How to onboard remote employees

Making new employees feel welcome and immersed in their roles in the company is the aim of successful employee onboarding. But what if it was online? With hybrid and remote working now more prevalent than ever, managers and HR departments are looking into virtual onboarding as the answer.

The onboarding process begins with the initial job confirmation and continues well after the new employee's start date. We'll talk about the virtual onboarding process and its three periods: pre-induction, induction day, and role-specific virtual onboarding.

Pre-Induction

Pre-induction is the period between when the employee accepts the job offer up to their first day at work. This is the best time to finish administrative tasks and run any pending checks needed for the new employee. This also includes organizing the hardware and software your new coworker would need to get them started. Lastly, make sure a clear agenda for their first day is sent to them ahead of time.

It'd also be good to note that not everyone is savvy with virtual meeting technology. You may need to check if your new employees understand virtual meeting tools like Zoom and Google Meet. Consider offering new employees a pre-induction training session if required.

Induction day

Whether you are onboarding one employee or several, an informal online meeting is an excellent way for everyone to introduce themselves.

It may be harder to bring across your company culture remotely, but a presentation can help. Perhaps a short film about the company or more info on the department the new employee is going to work in can help. A great tool to create these pre-recordings or deliver your presentations in real-time is VideoCom Presenter. You can even import your own PowerPoint presentations, Google Slides, or PDF files onto VideoCom Presenter. Once added, you can add extra visuals such as videos, annotations, and even your own camera on top of every slide. Apart from all this, remember to include opportunities for questions in your meetings and presentations.

Individual virtual onboarding

After the employee's first day at work, you will be able to concentrate on the individual onboarding process. It's important for your new team members to feel supported by the company and confident in their work; therefore, you should plan regular check-ins. The main idea is to keep the lines of communication open and clear. This could be through communication channels like Slack to facilitate constant team communication. At first, it's recommended to do it daily, then twice or three times weekly for the first six weeks, but remember it's not a substitute for informal communication.

To keep things interesting, having a combination of meetings and webinars will help in training individuals. It's also important to keep your interactions with the remote team light and friendly with activities like Zoom quizzes and virtual coffee breaks. Remember, having a flexible approach is the key to remote onboarding.