5 steps to a great remote onboarding process

This would act as a “one-stop-shop” providing everything a new hire needs to get started such as e.g. forms, employee booklets and documentation. Providing a permanent home for this content ensures that new team members can learn at their own pace and revisit the content remote onboarding best practices whenever they have a question. What’s more, it also streamlines admin as all of the digital paperwork can be accessed and submitted in one centralised location. 30% of remote workers reported that their productivity increased while working remotely during COVID-19.

You should also review any processes related to your policy, such as how to submit an expense report for office expenses. Good feedback is timely, specific and focused on actions. State what you’ve observed or heard and don’t make assumptions about the intentions that may have guided those actions.

How to develop managers with the skills and tools they need to succeed

This may include providing equipment such as an office chair, a laptop, keyboard and mouse, and a laptop stand. You should also support your new-starter with testing the equipment and accessing relevant software, setting up accounts, etc. You’ll already have a clear onboarding journey for someone coming into the office. This should be no different for someone working from home. Build a structured virtual onboarding schedule for the first five days, trying not to cram everything into day 1. Agree with all the stakeholders involved what needs to be done by who and have every task clearly outlined in each schedule (including the new employee of course!). It is essential to remember that hiring a new WFH employee still requires the same checks and processes as someone who is office based.

The inability to communicate face-to-face also bred the popularity of alternative platforms; you’re probably very familiar with solutions such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams. However, not all means of communication are strictly voice and video. In fact, the digital onboarding platform also serves as a channel of communication. In other words, hybrid onboarding doesn’t mean your processes need to change. But they can be made smarter, more efficient and quicker using a designated platform. There’s a lot of tools and hacks that promise sales bumps to startup owners. But at the end of the day, increasing sales team productivity will always take more than a single fix.

Clear and concise course onboarding

Also, inform their team members and managers about their joining well beforehand. Include a question to learn whether the respondent works onsite or remotely.

A great onboarding programme will be collaborative, engaging, and tailored to the needs and expectations of each new starter, that were made clear during the recruitment process. It’s crucial that IT work closely to help a remote onboard happen. From laptops to telecoms, the employee needs the right equipment to do their job on day 1. For 99.9% of roles, the risks will be slim but make sure you are aware if someone is having building work done to their house and check you have seen the home office setup they plan to use. Simple things like making sure they are using a suitable chair really matters.

Welcoming staff back to work after furlough

They need the right office set-up to perform their jobs, but within the confines of their home. They can’t walk down the hall to a colleague’s desk to ask a question, so they need tools that enable communication.

Video interviews, for example, have gone from something that often only happened if the candidate was unable to attend in-person to being standard practice. Dealing with the elevated importance of working from home procedures, from basic health and safety through to contractual changes, suddenly became almost a full-time focus for some HR departments. There are probably hundreds of other challenges we could all mention. However, one of the biggest changes faced by many businesses when taking on new members of the workforce was one of how to onboard the employee. Now, some months into the practice, we are seeing many employers embracing onboarding remotely.

Onboarding in Isolation

Make sure you communicate the job expectations properly to the new employee. And if there is any relaxation, then share that effectively. The world of work is going through a dynamic transformation. There’s a war for talent, and companies are competing to attract and retain the best people. Businesses might believe that a good salary or incentives are enough to attract top talents. It is about the employee experience, i.e., how companies shape the way people work. I’ll also cover some tips for you to conquer the virtual onboarding process.