Let’s talk about remotely onboarding new employees

As businesses now increasingly favour remote working, offering a hybrid or fully remote approach, the process for onboarding new hires has had to change significantly. 

Without an office base to ‘meet-and-greet’ new hires, employees and employers have to find new ways of building working relationships and welcoming individuals into the team. Similarly, it is important that employees feel supported within a new workplace and are able to reach out to colleagues. Without casual, naturally occurring conversations between employees that take place within offices, it is important that digital lines of communication are open and available. This both supports the individual in their understanding of their role and helps to reduce the risk of employees becoming isolated and feeling removed from workplace culture.

Here are our top tips for on-boarding if your business operates remotely: 

1. Have a welcome video call with the whole team. 

Organise some time within the first few days of the employee joining to introduce them to the team they will be working with. This provides everyone an opportunity to put a face to a name and to ‘break the ice’.  

2. Schedule regular check-ins during their first few weeks.

Consider having a senior member of the team plan video calls with the new employee, providing a forum to ask questions and to see how they are finding their role.

3. Leave space for some chitchat. 

Take some time to get to know the individual. Conversations within a physical workspace are not exclusively limited to work topics so why should remote chats be? Whilst we’re not suggesting that you spend all day chatting, talking about topics outside of work can help to develop better lines of communication within work. It can also provide a small break from work stresses. 

4. Organise an in-person meet up.

Whilst there may not be an office space to gather in, from time to time it can be a good idea to organise to meet up with the team. This provides an opportunity to get to know one another outside of a work environment and potentially participate in some team-building activities. If this is not possible with the whole team then maybe one or two colleagues could meet and work in a shared space for a day or go for a coffee break together.

5. Ask the employee what would help them.

Have a conversation with the new employee about how they feel the company can support them remotely. This will not only open up communication but help the individual feel supported and consider their personal needs.