A practical guide to onboarding remote employees

First impressions count, and you only get one chance to make them in the virtual hiring process. How committed a team member feels and how well equipped they are can largely be attributed to how they are welcomed into the company.

Die Boston Consulting Group found that companies that perform best at onboarding experience 2.5x higher revenue growth and 1.9x higher profit margin than their weaker competitors. It really pays to do it right!

However, onboarding remote employees is difficult for more reasons than you might think. The effort required for planning and thorough preparation is higher than in a normal office environment. A new employee can easily get lost in their tasks when their colleagues are sitting around them. Imagine how they would feel if they had to work all alone.

Remote onboarding must be completely watertight and cover all aspects. If the new employee works in a different time zone, they need a way to get the information they need quickly and efficiently. The social component also needs to be worked on. An employee who feels isolated early in their career will have a hard time getting out of that feeling. Structure is needed to successfully integrate him into your work family.

Breaking down the essential elements of remote recruiting

Maybe your new employee needs specific equipment to perform their duties, or they need access to the right software, tools, and accounts. For each position you offer, a list should be created that outlines everything the person will need to complete their job.

You can easily find out by asking other people in your role (or a similar role) what they use on a daily basis. Once the list is complete, check off each part and make sure your new employee has access to everything by their first day at the latest.

Another tip is that you should check your credentials tool. With tools that store your login details securely for you, such as: This is much easier to do with a server such as 1Password. Make sure all logins and passwords are working before giving them to the new employee.

Prepare onboarding guide (expectations, rules and culture explained)

An important piece of information that needs to be shared immediately is what is expected of the role and how the culture works in your company. This information shouldn't be completely foreign to new hires if you've included them in the interview.

However, it is worth going through this a second time and providing all the necessary documentation so that the new employee can refer to it when you are away. The same applies to arranging meetings. This should be explained and described in a document, knowledge base or internal wiki so that there are no ambiguities in the future.

Unlike in the office, there isn't always someone around who can explain it to you in an emergency. That's why proper documentation is really necessary.

Breakdown of what you need to know

Now that we've covered the basics of what your new hires need to know, the question becomes what do you need to know? You have probably already answered these questions in the interview. So if you haven't had the conversation in person, you should review these questions.

If you are missing some information, the first thing you need to do is find out the most important personal data and familiarity with telework. The rest of the information is pretty standard for any type of job, on-site or remote.

It is important to know the applicant's level of familiarity with standard telecommuting processes, as things that seem ordinary to you may be completely new to someone who has only worked in an office. This of course has an impact on the entire training process.

Does the new employee know a lot about your company? Size, departments, management and other details? If this is the case, you can focus your onboarding on other areas where he may need more support.

You should find out whether they need any equipment, preferably before the first day of work so that you can clarify any logistical questions. Finally, if you haven't already done so, you should request the employee's personal information to obtain payroll information and where to send documents if necessary.

Initiate onboarding of remote employees

Once all employees are provided with the most important information, you can begin the onboarding process properly. Onboarding actually begins at the end of the interview and not on the first day. This pre-launch phase needs to begin as soon as possible after someone accepts their offer and signs their contract.

In the pre-launch phase, we recommend a welcome onboarding email that can be personalized for each new team member. Include any forms they need to fill out, as well as a request form for any equipment they may need, such as a work laptop. If you have cool giveaways, now is the time!

Once all agreements are signed, arrange a meeting for the first day to take the onboarding process to the next level. At this meeting, you can hand over the tools, credentials, and logins you collected previously and give the new hires the key information they need.

Don't forget to inform your team about the new addition and send them a welcome email or message, which should also be integrated into your onboarding process. Everyone is happy to be welcomed on their first day, even if they are still a little nervous.

The first 90 days

The crucial first 90 days of employment are about learning a lot and making contacts to get to know the team better. Perhaps it is best if you give the new employee a buddy in the team with whom they can get along better and with whom you can also be included in the feedback process.

Our best tip is to arrange a feedback session every 30 days with the buddy, you and the team leader/manager to provide constructive criticism and comments. You can discuss where a new employee excels, where they need help, and what can be improved.

Create a plan together with the new employee and review it every month. The manager should celebrate all progress and report to the leadership team how the new team member has developed.

After the first three months, or approximately 90 days, the new employee's manager should take the lead in any feedback sessions and appraisals that take place. A skill level and salary review is best done at this time, when the new employee is more settled and you can get an idea of ​​the skills they have to offer. At this point, the onboarding process is complete and everyone involved should be more attuned to each other.

There is a lot to lose if we don't do onboarding well

The most important thing when onboarding remote employees is that everything must be thoroughly prepared and documented. It should be almost as easy for a new employee to get the information they need when they have questions as if they were in an office.

If they don't have a colleague they can ask directly, there should be a source of information they can refer to. We may also need to make it easier for employees to transition to remote work if they have never worked outside the office before.

But all these points should be known to you if you have collected all the important information as we recommended. We wish you all the best with your next onboarding and hope it leads to a long and happy working relationship for everyone to enjoy!