Remote Onboarding best practices for you and your team members

They’ll need the right technology, tools and resources to become familiar with the company and to get to know their co-workers and managers. If the onboarding process for remote employees isn’t up to par, employers could risk losing hardworking talent. remote onboarding best practices We’ve talked a lot about how to integrate remote employees with their team, but the remote onboarding process should also cover introductions to key stakeholders on other teams that they’ll need to work with the most. At Slack, the remote onboarding process starts weeks before an employee’s start date. Two weeks before starting their new job, employees get early access to a special workspace created just for new hires, where they’re encouraged to ask questions.

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For instance, if you’ve hired a new customer success manager, consider pairing them with someone on the marketing team and encouraging them to meet weekly as the new employee is onboarded. It’s important the new hire feels as if they’re up to speed on all the new responsibilities and tasks within their new role, the software they’ll be using, and how to best interact and communicate with other team members. Many are started around those who share a characteristic, whether it’s gender, ethnicity, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, or interest. A manager can create a list of top stakeholders, including information about how they’ll work with them and why they’re important to meet.

Over two-thirds of employees surveyed expressed dissatisfaction with their first day on the job because they felt their managers were preoccupied and disengaged. Again, it makes sense that the company that created this app also includes access to Calm as a part of their benefits. Plus, most Calm employees report that they had a positive onboarding experience because of the focus on mental well-being.

This is important to ensure that your onboarding process is working right and that employees are progressing as expected. A remote environment can often feel isolating, and group employee onboarding is a fantastic way to address this issue. New hires will be learning multiple things on the go during the onboarding process, and it’s good practice to give them some leeway early on. You can also share an employee handbook with the new remote worker and their managers, detailing every step of the process. In this article, we’ll highlight ten remote onboarding best practices and their benefits to ensure the smoothest experience for new hires. Helping new hires feel connected to the team and understand the pecking order is key to creating a sense of belonging.

Explain the company culture.

Getting off to a poor start breaks a new employee’s confidence and leads the organization to question the wisdom of the hire. What separates firms that do onboarding best — whether in-person or virtual — is that the work is intentional, and it does not end after the first week, the first 30 days, or even the first 100 days. Your onboarding program should just be the beginning of an ongoing developmental foundation that continues to strengthen your employees’ cultural alignment, relationships across your organization, and performance in their role. HR managers should always strive to review and update the onboarding process regularly. The remote onboarding process that worked when an organization had 50 or fewer employees may not be the best as it grows to 100 or more employees. The best way to know if the process has to be changed or tweaked in any way is to ask employees for feedback once they’ve completed onboarding.

Many companies now choose to either have no office at all or an office that team members can use at their leisure, making a great remote onboarding process essential. A well-ingrained company culture with a remote-friendly work environment is often integral to ensure the onboarding process succeeds. You can also consider an onboarding buddy system where a new hire is paired with an existing employee. This gives them access to someone who can always answer questions and make sure they fit well into their new remote teams.

The buddy might debrief after an important group discussion, flagging to the new employee on actions that aren’t in line with the culture or how his or her style may be perceived by others. Another great tip for welcoming a new hire right away is to send them a comprehensive welcome kit! This kit should arrive before their first day as a way to make them feel welcome and ready to start their new job. When onboarding is done, you should also send a survey and ask for overall opinions and feedback. Employees should be able to share their experiences and give ideas on what’s working and what needs to be improved.

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1. You can provide access to Calm for your employees as a part of your benefits package.
2. It differs from traditional employee onboarding because, as the term suggests, it takes place fully remotely.
3. Request and track real-time feedback on meetings, recent projects, and performance.
4. Besides addressing any potential issues as they arise, you are also likely to get a much clearer idea of where you can improve.

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. Preboarding is essential to keep a new hire engaged during the period in which they have signed the contract, but not yet started working. Perhaps even more so when it involves a remote role as there probably hasn’t been an in-person meeting with the manager and the team.

Better yet, make the majority of your training done by videos via training webinars where you can release pre-recorded or live training for your remote employees. We have gathered the best remote onboarding practices to ensure smooth transitions for both the employee and employer whether you’re a remote-first company or are temporarily operating remotely due to the pandemic. Think about all of the small personal touches employees would usually experience in the office and bring them to life. Announce them to the organization on your organization’s staff calls to give them some face time. Spend more time than you generally would in a face-to-face environment talking about what is typical and atypical across various cultural dimensions. Create the space for your new colleagues to ask about the way things are done as well.

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. First days can be pretty stressful and overwhelming, and this is a good way to help curb those feelings. According to a study, as many as 9 in 10 new employees consider quitting in the first month.

In a remote setting, training becomes especially important during the new hire’s first 90 days. The type of training may vary depending on the role, but examples include instructor-led learning, e-learning, on-the-job training, and mentoring. Many organizations rely on organic ways of communicating shared history and norms.