In 2025 and beyond, updated strategic and tech-enabled solutions will be crucial to onboarding success. They will help set talents up for long-term contribution and engagement within remote team settings. As one of the world’s largest all-remote companies, GitLab has built a highly structured onboarding experience. Every new hire gets access to the company’s public handbook, a detailed onboarding issue (ticket), and a peer buddy. Checklists span the first 90 days and cover tools, workflows, and company values. Managers are expected to guide progress, but the system largely runs on documentation and self-service clarity.
Energy & Environment
- It replaces traditional face-to-face onboarding with scalable, secure, and remote-friendly workflows.
- You’ll have to eliminate phrases and terminologies related to physical spaces, such as office pets and game rooms.
- It’s the same process for new starters who’ll work remotely and not in the office – it just needs to be virtual.
- The way we work has changed, and so has the way we welcome new employees.
- Ongoing enhancement keeps practices aligned with an evolving workforce and workplace.
Be sure to also include relevant contact information and a copy of the employee handbook. GitLab regularly hosts a preboarding call for new hires to give them the opportunity to ask questions ahead of their first day and allow them to meet their future colleagues. These bi-monthly calls are open to all current employees and hiring managers. Recent employee onboarding statistics and trends show that companies with a solid preboarding process can boost their employee retention rate to 82% and minimize the number of non-starters. 19 onboarding process examples for HRBest practices to optimize the onboarding process
Enhancing the Remote Employees Orientation and Onboarding Experience
Since the start of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, remote work has risen and become a mainstream operating structure for businesses. According to a study from Pew Research, as of January 2022, 69% of workers whose jobs can be done remotely are working from home all or most of the time. For your new remote team members, this may be the first time they’re starting a remote role at a distributed company. Provide them with a world-class welcome by following remote onboarding best practices. Onboarding new employees is a challenge for the remote-first work environment.
In contrast, quick and thorough onboarding processes allow employees to get started on their roles quickly as they rapidly integrate into their new working environment. Remote onboarding is the process of integrating new hires into a company when they work remotely. The process provides the necessary resources, tools, and connections to help them succeed apart from a physical office. Remote employee onboarding is a convenient process that allows for a seamless onboarding experience for both remote and hybrid workers. But without the right strategy, onboarding remote employees can feel disconnected, leading to lower performance and higher turnover.
Let’s Get Started!
Don’t wait for an employee’s first day of work to start with an orientation and onboarding process. It may take weeks or months to educate your new hires on the skills, knowledge, and behaviors required to contribute to an organization’s success. But don’t worry, here are some of the best tips for onboarding remote employees. One of the best ways to onboard new employees is to make the onboarding process interesting and engaging. Below is the checklist that’ll successfully help you in onboarding your remote employees. This can result in a loss of business time and money, not to mention that it can demoralize remote employees and get them off to a bad start.
For instance, pairing new hires with seasoned employees can provide valuable insights and foster relationships that enhance collaboration. Furthermore, utilizing technology can streamline the onboarding process, allowing for easy access to resources and information. By creating a multifaceted onboarding program, nonprofits can cater to different learning styles and ensure that all new employees feel equipped to succeed in their roles. By establishing these goals, nonprofits can create a structured framework that guides new employees through their initial days and weeks.
Lack of Face Time with Managers
Digital onboarding follows a series of steps that begin by signing in to the company’s onboarding platform. Digital onboarding involves sensitive data, such as personal details and salary information. Use secure platforms that comply with data privacy regulations to protect employee information.
By taking a holistic approach to measuring success, nonprofits can continuously enhance their onboarding efforts and create a more positive experience for new employees. By analyzing this data, organizations can make informed decisions about refining their onboarding practices to better meet the needs of future employees. In addition to quantitative measures, qualitative assessments can provide deeper insights into the effectiveness of onboarding programs.
