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Onboarding new employees is always important, but it can be harder to do this with remote employees. This year, more companies have made use of remote hiring and recruitment, so may find themselves trying to onboard employees they have not met in person and who will not come to the office for some time. It’s important to make people feel welcome, content, and part of the team quickly, so they can get to work promptly. Here’s how you can do it remotely.
Prepare The Rest Of The Team
Your new team member might not be working directly alongside other employees, but you want them to feel like part of the team. When you decide to make a new remote hire and have a start date set, share the details with the rest of your team. Tell them a bit about their new colleague, what work they will be doing and when they will be starting.
Assign them a buddy or mentor to act as their go-to for questions or support, so they don’t know where to go for guidance. Make sure your current team members know to make themselves available to support the new hire, so the new employee can ask questions and get help when they need it.
Have Their Equipment Ready
Make sure that any tools or tech equipment your new hire will need to do their job are ready for their arrival. Experiencing IT issues when working remotely is challenging, so mitigate these issues to support a smooth transition.
For remote workers, having the right equipment and system access in order is important for productivity, especially when you don’t have on-site tech support.
Depending on the resources you have available, have any necessary equipment delivered to the new hire before their first day so they can start when they’re meant to. To make them feel part of the company, look at company swag ideas and consider branded boxes to send the equipment in, and some extras like a branded notebook or water bottle as a welcome gift.
If your new hire will need access to special systems, have the steps they need to take to gain access clearly documented, so they can request access without delays.
Schedule One-On-One Meetings
As your new hire transitions into their role, plan one-on-one meetings with them so you can stay in touch and offer any support they might need. Having one-on-one meetings is standard practice for most managers with all of their employees, but you might want to think about checking in with your new employees who are working from home more frequently.
For employees who are settling in, a structured document where they can share questions or talking points they would like to cover during these meetings can be useful to keep the conversation on track.
Your first meetings can be used to check in on the major milestones in your employee’s onboarding plan and offer a safe space for any questions they have. Have regular conversations with your new hire to begin building trust.