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As they become more familiar using these , you may experience fewer hiccups when they actually start. A standardized process keeps team members and new hires in the loop together. After all, it may be quite some time before you actually meet your new hires in-person . And now that we all have the basics of the virtual onboarding process down, savvy companies are fine-tuning their approach for even better results. Developer network Adeva adds new employees to team Slack groups and sends them information about company culture and projects they’ll be working on up to three weeks prior to their start date. Try sending some videos, a link to get some swag, setting them up with a mentor, or directing them to your social media channels to get new hires jazzed to get started. Now that telecommuting has increased by 216% between 2005 and 2019, remote onboarding has become as important as conventional onboarding.

Even if the required software isn’t set up on time, you can still install it after delivering the hardware components. It should be consistent for all new hires throughout the organization. Your program should list out the tasks that need to be done before the new hires start, the tasks that need to be done on their first day, documentation guidelines, follow-up procedures and more. When you have a solid orientation program, you can avoid a disorganized and lengthy onboarding. Communicate with new hires in advance of their start date to help them get set up with the proper devices and accounts to start remote work. They should already be in contact with their manager before their first day.

Set an introductory meeting with the manager and team

How do you increase efficiency for both your HR team and your employees? By implementing a HCM system that includes employee self-service and mobile capabilities. 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.

• Things can get even more challenging when it comes to onboarding new team members remotely because there’s no face-to-face time or a deskmate to quickly ask a question to.
• The last thing you want is a new hire to continue taking interviews when they should be planting roots with your company.
• Stack Overflow sets up calls between new hires and the company’s executives to hear the company story firsthand and open the door for questions.
• That’s supported by a survey conducted by HiBob, which found that 64% of employees would leave their job within a year if their onboarding experience was bad.

Rather than have the first day of the process be stuck in a room, filling out paperwork, let your new hire spend some time with their new team. Get them all involved in some online games, something that encourages social interaction. The faster new team members are acclimated to the team, the faster they get up to speed and can really contribute. When it comes to new hires, onboarding isn’t just job training, it’s your first real experience with your newest team members. Now, with most jobs being remote, it’s even more important that you take the right steps to integrate your employees into your company within their first weeks.

Remember Training Sessions

Remote employees will love using Nextiva’s Voice over Internet Protocol technology to make clear calls from their computer or a phone console. Offer plenty of recognition for completed tasks and accomplished goals.

A checklist specialized for onboarding remote employees works toward the specific goal of having happy and engaged virtual workers. Any brand new employee, whether onsite or remote, needs an onboarding program that provides the tools and information they need to get up-to-speed. But the stakes are higher for remote employees since they don’t have access to the same resources remote onboarding best practices that an onsite employee does. Instead of trying to run the whole process manually, use your HR software to create an employee onboarding checklist and template that you can customize for different departments and roles. That way, you won’t have to start from scratch every time you virtually onboard a new employee, and you can ensure you’ve covered all the bases.

Give New Hires an Onboarding Buddy

Schedule an individual or group orientation via video conferencing call and review your company mission and values. Provide a meeting agenda ahead of time and send a digital copy of your employee handbook and any onboarding documentation they may need. Assign your new employee both a mentor and an orientation buddy and have them set up a time for a video call. Start orientation with IT set up early on to get your new team members their passwords and access right off the bat.

This would include digitizing essential documents and processes to make them accessible for your remote employees. You now have six best practices for your upgraded virtual onboarding process. Now it’s time to create a memorable welcome experience for your remote new hires. Research shows that it’s more powerful to have a broad network than a deep network, especially as one becomes increasingly senior in an organization.

Initiate professional development and personal growth from the start.

In remote onboarding, the active portion of onboarding may take two to three weeks, depending on the position. But, passive onboarding, which we will address with some specific measures later in this article, may stretch months . Learn how to best onboard employees remotely, and get a free checklist to get your employees up to speed quickly. The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the way many companies work, with remote working becoming the norm for those who can work from home.