It aids retention by helping new employees align with the company culture from the start. Even with the best intentions, remote onboarding often runs into friction. Without in-person touchpoints, it’s easy for new hires to feel lost, disconnected, or overwhelmed. Here are the most common challenges HR teams face, and practical ways to address each one.
One-on-one meetings between each employee and their manager should be a routine practice for any business. They’re especially crucial when your team is working remotely because the employees don’t connect with their managers as often on a regular basis. For instance, opt for hands-on instruction with your interns’ team members or new hire buddies for more of the onboarding process. When you’re onboarding a new intern or employee in the office, the simple fact that they are within your company’s culture can help them stay engaged. In that setting, you might be able to get away with dry, passive onboarding materials like written manuals. Don’t keep your internship quiet or gloss over it with existing employees.
Since they are working remotely, you have to make arrangements to ship all the resources they need to begin working. Communicate with your remote teams clearly and on time by following specific guidelines, for example, agreed time slots for meetings. Miscommunication due to a lack of clarity, delayed response, and aversion to social interactions are some of the communication challenges that organizations with remote employees may face.
Best Practices to Onboard Remote Employees
An in-office worker can quickly pick up on company culture because they walk around in it and see how their colleagues align with it. How well your new hire acclimates to their new position is largely based on the quality of remote training you provide. That’s why you need to encourage them to make connections with their team. Otherwise, they can quickly feel left out and lack that essential social aspect of work. This can be problematic because employees with close relationships with their co-workers are 50% happier.
- Turn training into a series of videos so new hires can watch them in small, consumable chunks to learn and get used to new programs and processes.
- New hires also wish to have as many basic tasks as they can handle to understand the processes involved in real work.
- When you can onboard with a cohort, you give your employees someone else to lean on.
- Every new hire gets access to the company’s public handbook, a detailed onboarding issue (ticket), and a peer buddy.
- Because managers have many responsibilities, they shouldn’t be the only touch point for new hires.
Ideally, you want a charismatic team member or the new hire’s onboarding buddy to do this so they can share interesting anecdotes about the company. Enhance the experience by including a swag bag with company-branded useful items like a coffee mug, stationery, or a USB stick. Knowing how to handle the complex employee onboarding process is crucial for HR professionals, as it can influence employee engagement, satisfaction, motivation, productivity, retention, and turnover. As part of the HR team, you should share their profile with the rest of the company via your organization’s internal communication platform. Additionally, make sure you familiarize them with the relevant employee systems and processes (i.e., those for payroll details and leave requests).
Sarah Chen, Director of HR at a 7,000-employee healthcare organization, starts her Monday When new hires don’t get enough direct interaction with their manager, it creates uncertainty about priorities and feedback. New hires are often bombarded with links, tools, and training videos all at once.
Provide a virtual mentor
As such, building a virtual culture is key to ensuring the right values, behaviors, and beliefs among your new hires. Additionally, it’s simply helping them build their first connections quickly. Welcome buddies are usually existing employees who understand your processes well.
A well-designed virtual onboarding process is no longer optional, it’s essential. It helps companies attract top remote talent, boost engagement, and improve retention. Remember, remote employees can’t simply observe office dynamics to understand company culture. Your orientation must explicitly communicate the values, expectations, and social norms that might be absorbed organically in a physical workplace. Remote hires who experience a well-designed virtual onboarding process reach full performance significantly faster than those who are left to figure things out on their own. The key difference lies in having a remote onboarding best practices clear, repeatable system that removes guesswork and provides consistent value to every new team member.
Successful onboarding sets up new teams for success and can reduce risks of disengagement and churn, while poor onboarding will send stellar people running for the hills. Onboarding is an investment in the long term success of new hires and in the company as well. Studies show that 87% of team members are less likely to leave a company when they feel engaged. Companies that invest in onboarding report 54% more productivity from new hires. While tools are an important part of any role, new hires need to feel empowered to use them. Organizations can help build technical confidence by setting up early wins with action items the new hire can complete as they move through their training.