. This can be especially true for remote employees who can’t simply pop into offices to ask questions.

Taking the time to select the best remote onboarding software will help you and your employees for years to come. Depending on the size of your business and the callousness of your violations, you could be paying up to $16,000 per I-9 violation. A key remote onboarding best practice is to invest in a platform that can help you collect I-9s promptly and get them filed away digitally.

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They need to understand how to reach out to management whenever anything comes up or need help. Most importantly, you must provide a contact person for every scenario. After each step, you can assign them a series of activities to complete to assess their comprehension of the subject/task. At advanced stages of the training program, give them real work with short deadlines while providing feedback. These actions make it easy to integrate them into the company as seamless as possible.

For technical onboarding, give new hires access to the tools they’ll be using in their roles and, most importantly, encourage them to use the tools as early as possible. Using tools, even for very small tasks, builds confidence and helps new employees to feel productive and empowered. While tools are an important part of any role, new hires need to feel empowered to use them. Organizations can help build technical confidence by setting up early wins with action items the new hire can complete as they move through their training.

The process should help them quickly adjust to the performance and social aspects of the job to become productive members of your organization. Instead, create a guided process that takes into account every aspect of the job and company. As an HR manager, regular check-ins are essential to know the issues that employees are experiencing and what they’re working on. You have to help them solve problems as they occur without waiting for quarterly or annual performance reviews. The process of mentoring new hires should embrace understanding, flexibility, and patience.

• Consider recorded videos, online scavenger hunts, and quizzes to break up the monotony of meetings.
• His love of connection and passion for people has seen him through his five-year career in customer success.
• Understanding the “Best Practice” requirements that should be met when planning to onboard employees virtually is a good first step in helping to narrow down your choices.
• Remember that these employees are still going to need some handholding when they come to visit – even though they’re not technically “new” anymore.