Virtual Event: On-Boarding Employees Remotely insights

On-Boarding Experience

• Make sure you are in regular contact prior to their start date to help them feel secure (now especially people are feeling more anxious about their job security) and use this as an opportunity to give them reading material, so they are fully prepared on day 1.
• Find out what their remote working set up and schedule is. Do they have childcare responsibilities, do they prefer to start their day at 7am to finish at 4pm etc. The benefit of working from home is more flexibility in your work schedule, so make sure this is discussed beforehand so you both agree on the best times to communicate.
• Planning well in advance is crucial for a smooth on-boarding process. Have all the documents signed and tech set-up on their device ready for day 1.
• Make sure remote workers still get the first day experience of lunch with the team by setting up a lunch video meeting and giving them Deliveroo credit (or something similar).
• When you are team building online, culture won’t just magically happen. Building culture remotely is all about how you work and communicate. There are great collaborative and fun tools such as Slack, which acts as a virtual office, that will help you build your culture remotely. It’s important to research and find the tool that’s right for your business.
•  Whereby is also a highly recommended collaboration/culture tool as an alternative to Zoom providing you with video meetings in the browser – no downloads & no logins for guests.
• Help make the process as straight-forward as possible by having a checklist to follow with the specific things that need to be covered off at every stage e.g. day 1 checklist, week 1 checklist.
• Be transparent about the current situation and the effects this is having on the industry and your business. Make your new starter feel secure by sharing your business vision and goals and explain why their role is instrumental to the company’s mission.
• First impressions count. Stick to schedules, stay on track and ensure all people involved are fully aware of their responsibilities and the times they are needed from HR & L&D to the CEO.
• Get as much face to face video time with the rest of the team as possible so the new starter feels like part of the team from day one. Try and make this fun. Can you set up a quiz or virtual drinks with the team on a Thursday?
• Be available. Whether this is a manager, another team member or an allocated buddy, make sure they responding quickly to any questions and the new starter knows who their main point of call is.
• Once the standard company policies are ticked off, make sure the on-boarding process is personalised to that individual’s role e.g. what specific training will they be going through in their first 3-6 months.