For both managers and employees, the onboarding process can be long and tedious. There is new software to install, new protocols to study, and a dizzying array of new guidelines, best practices, and logistics to consider.
Additionally, more people are working remotely today than in previous decades, which has upended many traditional office processes. The question of “How to onboard a new hire?” has never been trickier. In the modern work environment, managers may face the challenge of orienting and integrating a new hire into a company from thousands of miles away in a process called either “virtual onboarding” or “remote onboarding.” Now, HR leaders and managers need to ensure their onboarding is truly effective in a virtual format.
So, what are best practices for virtually onboarding new employees?
When working in a virtual environment, it’s much easier for details to get missed. This problem gets quadrupled when an employee is new and is trying to absorb so much over a short period. Creating detailed guidance (even if it feels overly detailed to some) can pay off down the line. Try leveraging tools like Asana boards to keep track of items, help with prioritization, and keep an eye on progress with online onboarding.
Create a list of “self-study” items (documents, essential articles, websites, competitors’ information) to fill those breaks in the schedule during the new employee onboarding process. This will also help break up the monotony of constantly being on calls.
A critical virtual onboarding tip? Let your new employee interact early-on with the other members of the team. It’s a great way to familiarize everyone with each other. Tools like the GlobeSmart Profile can help team members learn more about each other’s unique work styles and gain insights into the best ways to collaborate.
Give your employee a list of some of the critical people they’ll be working with outside your specific team, and have them set up some virtual meetings. Craft a few starter questions for them to help break the ice and kick off conversations.
Set up some time for your new employee to talk to other colleagues who also work virtually. They can share tips, insights, and strategies, and will be a valuable resource to each other in the future.
When putting together your thoughts on how to train new employees virtually, keep this in mind: Try to schedule one-on-one meetings with your virtual employee a bit more frequently than you would with a colocated one—at least for their first few months. This type of communication will be valuable going forward.
This is especially important for the supervision of an employee in a different time zone. Pick out a “mentor” for them who is close to their time zone and who they can go to with any pressing questions, concerns, or worries in those hours when you may be offline.
For virtual onboarding activities, it’s essential to provide your new hire with written documentation of everything important, like job-specific processes and procedures. Don’t rely on “in-your-head” knowledge when the employee is in another location.
Don’t let your employee get fatigued by one voice in their virtual onboarding meetings. Try to bring in a combination of different voices. If you need to onboard them for an internal system, see if one of your team members who is well-versed in that tool can lead the onboarding. This is a critical aspect of virtual onboarding and the new hire experience.
Consider budgeting for virtual lunch with your new hire and your team. Allocate each team member a certain amount of money they can use to buy lunch, and then have everyone enjoy a meal together on a video conference.
Successfully onboarding remote employees requires cultural agility—the ability to interact effectively with people from different cultures. This involves being able to adapt your communication style and awareness of cultural nuances. Organizations that prioritize cultural competence are able to create a more inclusive, engaging, and effective onboarding experience for employees no matter where they’re located.
Remote onboarding presents several challenges that can hinder engagement, alignment, and productivity. Data shows that nearly one in 10 employees have left a company because of a poor onboarding experience, so it is important to address these obstacles with strategic solutions to ensure a smoother transition.
By proactively addressing these challenges, organizations can build an efficient, engaging, and culturally inclusive remote onboarding experience and set teams up for success.
Overprepare for the new hires. Schedule self-study items for their downtime. Be sure to schedule a face-to-face virtual meeting for them to meet with the rest of the team, and also be sure to put them in touch with other virtual colleagues.
Companies conduct virtual onboarding in a variety of ways, depending on their culture and other logistical factors. However you do it, it’s essential that the process remains inclusive, engaging, and comprehensive.
The virtual onboarding process encompasses everything that a new employee needs to know—delivered over virtual applications and programs instead of the traditional in-person onboarding.
In today’s global workforce, effective remote onboarding is essential for setting teams up for success. Aperian’s expertise in cultural intelligence and global team training offers tailored solutions that can optimize onboarding for global teams. With cross-cultural training programs, strategies for effective communication, and proven inclusion frameworks, Aperian helps companies improve collaboration, retention, and performance—ensuring that remote teams thrive from day one.
Start a free trial of Aperian to see how our industry-leading tools can improve your virtual onboarding processes and global team collaboration at your organization.
