A guide to remote onboarding

COMMUNICATION IS KEY:

Once an offer has been accepted by a candidate most companies don’t realise how important the onboarding phase is.

This is a crucial stage, as this is the first window into your organisation and a chance for a new employee to understand the culture and kind of organisation they will be working for.

With the current Covid situation remote onboarding is now becoming the norm. Some clients are finding this lack of face-to-face contact challenging with integrating and onboarding new hires. This is a new way of working.

“Communication is key” the more you interact with new team members during onboarding the more they will feel part of the team and ready to do some of their best work.

Here is a checklist of some of the processes to be mindful of in order to do the best you can in welcoming and onboarding new starters.

1.Send a welcome package

We have all been in that situation where we have accepted a new job offer and there is a notice period or small time before we join a new company.

This is the ideal time to perhaps send a welcome to the company and team gift.

Great examples of these would be: –

  • Company merchandise such as Sweets, pens, notepads, diaries etc
  • Some company literature and articles to give a deeper insight into the company.
  • Perhaps a welcome to the team email or letter from the CEO, Co-Founder or CTO.

2. Equipment

A key thing to ensure is that you have a sent out the correct equipment and have them set up on all internal systems before their start date. It is worth checking in with your new team member to ensure this is all going smoothly, and this should alleviate any panic setting in.

3. First week starter pack and schedule: –

Okay so now it’s the first day does your new team member have all the information of what they are supposed to be doing and how to get in touch with other team members?

Do they know what they are working on this week? It is so easy to become isolated working from home so again “communication is key”.

Some of the key things you should have ready in a first week starter pack should be: –

  • Logins/passwords they’ll need to perhaps internal portals etc
  • Contact details for their team members and who is the best person to contact.
  • Alongside this information it would be great to have a schedule set up in their outlook diary, with stand-ups, meetings and calls inserted.

As I mentioned communication is key to making your new team member feel at home. Here are some of the key things you could do to integrate and onboard them into the team quickly: –

1. Introduce your new team member to the rest of the team in the morning catch up.

A great time introduce a new team member is when the team are all on a call together. A great way to break the ice is to have the new starter introduce themselves to the team.

It’s also key for management to organise individual video calls with each team member to welcome new member.

2. Assign a mentor

Assigning a mentor can really speed up the integration of a new team member. Having a person on hand if there are any issues or questions can lead to a new team member becoming comfortable with processes quickly.

3. Set up social events for the team.

This year speaking to a lot of people, remote working has taken a bit of toll on some. There have been times where team members have felt lonely and isolated.

To clear such hurdles, It’s vital any new team members are always connected to the team and it’s great to organise online team quizzes, Friday drinks etc. This will ensure all communication between different team members is always high.