Best Practices for Onboarding Remote Employees
COVID-19 left a deep mark on everyday life and prompted the restructuring of all work processes. If five years ago we allowed ourselves to skip the office only for a valid excuse, now remote work has become quite an acceptable format of cooperation.
Highlights:
- What Is Remote Onboarding?
- The Importance of the Onboarding Process
- 7 Effective Remote Employee Onboarding Tips
With these changes, the question of how to onboard a new employee virtually became urgent for many employers.
📌 Read our guide if you are also thirty for ideas for onboarding remote employees. It will help you ensure that every newcomer feels comfortable in your workflow regardless of location.
What Is Remote Onboarding?
The remote hiring procedure assumes the employee will not personally meet the team or management at the interview or during the working process.
Their communication with coworkers takes place via messengers, audio and video conferences.
In this case, all new hire onboarding and integration occur online. The payroll becomes remote as well. For convenience, bosses use electronic payment systems and invoicing online software to settle accounts with subordinates.
The Importance of the Onboarding Process
Why is onboarding important for remote employees and freelancers? It's often difficult for newcomers to adjust to a distant job and fit into a new company.
A 2021 research by the American Psychiatric Association found that nearly two-thirds of respondents felt lonely and isolated at least once while working from home.
Therefore, communication with remote employees is vital. With the right approach, your staff members will not suffer from a lack of face-to-face contact. Make sure your employees get support and apply their skills efficiently.
To establish a workflow, we've prepared some job orientation tips, which we'll detail below.
7 Effective Remote Employee Onboarding Tips
Whether hiring for a single project or long-term, you must introduce new members to their responsibilities. For your convenience, we've compiled a 7-point set of remote onboarding best practices:
1. Ship a Welcoming Package in Advance
This should be the first point on the remote employee onboarding checklist.
Before starting work, ask your subordinates what equipment and software they need. Put together a so-called rookie package and deliver it beforehand.
For example, you can send samples of invoices, your company's merch, or write a cover letter.
2. Set up Virtual Meet And Greets
Introduce the new team member to the rest of the group. This will help the newcomer socialize and feel more comfortable with the staff.
Employees can also share some of their work secrets during online meetings.
3. Prioritize The Basics of Onboarding Process
Tell the employee about their tasks and the terms of their assignments. Every company has a different communication style which is sometimes difficult to adjust.
Make sure the new team members know how the workflow sets.
Encourage the adaptation process so that it is not a struggle for your employees.
4. Establish Realistic Responsibilities
Don't burden the newcomer with overwhelming tasks. Instead, please explain what you particularly expect from the employee and give them doable challenges.
Once the worker gets used to it, increase the workload and monitor their progress.
5. Maintain a Supportive Team Culture
Everyone needs to get feedback on their performance.
Don't leave the employees alone with the complications. Note that even professionals need a supportive team to maintain growth.
Create a friendly environment for communication among team members. Instead of misunderstandings, let the remote employee feel all the benefits of a good company culture.
6. Assign At Least One Mentor
Assign a new remote employee with a dedicated mentor to learn the company's explicit and implicit rules.
The more experienced fellow will explain the corporate norms and values and tell the novice how to communicate better with the team.
7. Conduct Role-Specific Trainings
Create a training platform for your remote employees to learn and share the experience.
Host a webinar or workshop where everyone can improve their professional skills. In addition, such thematic classes will help the subordinate find like-minded people and perform the assigned tasks better.
With technological advances, distant work is rapidly becoming the routine of modern employment relations.
Don't skip these tips for onboarding remote employees to build a healthy work environment where every employee feels respected and appreciated!
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