8 Best Practices for Any Remote Onboarding Process

Get Remote Employees Online ASAP – As a remote employee, your connection to the team is through the web. Your new hire should be set up with IT early on with their passwords and access right off the bat. When it comes to improving remote employee happiness, introductions and announcements could be the most important elements of the entire onboarding process. Remote employees don’t have as many opportunities to step in and introduce themselves during the first day at the office. You need to have processes in place to make sure they meet plenty of people. A checklist specialized for onboarding remote employees works toward the specific goal of having happy and engaged virtual workers. It is important to arrange regular video call check-ins with the new remote employees to see how they are doing.

Start orientation with IT set up early on to get your new team members their passwords and access right off the bat. 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. Beyond mentors and buddies, schedule quick meet-and-greets with the employees the new hire should know, from the people who approve expense reports to the committee that plans the holiday party.

Create a Virtual Onboarding Checklist

As a result, many nuanced impressions and messages get lost in translation which can further result in misunderstanding. You can’t expect your new hires to remember everything about the company in just one sitting. Hence, they must always have access to important documents and information remote onboarding best practices about the organization. Other tools to consider are video conferencing tools, e-signing tools, applicant tracking systems, helpdesk software, and more. Cloud document management company Box chases customers with remote and hybrid workforces with its new Canvas offering and …

Given their relative lack of know-how and expertise, micromanaging a new remote hire might be an easy temptation. Having all this configured beforehand can help lighten the load when new employees are likely to have plenty of job-specific information to digest. For instance, Time Doctor is a powerful productivity management tool that can track time and initiate new hires into the idea of optimizing their productivity at work. According to a study, as many as 9 in 10 new employees consider quitting in the first month.

Got More Tips on Onboarding Remote Employees?

Statistics show that 49% of HR managers plan to hire fully remote workers. By establishing expectations before creating your remote onboarding process, you can better prepare your new hires for a smooth onboarding experience. Remote employees will love using Nextiva’s Voice over Internet Protocol technology to make clear calls from their computer or a phone console. Satisfied, engaged remote employees—that’s the ultimate goal of all this onboarding. Find ways to measure the success of your onboarding program so you can celebrate achieving your ultimate goal or make changes to get there. Remind managers to be more available than usual.As Vidyard points out, having a key point of contact could help new remote employees feel less stressed. See how prospective employees handle the tools and processes your remote workforce uses.

• Ideally, you should use a self-service portal within your HR software so the candidate can submit documents securely and use e-sign capabilities to sign paperwork remotely.
• Continue regular manager check-in meetings—a long-term must-do for all employees.
• Speaking of audits, you need to consider how your remote onboarding software will hold up to audits and security regulations.
• As soon as a candidate accepts the job offer, find an opportunity to make them feel a part of the family.
• You may not be able to provide an in-person training to all employees, but you can still ensure that new employees feel welcomed by following your self-onboarding checklists.

If you do this, you’ll probably want to give your employees some extra money to compensate them for their time filling out paperwork. Estimate the time it takes to fill out all your paperwork, and provide a reasonable amount to compensate them on their first paycheck. Searching for a remote onboarding system that fits your needs best can be an overwhelming and daunting process with all of the options available. It can seem like a Goliath task to make onboarding more efficient for your employees, especially if you already have a process that gets the job done. 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. Some researchers recommend extending the onboarding process to at least a year.

Welcoming the New Remote Hire

«As onboarding for many jobs has now moved to be virtual, these challenges can be compounded by the realities of remote work.» Strengthening company culture ideas early on can help ensure new employees comply with your organization’s work processes and take greater responsibility for their actions.

• Remote onboarding is becoming more relevant as companies grapple with various health and safety concerns, the need to recruit more diverse/global employees, and improving employee experience as a whole.
• A direct manager can instruct the new hire to schedule calls with their team, direct reports or other relevant colleagues.
• It consists of a range of tasks you’ll need to complete so your employee can learn policies and procedures about the company and get to know their team and the company culture well.
• Based on their position, give them access to online courses or a chance to attend industry-related events during or after their orientation, along with stipends to pay for them.

So go ahead and explore what technology has to offer for your virtual onboarding process. Find out what the best employee onboarding software for your business is. To give you a head start, check out Freshteam, a modernized HR software that can help you hire, onboard, and manage your employees. Before your new remote employee begins work, ensure they have the resources they need to succeed. Providing the necessary technology systems and training will ensure the remote employee has a smooth onboarding process. The portal can include a virtual tour, walkthrough of the company’s onboarding process, and FAQs.

Goal 1 – Help new employees build relationships

Contact us to learn how ALEX can streamline enrollment, empower employee decision-making, and cut medical costs. Recommend that teams proactively call on new hires to provide input during big virtual group meetings, since it can be hard for them to jump right in unannounced. Schedule virtual team hangouts that have nothing to do with work so everyone gets to know each other. Trivia, “escape the room” challenges, and cooking lessons are just a few options. To do this, you need to get to know your employee before they start working at your company.