Remote onboarding: your guide to the best new hire experience

Onboarding remote employees 

The most crucial part of a remote employee’s onboarding is the ability to connect with their team and their manager as quickly as possible. To be successful at this, you’ll need to plan ahead. Below are some tips to give your new hire a smooth and efficient onboarding experience. 

BEFORE DAY 1 

1. Book a virtual team meeting: Book a meeting for all of the team to meet the new hire. The most challenging part of starting a new job remotely is feeling isolated from the rest of the team. Make it fun and interactive – create an icebreaker activity that allows everyone to participate and learn more about each other. 
2. Book a call with HR: Introduce your new hire to the HR contact that they can reach out to with questions on new hire paperwork, benefits, etc. 
3. Show them how to use communication tools: Get the new hire set up on video, phone, instant messaging apps and any other tools your company uses. 
4. Conduct a laptop practice run: Designate a time for a leader or IT support to walk the new hire through logging into their systems. 
5. Plan out the new hires first week: New hires should be given a schedule of what they will be doing throughout their first week. Whether it is 1 on 1 meetings, training sessions or virtual job shadowing. 

DAY 1 

1. Book a meeting first thing: This meeting will be to set expectations for the next 90 days. They should also be given their mapped out schedule for the first week. 
2. Book 1 on 1 video meetings for each of your team members to interact individually with the new hire: Connections to team mates will help the new hire assimilate quickly and understand what the expectations are. 
3. Create a meeting cadence: Begin and end each day with a video meeting. This is the time to recap the day, identify challenges and celebrate success. 
4. Arrange training courses: Provide your new hire with the schedule of training that will be required and how it will be conducted. 

End of day 1: Schedule a one-on-one video call with the new hire at the end of the first day to welcome them to the business & answer any questions they have. At the end of the week, be sure to have a follow up call as well. These steps will help build a sense of belonging for the new hire and give you an opportunity to learn more about the person as an individual – not just as an employee. 

AFTER 1ST WEEK

1. Continue to meet regularly to review projects and activities 
2. Provide honest and clear feedback based on results 
3. Don’t stop training – technology can create better learning environments to interactive sessions 
4. Create their personal success plan – let your new hires know what your expectations are and what success looks like

For more advice from our recruiting experts, check out our Market Insights.