Best Methods to Onboarding Remote employees
The manner in which we work has changed significantly in the past few months due to the continuously evolving COVID-19 global pandemic. With timelines remaining indefinite and an undoubtedly "new normal" is in development, we are in the position of having to implement new technologies and methods that make remote work environments feasible and effective.
During this time there is a necessity to integrate new employees from remote locations or offer employees already on your team with additional training via virtual. The process of onboarding your employees is the most crucial opportunity to build relationships with your new hires and introduce them to the business's culture. It's also a time to establish the expectations of your employees to make sure they're prepared to fulfill the job that you have hired them to perform. Remote work environments pose difficulties for this procedure; However, it's feasible to seamlessly integrate new employees seamlessly and successfully.
Take a look at our recommended best practices to successfully train and onboard remote employees, wherever they're located in the world.
Prepare for your next remote employee
Let's celebrate and teach your team
A new addition on your team can be a occasion to be celebrated in part as it shows that the company is growing, but also signals an opportunity to improve the distribution of tasks to your current team. When a new hire is announced, be sure to let everyone at the workplace know of the new employee's taking over - we make an announcement over Slack.
Then, contact the team they're working with and discuss how their remote team member fits in the organization system, the way they'll be working together, as well as what roles they'll assume.
You must ensure that your employee is equipped with the equipment to be successful
Assure your new member of the team will have the equipment they will require for working effectively from home . This includes things such as computers, monitors charger cable, HDMI cable as well as keyboard and mouse and so on. Have these items sent to their homes prior to their first day so they can kick off day one off on the proper foot.
Select an onboarding buddy or mentor
The process of starting a new job while exciting, can also seem daunting, especially when taking on remote teams. In our company, we choose the right onboarding partner for the employees who join us for their first few months at the firm. This is the first person they establish a rapport with, and their designated one to inquire about their needs and find out more about the and culture.
Pro Tip: When selecting a mentor or onboarding friend select someone on their team or a person they'll work closely with as part of their work. Also, you can choose an individual who is similar in character to the new employee and you think they'll work well for the sake of making their first few weeks easier.
Set 30-60, 60 and 90-day goals
One of the most common problems with onboarding is the lack of guidance and clear expectations. Get your remote worker beginning on the right track by setting out precise and realistic targets for the initial three months. Tools like Asana help the new members of your team to keep track of the tasks they have to accomplish, starting on day one.
Onboarding remote employees
Your new employee feel welcome
Although you might be reluctant to tackle the administrative aspects of onboarding, it's key to start by making new hires feel valued by welcoming them to the team. Kick off a positive experience for remote onboarding by sending a virtual introduction about your new member of the team to your company. Share the details of who they are, and how they will be contributing. This can help the new employee feel connected to the organization and inspired to establish effective working connections with their colleagues.
In our company, all of our new hires fill out a questionnaire before their first day with a couple of fun facts like their most favorite food item and their most proud accomplishment. When they start the day, we will share their answers through our company Slack channel to give everyone some insight into who they are as individuals. Team members from our current roster will then be able to hop onto the thread to give their warm greeting.
Face time with a friend
When you are conducting remote onboarding, any meetings you have with your new employee must be conducted via video chat in order to create an authentic face-to face connection. At , our teams rely on applications like Zoom and Google Hangouts to host video sessions. To help build productive relationships between the staff you already have and your new members of your remote team request your new employee's supervisors to set up one-on one video conversations. This will help them get the most up-to-date (and not official) information about what goes on at your business.
Pro Tip: Since we are sure that your staff will return to normal operations at some point, think about setting an online tour of your workplace so that the new hire knows what they can expect when the moment arrives to return to work.
Set expectations
After you've made an initial interpersonal connection with your new employee as well as the entire team, it's time to tackle the ins and outs in remote onboarding. Make a checklist for new hires that details everything your employee needs to know to be successful within their role.
The items to be included are:
- Details about your business's corporate culture
- Necessary training modules to be completed
- Their 30, 60, and 90-day goals
- Underlining the individual expectations you have for you as a supervisor
An instructional schedule must be created along with a an opportunity to regularly check in with the remote team member to check on their progress and answer any questions they might ask.
Begin your professional development conversations in the early hours
Similar to employees in the office Remote team members also have aspirations for growth and development that must be nurtured and encouraged. Make sure your new employee knows that personal and professional development is crucial by describing the company's policies for growth as well as education. Once you've got that all of you should begin planning the best way to implement those plans in action.
The process of onboarding establishes the foundation for employees' performance and overall experience within your organization So, you must be sure to do this correctly. Learn more about ways documents, communicate and improve your employees' onboarding and training experience.
Using an LMS for onboarding remote employees
Now, you may be asking yourself, "how exactly do I build remote onboarding training content?" is a great method to help get your new remote team member up to speed in all things onboarding and training. The platform lets you create engaging courses and content which set the tone and pace to your brand new employee's first few months in your business.
If you're a novice to HTML0 take a look at these steps to get you going with the development of your onboarding training materials through our website.
Step 1. Sign-up for an account
If you haven't already done so, sign up for here if you'd like to utilize some of our premium options. After signing to sign up, you'll receive an invitation email that includes instructions regarding how to log in to your new web site.
2. Design and release your course online
If you sign-up to join your course, you'll be directed to your Admin Dashboard where you can access every aspect of the course's website. From your Dashboard you can navigate to creating and naming your new course, adding lessons to your course, and modifying your course's player. After that, you can use's Site Builder to help customize the website of your course by incorporating your branding as well as pictures. Finally, make sure to publish and share the course in order to get your remote worker started on their remote onboarding journey.
Pro Tip: Check out our Quickstart Guide for setting up your first remote onboarding course on the fly as well as detailed directions for each of these steps here.
Step 3: Start onboarding your new remote employee
As a best practice, it is generally recommended to set up an employee's account for them prior to their start date. It is likely that your new employee is already anxious and excited. Having the account set up at the start of their day will be one less things they'll have to think about.
Once you've confirmed your employee can access their account, they are prepared to start the remote onboarding process. The progress reports of your courses and employees can be analyzed in order to monitor progress, ensuring the compliance of any training that is time sensitive in addition to identifying anyone who is having difficulty completing the training to provide them with extra assistance. We also suggest using Quiz Lessons to test your students' comprehension of concepts.
Step 4: Get feedback from your Onboarding Course
Through , you can use survey tools to get feedback about your course's remote onboarding. Surveys are an excellent way to gain additional insight on the content of your class as well as your experience, allowing you to continuously make improvements to the remote onboarding procedure.
Pro Tip: We recommend taking a questionnaire at the beginning of your courses on onboarding to establish what the remote worker hopes to accomplish during your training. After that, you should conduct a survey at the end of your program to see the extent to which those objectives were fulfilled.
Evaluation and improvement of the onboarding experience
As with any other business procedure that involves remote employees, the onboarding process isn't a once-and-done-it-all-for-. In order to keep in touch with remote team members as well as ensuring that the procedure is efficient and enjoyable, it's crucial to review regularly the process and make necessary modifications as required.
Once the onboarding process has been successful, new remote team members will have the right resources at their disposal to do their job well and are familiar with the company's culture and procedures, and will feel empowered to develop positive relationships with colleagues, no matter the distance they might be.
According to this guideline, there are a number of steps you can take to make sure your remote employee feels welcome, connected, and ready to assume their exciting new role. Additionally, these excellent techniques can also be applied to current employees who you might need to train on new remote working systems and rules. Keep in mind that the training content that you have created now is able to continue to be developed and used long after the pandemic passes, and we are back to our new state of normal.