An effective and thorough onboarding process is always important. The process provides new employees with the tools and access they need to hit the ground running, and to literally do their jobs. Without a good onboarding process, it's easy to feel lost, unproductive, and potentially even lead to employee turnover.
But in an age with more remote workers than ever, an effective and thorough onboarding process can be even more important! After all, work-from-home employees miss the chance to learn their new roles and the company’s platforms in-person; they can’t physically shadow seasoned workers, walk over to the tech department to navigate computer issues or network with co-workers at the shared office kitchen.
A virtual onboarding process must go beyond what you may already have planned, so that remote employees can thrive, not flounder. Here are seven best practices for onboarding new employees virtually.
1. Give employees the tech and tools they need before their first day.
From an employee handbook to a list of contacts to a computer, work-from-home employees need the tools to do their jobs before their first day, says Rutland. “Waiting for these types of tools will isolate the remote employee and disengage the new hire,” she says. Plus, technology doesn’t always work. By sending an employee his or her computer, tablet, or mobile device ahead of their start date, he or she can set up and troubleshoot problems before they begin.
2. Personalize a ‘warm welcome’ in their onboarding journey material.
When a new employee can’t be welcomed in person, it’s even more important to make them feel welcome from home. And personalizing their welcome doesn’t have to be time-consuming.
Rutland says that “some organizations have automated their onboarding material to allow for increased personalization for the new hire,” and recommends using platforms such as the
Salesforce Marketing Cloud or Pardot “to deliver just-in-time training material that enhances engagement for a remote employee.” These platforms are beneficial for remote employees, she says, because “the material can be accessed from a computer and is mobile-ready.”
3. Define concrete, short-term outcomes.
“A crucial component to employee success is mastering an early understanding of their roles and responsibilities,” says career coach Meghan Wagner. For in-office workers, that understanding might be gained by physically observing others – in meetings, for example, or by shadowing co-workers with the same or similar jobs. For virtual employees, however, those in-person interactions aren’t possible. And that’s where it’s time to get creative, Wagner explains.
She recommends taking a more intentional approach “by defining three to five key outcomes for all employees’ first 90 days.” Of those outcomes, a couple should be learning-based – i.e., mastering internal systems and workflows – and a few should revolve around socializing, as in, having a minimum number of phone calls or video coffee chats with co-workers, she says. And some, Wagner says, could be performance-based: new hires could be tasked with leading or preparing a certain number of meetings, or to participate in a few key presentations.
Then, “at the end of 90 days, meet with them to see how they fared on these outcomes,” says Wagner. Your feedback will help them improve and stay connected to your teams. You may also want to set another three to five goals to be completed over the next 90 days, she says.
Beato echoes this sentiment and says that setting measurable goals during the onboarding process is “important because it gives the employee clear guidelines as to what the expectations are and helps them set their priorities,” even though they’re not in the office.
4. Make all necessary introductions to key contacts over a video conference call.
In-office workers can meet co-workers in person, both in formal settings – such as a meeting – or informal ones, such as running into a teammate in the hallway or going to lunch with a co-worker. Work-from-home employees don’t always have the same opportunities to meet and build relationships with co-workers – but it’s no less important for them to do so, says Beato.
“Ensure that a formal introduction of the employee takes place over a video call,” says Beato. “It should include their team members – if they are leading a team – and their internal partners, external partners, and key customers.” Ask the new employee’s manager to organize the call, Beato recommends. “This helps establish a clear understanding of the importance of this team member, their responsibilities, and allows others to ask questions to get to know them better.”
Separately, “schedule a virtual team meeting and ask everyone to use their webcams for some virtual face time with the new hire,” suggests Rutland. “Invite the virtual employee to prepare and share a PowerPoint or Google Slide to share a little bit about themselves – i.e., hobbies, experience, education, etc.” Doing so can allow for “even your most introverted virtual employee time to prepare their thoughts in advance, and not be put on the spot to share with new team members they have yet to build a relationship with,” Rutland explains.
5. Support knowledge retention.
“One of the hardest things about onboarding in a virtual setting is that retaining digital information without a physical or social context is especially challenging for the human brain,” says Wagner, which is why she advises her clients to “make a practice of checking in with their new employees at the end of every day for a few minutes.” During these daily check-ins, Wagner says you could ask questions such as "What are three things you learned today? Did you learn any new processes today – and if so, what did you think of them?" By checking in this way, you provide a bonding experience and a “great way to cement new knowledge into new hires' minds, especially when you include a concrete number for them to hit,” Wagner says.
The key, she says, is to tell your new hire about these check-ins ahead of time. “Its aim is to support them in this specific way – no one likes a pop quiz their first week of work,” she says.
6. Tap your team for social support
Even before the rise of remote work, “socializing with a new group of people was a challenge for many,” says Wagner. And “for many, it's only gotten more intimidating in the age of Zoom.”
That’s why she suggests that – in addition to introductory video calls with teammates and clients – you “start your new hire off on the right foot by setting up three to five coffee chats for them their first week.” You should start with the key team members with whom the new employee will be working, and “ask each person to make a point of introducing your new employee to a new team member,” Wagner says, in a more one-on-one capacity. Such chats “will help connect the new person to the team in an organic but strategic way,” Wagner says.
7. Provide the employee a key list of key contacts for support in HR, IT, and more.
Empower new hires to ask questions and contact your organization’s key players by providing them with a complete list of names, phone numbers, and email addresses of your HR, IT, and other teams – both internally and externally. “This is important because it avoids having the employee to look up the information during a time of need, which will save time,” says Beato.
Consider organizing the information into an easy-to-navigate Excel sheet, where the employee can clearly find not only names and contact information, but people’s job descriptions. Don’t leave them in the dark as to who does what, and whom they should contact with questions.