5 Tips and a Checklist for Onboarding a Remote Employee
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With the transition to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more employees are working remotely. And despite recent moves to return to the office, it appears that remote work is here to stay.
Furthermore, the accelerating war for talent is forcing businesses to really think about the remote onboarding process. Onboarding normally is hard enough as it is, and remote onboarding makes the process even more tricky.
A bad onboarding experience can prolong the amount of time it takes for a new hire to become productive, as well as lead to greater attrition. 20% of employee turnover happens within the first 45 days of employment, a symptom of a poor onboarding process.
However, with a systematic, strategic onboarding process you can start your new employees off on the right foot. At the end of the onboarding process, new remote hires should be able to:
- Feel comfortable and welcome at their new workplace.
- Build strong relationships with their colleagues.
- Understand the organizational culture.
- Have clear expectations of their roles and responsibilities.
- Know how their work impacts the business and how they can make a difference.
With these goals in mind, here are five tips to onboard a remote employee and make them a winning member of your team.
Five Tips for Onboarding a Remote Employee
1. Start Early
The onboarding process should start as early as three weeks prior to their start date. Engaging employees early enables them to start their first day off in a comfortable mindset. Send them some videos explaining the company, and if possible a personalized video from their immediate superior or a company leader.
If your company has branded goods, e.g. T-shirts, mugs, stationery etc you can also arrange for them to be sent to the new hire for that extra warm touch. All this will create a connection between the employee and the organization, mitigating the ‘first day of school’ feeling and getting them motivated to hit the ground running.
2. Set Up the Tech ASAP
It is all due to technology that remote working is possible in the first place. Hence, setting up the tech ASAP for a new hire is essential. Get the company laptop and other remote working amenities (e.g. an external monitor) to your new hire, ideally before their first day.
But more importantly, get them up to speed with their digital workplace, i.e. the company intranet, shared drives, communications apps, and other necessary software. This will essentially be the remote employee’s workplace, so getting them access is akin to giving them the keycard to the office building. Doing so ahead of time reduces technical concerns and allows new hires to be fully present and accountable from the outset.
3. Assign a Mentor or Buddy
In-person new employees can quickly find themselves lost, let alone a remote hire. Without the presence of colleagues, remote colleagues can feel overwhelmed and isolated at the same time.
To combat this, introducing new hires to an informal mentor or buddy is critical. Their role is to support the new employee and to gradually induct them into the team. This mentor should be someone other than the new employee’s manager, so the new hire feels safe asking any question, big or small. Any new employee will and should have plenty of questions, and the last thing you want is for them to be unsure who to ask.
The person that you assign to be a mentor should ideally reach out to the new hire ahead of time to identify themselves as their point of contact. The mentor’s role is to provide key information, as well as to integrate the new hire into the fold. During the first week of onboarding, the mentor can introduce key members of the organization to the new hire, while checking in from time-to-time with small talk.
4. Create a Structured Onboarding Plan
Many organizations treat onboarding as a week-long affair, before dropping everything and letting the new hire get on with it. Unfortunately, a study by Gallup found that only 29% of new hires say they feel fully prepared and supported to excel in their role after onboarding.
For remote employees, the lack of spontaneous office interaction means that onboarding support is even more crucial. You will need to create a 30/60/90 day plan with action items and goals for each milestone. Making clear what success looks like after the onboarding process formally ends can create a strong foundation for continued engagement with the company, even when working remotely.
5. Establish Cross-Department Collaboration
A major drawback of remote working is that you can’t rely on the organic and spontaneous relationship-building that happens in hallways, over lunches, and at office events in a virtual setting. The risk of siloing is especially prevalent among departments that mainly operate remotely.
That’s why it’s best to be proactive and intentional about arranging a mix of formal and informal interactions between new hires and other colleagues. Whether it’s a formal work discussion or a fun group activity, it’s critical that new hires create strong relationships across the organization.
The Onboarding Checklist for a Remote Employee
- Send new employees links to company videos, handbooks, documentation etc.
- Arrange for the new hire’s laptop and other goodies to be sent to them.
- Assign a mentor or buddy to the new hire.
- Create the new hire’s 30/60/90 day onboarding plan and share it with them.
- Schedule orientation with HR. New employees can learn about benefits and fill in any paperwork needed.
- Schedule orientation with IT. New employees will set up their accounts, added to relevant group chats, and given a tour of the digital tools they’ll be using.
- Schedule a team orientation. Keep it casual and get everyone to introduce themselves.
- Schedule a one-on-one meeting. Go over their roles and responsibilities, as well as their first week tasks.
- Send a new employee announcement email or share the news of their arrival during a company meeting (or both).
- Have constant communication and check-ins. Encourage feedback from the new employee.
- Conduct role-specific training. Arrange for certification if needed.
- Schedule some fun breaks with the team, e.g. virtual happy hour, team games etc.
- Conduct regular reviews, with reference to the onboarding plan if needed. Point out their strengths and areas for improvement before the next review.
Make Onboarding Seamless with BrioHR
Engage your new hires, whether in-person or remote, with BrioHR’s seamless onboarding module. This helps you make the right first impression, improving employee engagement, productivity, and retention.
New hires have their own access to get instant visibility on the onboarding process. They can enter their personal details, upload documents, and access company information, saving HR a huge amount of time while enjoying the best employee experience. At the same time, managers can customize the onboarding process (with help from the tips and checklist above).
With automated reminders and a user-friendly dashboard, this enables business owners and HR teams to truly focus on what matters most – people.
Get a free demo now by clicking here.
