Remote hiring can minimize massive costs for your company, but if you fail to produce an effective onboarding strategy, that’s where your efforts are going to fail.
This article presents 5 effective strategies of remote onboarding that will make sure all your off-site employees feel satisfied and happy as they start off in your organization.
The article also provides you with an opportunity to glimpse at the challenges of remote employees so that you can set-up a remote onboarding plan as per your needs.
Common challenges employees face in remote onboarding
A common problem remote employees face is the feeling of being left alone in the distance. This feeling arises from the ineffective communication by the company– there’s no talk from the manager or the rest of the onboarding process is carried out via (unengaging) emails and text chats.
This rather unengaging way of communication leaves employees confused and unsure about the work. Moreover, the missing feeling of connection with leaders and co-workers makes them think that they have not been recognized by the company.
Another big problem in remote work comes from employees being hesitant to ask questions. When employees are confined to their individual workplaces, they naturally presume all details would come from the management. Hence, in the absence of proper communication protocols, this common mindset gives rise to quality issues on the employees side.
Following are some of the best practices to create a supportive environment for your remote employees. This makes sure that your remote employees feel happy as they work in a virtually engaging environment.
5 onboarding tips that guarantee happy remote employees– summary
- Start early (make an individualized video call right away)
- Ship tech early on (send your remote employees all the tools they would need during training and official work)
- Send digital employee handbook and company culture preview (let your employees know of the next steps in onboarding and provide a preview of workplace culture and values)
- Formalize the off-site fun activities (take the on-site informal stuff on the digital)
- Setup clear ways of communication (educate your remote employees on when and how to reach leaders at any point in time)
———————————————————————————————————————————————
Start early
Start your onboarding process as early as the hiring decision is made. Leaving your employee too long after the job interview creates uncertainty and makes them feel uncomfortable.
Make a one-on-one video call to welcome your remote employees shortly after they are hired. It makes your employees feel recognized and honored by your company.
A live welcome call also serves as the first step in retaining top talent in your company. On the contrary, when it’s missing, even the rest of the onboarding efforts fail to bring the very feeling of belongingness for the employee.
Ship tech early on
Send all the necessary tech gadgets and tools to your remote employees so that they can practice during the official training. The tech pieces may include a computer, mobile device or any other tool they need to carry their work.
Make sure you set-up the user accounts and authenticate them before sending them to your remote employees. Or you may send digital handbooks that guide your employees on the logging process, step-by-step.
There’s a huge possibility that your employees may face technical issues, therefore make a video call to confirm the status of logging and address the issues in real time.
Send digital employee handbook and company culture preview
After you presented a personal, live welcome to the employees and delivered the tech they need, your employees feel satisfied and at home.
Now, it’s time to introduce the onboarding process and company culture to them. Send a digital employee handbook– a step-by-step onboarding plan, and a company culture preview to your employees. This helps them get a clear direction of their journey at the company and the social experience they will have.
Whether it’s getting to know of the growth opportunities at work or having fun at digital breakrooms, the information helps employees build a connection and envision future success.
Formalize the off-site fun activities
Arranging fun activities on the digital keeps your remote employees engaged and connected as a team. It’s an ideal way to make your employees feel energized and build lasting connections with people.
What it does is that it creates an immersive experience– where your employees feel like they are in physical office space– hanging out and connecting with people. It not only freshens their spirits but also makes them find common interests and build strong team connections.
Remember, these activities should be personal and fun for your employees so that they don’t find it heavy and boring. You may pick from one of these: singing contests, movie quizzes, polls and spin-the-bottle.
Setup clear ways of communication
Setting up clear ways of communication encourages your remote employees to reach out in case they need any information.
When there’s no defined protocol, your remote employees might fear over-communication and thus hesitate to ask for information. This inturn affects work productivity.
To avoid this, set-up digital communication platforms where all leaders and team members are reachable during office hours. Meanwhile also educate your employees to over-communicate and ask the leaders for the right information in time.
