5 Best Practices for Onboarding Remote Employees

Onboarding new hires is already challenging in the best of times, and when it comes to remote employees and the current COVID-19 situation, it’s even more challenging and overwhelming! It’s now more like a rule of thumb that employees who had a satisfying onboarding experience stay longer in the company. Therefore, ZenHR is going to help you today by providing you with the best 5 practices for onboarding your new remote employees.

• Organize your onboarding process

The first and most important step in building a strong onboarding process is having an organized, consistent, and documented process. Divide your onboarding into 3 main sections:

– Tasks that should be done before the new hire starts his/her job such as sending a welcome email, preparing all the necessary documents, tools, and paperwork.

– Things that should be covered during the new hire’s first week/month such as welcoming the new hire, introducing him/her to other coworkers, introducing any necessary tools, providing training material and the work schedule.

– Ongoing follow-ups.

It’s also important to prepare the training manuals, employee handbooks, written company policies, and all the needed material and make them easily accessible for remote employees.

• Welcome the new hire the right way

Welcoming the new hire and introducing him/her to the entire team through a video meeting is highly important when we’re talking about remote hires, as it allows for real-time communication between the new employee and his/her colleagues. You should also consider taking your new hire on a virtual tour inside your office through a video, as this makes them feel involved and familiar with the office.

• Instill your company’s culture

The most challenging part of onboarding new hires is adopting them into your company’s culture. As remote hires won’t be able to spend their day at the office interacting with their colleagues and learning with time everything they need to learn about the culture of the company, it would be difficult for both you and them to get them familiarized with the company culture. The best advice that we could give you here, is to create a mentorship or buddy program, where one of your existing team members interacts with the new remote hire on a daily basis to make sure he/she is in line with the company’s culture, policies, mission, and vision.

• Invest in trusted technology and equipment

When it comes to remote onboarding, communication is key. Make sure your new remote hires have access to reliable and trusted communication tools including video conferencing, instant messaging, and chatting tools.  Keep in mind that these tools could be the only way remote employees get face-to-face connections, so make sure you invest in the best tools.

• Seek regular feedback

Ongoing improvements and tweaks are important to keep your remote onboarding process successful and up to date. Solicit constructive feedback from your new hires about everything related to the onboarding process, as this helps you identify any pitfalls in your process.