Onboarding new starters is a key part of helping them learn and understand the new role they are undertaking. It is important to make sure this process is as useful and valuable as possible, giving new starters all they need, preventing potential issues further down the line.
Onboarding new starters remotely may add additional challenges and difficulty, but achieving a smooth onboarding is possible. Here are some tips to make sure remote onboarding is as successful as possible.
1. Send a Warm Welcome
Starting in a new company can be a daunting process at any time and even more so when working remotely, as it restricts contact with colleagues. By warmly welcoming any new starters, you can help build bonds between new and existing colleagues. This will help make future communications easier, reducing the likelihood that new starters feel isolated.
Involving new starters in team meetings and catchups with all colleagues is an integral part of the onboarding process. Making sure they know who to speak to if they need anything, this is just like introducing people in the office but rather done over a video call.
2. Invest Money and Time into Equipment
As with a normal onboarding process, employees are provided with a desk, chair, and laptop. Remote workers may not have this setup. However, they will need a laptop and the relevant software and hardware.
Often new starters can find downloading and using all the relevant software and programmes challenging, especially if it is not something they have used before. Spending some time setting up a laptop or programme for a new starter can greatly reduce stress and time taken in their first week of employment.
3. Pair New Starters with Remote Partners
A buddy system is a great way to help integrate a new starter, giving them someone to go to with questions and who can point them in the right direction for programmes, tools and help. For example, directing them to IT support if they had a technical challenge.
Pairing with remote partners would be advantageous to give them advice, tips and tricks in regard to working from home, they can also share their experience and how they manage their workload and homelife balance.
4. Use a Plan/Checklist
Creating a structured plan for the first month of a new starters employment is a great way to make sure they stay on track in terms of their integration into the company. Plans also help make sure that new starters are not totally overwhelmed by huge amounts of information on their first day. It can be a simple three-day plan and then a three-week plan once new starters have found their feet.
A checklist can also ensure that important steps or information is relayed to the new starter. By sharing the plan with the new starter, they will also know what to expect in the first few days and weeks, it will help them keep track of their own progress.
5. Collect Feedback
Once a new starter has completed the onboarding process, it’s key to collect feedback to make sure the process of onboarding is as useful as it can be giving all the correct information at the right time. By separating the feedback into groups of those who work from home and those who go into the office, it will allow you to compartmentalise the two groups of data and analyse the processes for each type of onboarding.