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. Finally, think about how to spread your onboarding program over a new hire’s first week. Cover only the most important points on the first day, such as team meetings and company overviews (including benefits). Save meetings with other departments, training on non-critical IT systems, and other presentations for later in the week.

Many organizations only provide one week of onboarding, which is simply not enough time. Research shows that the best employee onboarding programs extend from 90 days to a year. So that new remote employees feel fully trained and capable to do their very best. Remote onboarding is the process of welcoming new members to your team remotely and providing them with the tools that they need to do their job.

#6. Encourage Socialization

These https://remotemode.net/ will help new hires feel just as welcomed, valued, and ready to hit the ground running as they would if they were working onsite in their first days with the company. It’s important that this informal mentor be a different person from the person’s manager, so that the new employee feels comfortable asking any question, large or small. Any new employee will and should have endless questions, and the last thing you want is having them feel uncertain about who to ask. Ideally, the onboarding liaison will proactively reach out to the new employee prior to the first day and establish themselves as the new individual’s go-to person.

Aside from direct supervisors, it’s also a good idea for human resources managers to schedule periodic one-on-one video calls. 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.

Structured Onboarding Plan

You’ll also need to consider how you check important documents from remote-working new starters and remain compliant. From 1 October 2022, UK employers must carry out comprehensive pre employment checks. Look out for HR software providers, such as Ciphr, which can integrate their HR and remote recruitment solutions with approved IDSPs to streamline your right to work checking processes. Remote employees look forward to concrete goals and an opportunity for one-on-one face time with their manager. Employees with proper support during onboarding are 54% more productive as new hires. Be sure all existing employee documentation is digitized and hosted on a company intranet for easy access.

Since then, I’ve been on a mission to help create a positive and smooth onboarding process for as many people as I can—whether it’s their first day at a new company, or their first day as an engineer. Now that you have created your remote onboarding courses, you need a fast and reliable way to schedule and deliver them to your learners. Employing a self-paced eLearning component in your program for new hires has several benefits, most importantly that it is available on demand and can be consumed at any time, on any device.

Best practice #6: Check-in regularly

It allows them to gradually ramp up to maximum productivity so they’re not overwhelmed from day one. However, this is not only good for establishing relationships, but also provides the opportunity to cross-train teams. remote onboarding best practices This means that employees from different sectors of the company can learn from each other. So, you can easily make changes to your onboarding process without disturbing any workflows that are currently in use.

Is the Editor-in-Chief & Career Development Expert who writes about real-world career advice on remote work, job search, interviews, career success, and hiring the right people for the team. Frequent contributor on Medium, WikiHow and Chron, he is also a published author, serial entrepreneur and founder of HQHIRE.com. Onboard new employees is a delicate process where you want to make them feel comfortable in a new remote working environment. Send them welcome materials, company swag, and clear instructions for setting up their remote work environment.

It takes place over a few weeks or months and is more in-depth than orientation. In a world where hybrid working and remote working are the norms, our HR and onboarding activities need to keep pace with this change. How well your new hire acclimates to their new position is largely based on the quality of remote training you provide. 20% of your total staff turnover happens during the first 6 weeks of employment.

• This is especially helpful in the case of remote employees when working away from the office can often lead to a feeling of isolation.
• A standardized plan prevents your HR team from missing key steps and creates a smooth onboarding experience, which helps reduce the likelihood of new talent leaving early.

The sense of collective outreach gave everyone a stronger feeling of belonging. Establishing conventions that promote camaraderie and trust supports the workflow, too, by allowing team members to feel more comfortable with each other, and ultimately more comfortable asking questions and making mistakes. Creating mutual trust between teammates early on is critical to maintaining a productive and healthy team. Without trust, team members are less likely to share feedback with each other, may speak up less often about issues or new ideas, and may avoid solving problems collaboratively. Tobi Lütke, CEO of Shopify, has described how the company actively assesses the “trust battery” between team members, and how this container of trust only starts off half full.