Employees around the globe are now preferring to work from home (WFH). Instead of travelling and going to the office and working for 9-10 hrs straight, they want to work at home in their comfort space.
The virtual opportunities after the outbreak of the virus have provided them stability and accessibility from anywhere. And as remote work continues to grow, more and more companies are transitioning to fully hybrid or remote work models. Thus, bringing the online onboarding process too.
Employee onboarding is a sequence of actions that allow recruits to interact with their team and learn about the company’s methods, attitudes, tools, and rituals. An employee onboarding process must be flexible and should evolve to changes and interruptions in the way you work.
However, it’s a big task and can be daunting enough for employers, especially when you’re bringing in remote employees. The lack of routinely in-person contact may leave employees as well as employers clueless about the work and goals. In such cases, companies use digital tools like HR onboarding software that help them tackle these challenges.
As demanding it can be, onboarding remote employees brings a lot of advantages as well:
- Reduces the burden of HR and administration by authorizing new staff to serve themselves.
- Facilitates eLearning, training, and onboarding sessions flexibly to the location, device, and requirements of the individual.
- Streamlining and facilitating processes and paperwork.
- Encourage individuals to tap into the virtual workplace and understand the values, culture, and goals of their new company.
- Fast-tracks productivity with easy access and centralized information and learning materials.
Thus, onboarding solutions not only answer to core necessities of traditional onboarding but also provide flexibility to be customized according to organization needs. And even if you’re miles apart, a new employee should feel involved in the department’s workflow and culture.
Here are a few tips that may help to onboard new employees easier:
Start With a Warm Welcome
Sending some company swag or mailing favorite candy to new employees by everybody on your team could help the employees feel welcomed. Moreover, you can also create some kind of welcome video or pictures that features the whole team. It not only brings new employees into the team with open arms but also for the whole team to initiate a delightful tradition together.
Face-to-face Meetings
Since remote employees are not in the office every day, they miss the necessary aspect of a team’s culture. Hosting a few video meetings per week when the new hire arrives could keep the connectivity intact. This face-to-face meeting is important to get each team member introduced to each other.
Ask the new employee to talk about themselves, and encourage them to switch on their cameras, and feel connected. Getting to know each other is a two-way road. This will help new employees to discover their common interests with their peers and lose hesitation.
Role-specific Training
If it’s your first time onboarding remote employees then you need to adapt the latest process and materials for virtual employee training. Ensure that your onboarding process has plenty of on-hand, role-specific training that enables them to understand the complications of their normal responsibilities and tasks. Allow new hires to job shadow, someone, in a similar role to get a better grasp of what they need to do and how.
One-on-one Communication
There are multiple ways to connect with new hires. HR and managers should check in regularly. Have off time each week for their employees to check in and create a virtual door for employees to communicate.
You can also hold one-on-one weekly meetings with new employees to check in and give support. As remote work limits natural interactions, supervisors need to have frequent communication. Moreover, hosting a secondary meeting with the new employee will bring them closer to their team.
Feedback
If it’s your first time running a remote team, then there’s a good possibility of experiencing some challenges initially. Therefore, asking new hires to pay close attention to the procedure and giving you feedback on what worked and what didn’t will allow you to constantly enhance the approach for future recruitments.
Conclusion
Taking forward an onboarding process for remote employees is daunting initially. But, ascertaining how to improve the process is important for making sure that you provide the right details and set the attitude. Therefore, Use above mentioned tips to give new hires everything they need to be effective and happy team members for the long run.