11 Best Practices for Remote Employee Onboarding

Setting clear expectations also means giving regular feedback and evaluations. Connect with your new hire frequently, especially in the first few months. Arrange individual video calls to evaluate their progress and determine if they require further assistance. Giving and receiving open and honest feedback is key to onboarding success. If your team conducts webinars for customers, you could also use your webinar software to create educational learning sessions for remote employees. It can also be beneficial to include a Q&A section designed to familiarize the employee with the company’s culture and important processes.

It also helps remote employees stay connected to the organization, its goals, and the industry as a whole. When creating a positive company culture, it becomes easier to build strong relationships and instill a sense of purpose in the new job role. Positivity is contagious, remote onboarding best practices and as more remote employees embrace the positive company culture, it will boost morale, productivity, and retention. Ongoing conversations through video call tools help employees feel more connected while giving managers insight into their progress.

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You can also consider creating this as an eLearning interactive, as with the iSpring Suite Max authoring toolkit. ISpring provides you with ready-made interactive templates, so to create one, you only need to fill the template with your text and images. Attempt to be proactive and share a plan in advance, so expectations are clear. The following table breaks down some of the more common challenges from both an organizational and an employee perspective.

By streamlining the onboarding process, organizations can focus on the personal connections and support necessary for a successful remote onboarding experience. Following these steps, organizations can develop a thorough and engaging onboarding experience for remote employees. After all, effective employee onboarding allows employees to feel supported, connected, and empowered from starting their journey with the organization. Organizations can leverage tools such as surveys and assessments tailored to remote onboarding to gather these essential insights. These instruments serve as a means to pinpoint specific areas where improvements can be made within the remote onboarding program. The collected feedback provides a clearer understanding of the unique challenges.

Set up individual onboarding plans

This is not only vital to creating stronger relationships between remote employees and other team members, but it can also often make the difference between a high and low employee turnover rate. Try incorporating the welcome video into one of the early stages of the onboarding process. Better yet, make the majority of your training done by videos via training webinars where you can release pre-recorded or live training for your remote employees. These introductions can be done through business instant messaging software or by using video conferencing tools. If it’s through virtual meetings, be sure these conversations are already on the new employee’s schedule and that there’s an agenda attached.

Whether remote or in person, the goals of any onboarding program are the same. By the end of the process, you want the new hire to feel welcomed to the team, excited about joining the company, and confident in their new role. Your employee onboarding process can heavily influence your employee retention, productivity, and overall success. 20% of employee turnover occurs within the first 45 days of employment, meaning many new hires leave a new job before they officially complete onboarding. There are a few steps you can take to make sure your onboarding process is a successful one for remote workers.

Utilizing Technology for Onboarding

This can sometimes slip through the cracks if a team member is working remotely. An effective onboarding program is considerably more important now with the increasing popularity of remote work. Hiring managers must be adequately trained and attuned to the nuances of remote onboarding.

Personalizing the remote onboarding experience is crucial to ensuring that new hires feel welcomed and supported. Sending a warm welcome email, adapting onboarding activities to individual needs, and providing ongoing support can make a significant difference in the onboarding experience for remote employees. If you team is using a virtual workspace product, like Kumospace, make a the virtual work environment welcoming to the new hire. Onboarding remote employees plays a vital role in setting the stage for employee engagement, retention, and success in a remote work setting. As remote employees face unique challenges such as technical and personal issues, a well-designed onboarding process is essential to address these challenges and ensure a smooth transition for new hires.