The Ultimate Remote Employee Onboarding Checklist + Best Practices

Instead, it’s better to clearly communicate what you expect from your new employee and then assign them to a relatively straightforward task where any potential mistake can be easily corrected. To become more data-driven, organizations need data-centric developers. Be sure to add software where needed to speed processes and provide the required legal or audit trails. Assign these tasks in your PM software and have them check-in via your preferred messaging protocol. You’ll get any questions or kinks out of the way, help them practice using the software, and gradually ease them into taking on real work.

• Additionally, it’s less agitating than one-on-one encounters, which some employees might not be comfortable with.
• Equipping new employees with the proper tools to start their careers is essential for future success.
• Due to the stress of adjusting online and not really having a work/life balance because of remote work, new hires may feel less motivated to engage with the rest of the company.
• Pre-boarding gives you a chance to get new employees excited about working with you and set the tone for onboarding when they start.

Keep in mind that every employee has unique experiences and abilities. For new hires, the first few weeks of joining a new company can be a period of uncertainty and anxiety. As such, having a dedicated person to hold their hands through every stage makes them comfortable and familiar with their new work environment. While it might not be possible to provide remote onboarding best practices all these essentials, you have to ensure they have access to the necessary tools for completing their work effectively. You need to ensure new hires have everything they need to complete their work. Some typical essentials include a computer, printer, desk, office chair, office supplies, phone, reliable internet connection, and dedicated working space.

Start onboarding as soon as they accept the job offer (preboarding)

It is very important to introduce the new remote employees to the rest of the team. Manager engagement matters even more for remote hires, who see their supervisors as their lifeline to the company. New employees’ experiences with their managers can make or break virtual onboarding. Bad interactions have an outsized negative impact on new employees’ willingness to remain in the job. Employers should instead try curating a distinct virtual experience that’s aligned with the organization’s culture. New hires onboarded remotely still need to feel valued, engaged and connected.

Click here to read our full review for free and apply in just 2 minutes. Make sure you test that everything works properly and ensure you have logins for all systems set up before a new hire begins. Many or all of the products here are from our partners that compensate us. But our editorial integrity ensures our experts’ opinions aren’t influenced by compensation. So you shouldn’t be just feeding information to the new hires, and should constantly ask for feedback from them to improve the process.

Tips For Your Remote Onboarding

Take time to discuss with the employee their future goals and aspirations. Strengthening company culture ideas early on can help ensure new employees comply with your organization’s work processes and take greater responsibility for their actions. This is a greater issue with remote work since supervision is limited.

It’s incredible how many companies leave you hanging when you’ve accepted a job, and anxiety builds during the wait time until you start. Don’t leave everything until their first day because it can be too overwhelming. If you choose to let your employees work remotely, you’re likely going to need to onboard those employees remotely, at least in some capacity. The remote-only model involves employees working exclusively from home or another non-traditional workspace. This model is suitable for organizations that work with internationally-based employees or those without affordable office space.

HCM/ HR Management

Hold a team orientation and provide new teammates with links to all team documents, an organization chart, relevant contact information, team calendars, and anything else your team uses on a daily basis. Assign either a mentor or a peer “orientation buddy” who they can go to with any questions and grow and learn together. Drive productivity by putting meaning behind what your people do with vision and company alignment.

• Besides addressing any potential issues as they arise, you are also likely to get a much clearer idea of where you can improve.
• An initial in-person gathering can also strengthen the quality of all the inevitable virtual meetings and communication going forward.
• Include specific steps or milestones they’ll need to meet and any other pertinent details and timelines.
• Existing onboarding plans that are aimed at on-site employees can often be altered so that they are more suitable for the onboarding of remote employees.
• They need to know what’s expected of them and what they can expect from the organization.
• Start with easy tasks first, like assigned reading or videos about the company’s mission.

This period is designed to further acclimate the team member to the work processes of the company, increase their social connections, and help them become successful. Set up virtual hang-outs and professional meetings with remote buddies. This can be done with something as simple as adding new hires to Slack groups or Microsoft Teams.

Company

“Use this time to complete as much of the paperwork as possible, and use an HRIS to allow employees to e-sign documents,” Bond-Hillman said. Have both parties check in on a set schedule and adopt an asynchronous communication style. Along with sending swag, we also recommend that you put together an agenda in your welcome packet that contains a schedule of how your new hire’s onboarding and first two https://remotemode.net/ weeks will go. Send out a welcome packet as soon as you complete the hiring process for new employees. To combat this loneliness, OutreachPete, adds all new employees to a Slack channel where they provide new hire instructional materials, then encourage collaboration amongst new hires to complete the tasks. Excite your talent before they get started by giving them a feel for your company and culture.