Let’s be honest, joining a team remotely can be… weird.
Most of us love working from home. But meeting new faces and adapting to a new work environment from a home office can be challenging. Not only for the new employee but for leaders as well.
As more and more companies transition to fully-remote workplaces, nailing the remote onboarding experience is more important than ever before. Employee onboarding is your first impression, so it’s important to get it right.
But as a leader, how can you design an effective and successful onboarding experience? We’ve put together some tips and best practices to help you create the best possible remote onboarding processes.
While the onboarding experience is different from team to team, here are some easy tips to make onboarding a breeze.
Nothing is worse than a new employee sitting around twiddling their thumbs. Except maybe an employee sitting around twiddling their thumbs alone in their home office.
Having an onboarding plan is key to ensuring that their first week is an engaging and positive experience. Prepare the employee’s first week documents and schedule ahead of time, so they can hit the ground running.
Before their first day, send a message to your new hire to let them know what to expect. Who will they be speaking with? What kind of activities will they participate in during their first week? Do they need any documents or technology prepared for their first day?
By setting expectations, there are no surprises, so your new hire will be ready to go by day one. This is also a great opportunity to get any administrative tasks out of the way before day one. Your human resources team can be a great resource to determine what can be completed ahead of time.
Between documentation and orientation, there’s a lot of information to absorb in the first few weeks in a new role. Make sure that your new hire has the time to digest and really build their knowledge.
Breaking up information into bite-sized chunks can make the information easier to absorb. A schedule or to-do list can also help make the remote onboarding process less overwhelming.
New employee onboarding doesn’t start their first day on the job. As a leader, the prep work for onboarding a new hire begins in the weeks leading up to their first day.
Here are some things you should be doing ahead of time to prepare for a new remote employee.
While most employees will transition to working independently over time, it’s often beneficial to prepare a schedule for their first few weeks. The structure can help them get a sense of the work environment and help guide them through their onboarding process.
Put everything that your new employee will need in one place. Everything from documentation, resources, and contact info, to employee handbooks should be easily accessible when they start.
Let your team know how they can expect to be a part of the new hire’s onboarding experience. When will they meet the new hire? Is there an onboarding session that they need to lead?
When their first day rolls around, here are some things you can do to make onboarding a success.
First thing, make sure to schedule a check-in. Take this time to welcome them to the team and answer any questions. It’s also a good idea to schedule another check-in at the end of their first day.
While there’s no need to micromanage, make sure to check-in with them from time to time during their first few weeks. They may have questions that they don’t know who to reach out to. This way they’ll also feel supported by you as their manager.
While they likely don’t need to meet everyone on their first day, make sure there is time set aside to introduce them to the team.
A nice welcome message or email to the entire team is another great way to show employee recognition early on in the onboarding process.
Make sure to provide key contact information early on. A new employee often has questions throughout their onboarding experience. It’s important that they know who to reach out to and get the answers they need.
One of the biggest challenges with remote teams is communication. When a new member joins the team, it can be hard for them to get to know everyone. Making sure your new employee is integrated with your team is critical for employee engagement.
As an employee moves through their onboarding experience, there are many ways to help your new hire quickly become part of the team.
From day one, consider inviting new employees to meetings they’ll be attending regularly. They might not be completely up to speed their first week, but this will help them get into the swing of things. Plus, they’ll meet everyone that they’ll interact with regularly right away.
In their first few weeks, consider setting your new hire up for virtual coffee chats with employees across the team. These coffee chats create a low-stakes environment for employees to get to know each other one-on-one.
New remote hires are a great excuse for your team to have a virtual event. Whether it’s a brainstorming session or virtual happy hour, it’s the perfect time to introduce collaboration across the team.
Once your new hire is ready to hit the ground running, set up some checkpoints to provide and receive employee feedback. This should include regular one-on-one meetings and performance reviews. Take the time to align goals and expectations as well.
Once onboarding is wrapped up, make sure to gather feedback on their onboarding experience.
The right onboarding experience is one of the best ways to set a new hire up for success. Remote onboarding can require a bit more thought and attention but with the right strategies and processes in place, you’ll be building an all-star team in no time.