7 Best Practices for Virtual Employee Onboarding

An effective and thorough onboarding process is always important. This gives new employees the tools and access they need to get started and get their work done right away. Without a good onboarding process, it's easy to feel lost, unproductive, and can even encourage employee turnover.

But in a time when there are more remote workers than ever, an effective and thorough onboarding process can be even more important! Ultimately, home workers miss the opportunity to get to know their new role and the company’s platforms in person. They cannot work with experienced employees, go to the technical department to solve computer problems, or interact with colleagues in the shared office kitchen.

A virtual onboarding process has to go beyond what you may have already planned so that the employees feel comfortable and don't get lost. Here are seven best practices for onboarding new employees virtually.

1. Give your employees the technology and tools they need before their first day

From an employee handbook to a contact list to a computer, employees working from home need the tools they need to get their work done before they start their first day. If you wait for these tools, you isolate the new employee and demotivate them. Furthermore, the technology doesn’t always work. If you send an employee their computer, tablet, or mobile device before their first day, he or she can set up and troubleshoot problems before they arise.

2. Personalize a “warm greeting” in their onboarding materials

If a new employee cannot be greeted in person, it is even more important that they feel welcome from home. And the personal greeting doesn't have to be time-consuming.

Some companies have automated their onboarding materials to provide greater personalization for the new employee. With platforms like Salesforce Marketing Cloud or Pardot, you can easily provide timely training material that increases field staff engagement. These platforms are beneficial for remote workers because the material can be accessed from a computer and is available on mobile.

3. Set specific, short-term goals

A crucial factor in an employee's success is that they understand their tasks and responsibilities early on. In the office, this understanding can be gained by observing other employees, for example in meetings or by shadowing colleagues who have the same or similar job. However, these personal interactions are not possible for virtual employees. And this is where it's time to get creative.

Take a targeted approach by identifying three to five key goals for each employee's first 90 days. A few of those goals should be learning-based, i.e. mastering internal systems and workflows, and a few should be social, i.e. a minimum number of phone calls or video coffee chats with colleagues, she says. And some could be performance-based: New hires could be assigned to lead or prepare a certain number of meetings or attend a few important presentations.

Then meet with them after 90 days to see how they did on those tasks. Your feedback will help them improve and stay connected with your teams. You can also set three to five additional goals that you want to achieve in the next 90 days.

It is important, during the onboarding process Set measurable goals so that the employee has clear guidelines for expectations and can set his/her priorities even when he/she is not in the office.

4. Introduce yourself to important contacts via video conference

Employees who work in the office can get to know their colleagues in person, be it in a formal setting - e.g. B. at a meeting - or in an informal setting, e.g. B. when they meet a teammate in the hallway or go to lunch with a colleague. Employees working from home don't always have the same opportunities to meet and build relationships with their colleagues - but that's no less important.

Make sure a formal one Introducing the employee via video call takes place. This should be attended by team members - if they lead a team - and their internal and external partners, as well as key customers. Ask the new employee's manager to organize the call. This helps create a clear understanding of the importance of this team member and their responsibilities, and gives others the opportunity to ask questions to get to know them better.

Schedule a virtual team meeting and ask everyone to use their webcams to get to know the new employee virtually. Invite the virtual employee to prepare a presentation and tell a little about themselves - e.g. B. about hobbies, experiences, education, etc. This way, even the most introverted virtual employees can prepare their thoughts and are not forced to open up to new team members with whom they have not yet developed a relationship.

5. Supports retention of knowledge

One of the most difficult aspects of onboarding in a virtual environment is that retaining digital information without a physical or social context is particularly challenging for the human brain. During these daily conversations, you can ask questions like: "What three things did you learn today? Did you learn new processes today - and if so, what did you think of them?" This creates a connection and is a great way to embed new knowledge in new hires' minds, especially if you give them a specific number they need to achieve.

The most important thing is that you inform your new employees about these check-ins in advance. The goal is to support them in this way - no one likes a quiz in their first week of work.

6. Use your team for social support

Even before the advent of Remote work It was a challenge for many to come together with a new group of people. And for many, it has only become more intimidating in the age of Zoom.

That's why, in addition to the introductory video calls with teammates and customers, you should plan three to five coffee chats for your new employees in the first week. You should start with the key team members the new employee will work with and ask each of them to introduce your new employee to another team member. Such conversations help connect the new person with the team in an organic but strategic way.

7. Give the employee a list of key contacts in HR, IT, and other areas

Give new employees the opportunity to ask questions and contact your company's key employees by providing them with a complete list of names, phone numbers, and email addresses for HR, IT, and other teams - both internally as well as externally. This is important because it means the employee doesn't have to look for the information when he or she needs it, which saves time.

Consider compiling the information in a clear Excel spreadsheet or using a knowledge management tool like Slite, where employees can find not only names and contact information, but also employee job descriptions. Don’t leave them in the dark about who does what and who they should contact if they have questions.