We know that on-boarding is important to create high-performance teams and a work environment that attracts and retains top talent. But as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect Canadians, managing a successful on-boarding process while everyone involved is working remotely can be challenging. You want to make your employee’s first day special and give them the best impression of your organization possible but doing everything remotely may be new territory for you and your team. That’s why we’ve gathered these virtual on-boarding tips on how to successfully revamp your on-boarding process to adapt to the current (physically distant) reality.
But first… why have an on-boarding plan at all?
The answer to that question is easy: an on-boarding plan lays the groundwork for a new employee’s success. Having a new hire checklist that you can make sure your new employee gets through during their on-boarding process can help get them excited about the company and role while paving the way for them to be fully integrated into your team’s dynamic as soon as possible. After all, the most effective on-boarding plans boost productivity, engagement and retention for your new hire in their first few months with your company.
So, when it comes to virtual on-boarding and the new hire experience, it’s important to remember that your new employee is also likely working through this scenario for the first time. But a plan that is built on structure and collaboration and that also includes tasks to be completed at weekly intervals and a general outline of what’s to come will help your organization and your new hire get through this new reality successfully.
Here are some virtual onboarding ideas to get you started.
Before the first day
Create a new hire checklist
Whether it’s in-person or virtual, on-boarding should start before a new hire arrives. You want to have resources prepared for a new employee ahead of their start date so they can hit the ground running on their first day.
But virtual on-boarding means it’s even more important to start planning ahead of time if this is new for you because you may need to source new software, find new contact information for SMEs and make sure everything is available virtually for your new hire.
Here are some things you can do to start adapting your on-boarding plan for a virtual deployment.
- Identify the departments that will be involved in the on-boarding process and who will meet with the new employee in their first weeks so you can identify their availabilities and the materials that will be covered. Also make sure that they have access to virtual meeting tools and that you have their contact information to share with the new hire.
- Decide who will be responsible for setting up and shipping the employee’s laptop and other tech tools, as well as who will create logins and passwords.
- Prepare and gather the paperwork that needs to be completed before or on the first day. Outline signing requirements and point them to e-signature tools (more on that below).
- Identify a virtual meeting tool to facilitate interactive meetings. Ensure the new hire will have access to it on their first day.
- Develop a training schedule that reflects the new hire’s role and is up-to-date with how content will be delivered.
- Modify your on-boarding content and meetings to be accessible virtually and as interactive as possible.
- Identify opportunities to alter in-person training sessions to e-learning instructional materials.
- Develop e-learning modules by identifying the SMEs within your organization and coordinating a training strategy to share best practices and intel.
- Identify how you can support your managers so they feel confident to facilitate a virtual on-boarding.
- Ask the team for a volunteer “buddy” to help your new employee have someone besides their direct manager to lean on.
Prepare and equip your new employee
In a time with much uncertainty, it’s vital to make your soon-to-be employees feel like you’ve considered them and are following a structured process to get them set up for success. Before the first day, be sure to send new hires a welcome email and package that includes:
- A note welcoming them to the team
- Paperwork to be completed
- An outline of what they should expect in the first few days
- All the equipment they’ll need to do their job (i.e. laptops, VOIP headset, etc.)
- Any type of corporate swag to make them feel part of the culture.
On the first day
The first day for any new employee can be nerve-wracking. When you add in the reality of our current climate, even more so. Making sure they feel welcomed immediately will help with the first day jitters and make them feel ready to take on what’s ahead. A great way to achieve this is by scheduling their first virtual meeting with the entire team to bring a sense of the office to the remote employee. During the call, team members can share their responsibilities, how they see their work intertwining and personal stories of their evolution with the company.
Once the team meeting is completed, the manager should go through the new employee first day checklist and general training schedule to ensure expectations and intended progress is communicated, and of course, to answer any questions.
How to structure a new hire on-boarding plan
Try to break the training schedule into daily tasks to be reviewed on a weekly basis. Because the natural interruption of an office setting will not occur while working remotely, avoid piling on too many daily tasks. Packing your new hire’s schedule with activities can have a negative effect; give them the space to learn about and perform their new jobs to encourage long-term success. Also consider spreading the on-boarding session across multiple days as LinkedIn now does so that your new employee can adapt to working from home and be provided with the flexibility they may need during this time.
The on-boarding process will lay the ground work for the employee’s experience and engagement, so it’s important to take the time to build it properly. Without overwhelming them, be sure to carve out time for specific elements, as outlined below.
Week 1
Facilitated through video conferences and/or e-learning sessions
- Day 1 team welcome call
- Daily morning 1:1 call with manager or buddy
- Virtual team lunch
- Company culture overview
- Benefits and enrollment process discussion
- Introductory sessions with various departments
- “Meet the leaders” sessions
- Daily end-of-day Q&A and planning session with manager
To be completed individually
- Hardware/software set up procedure
- Review login credentials
- Completing any outstanding paperwork and begin benefits enrollment
- Review job description
- Create email signature
- Review key market information on clients, competition and trends
Week 2
Facilitated through video conferences and/or e-learning sessions
- Discuss goals for the week and first month
- Daily morning 1:1 call with manager or buddy
- Video calls to observe activities performed by team, with allotted time for Q&A afterwards
- Continued “meet the leaders” sessions
- Continued introductory sessions with various departments
- Daily end-of-day Q&A and planning session with manager
To be completed individually
- Complete 2-3 role related tasks assigned by manager
- Understand key deliverables for their first month
- Identify and address learning needs
- Learn company products/services
- Complete any mandatory e-learning sessions
First month
- Conduct standing 1:1 meeting with manager 2-3 times a week
- Weekly lunch with the team
- Set short and long-term goals
- End of week check-in on progress meetings
- Complete 1-2 small projects
- Completion of daily role-related tasks
- Ensure proficiency with all tools
Second month
- Weekly standing 1:1 meeting with manager
- Assess first month progress
- Introduce increasingly complex projects and/or tasks
- Identify and address any learning needs
- Make any responsibility adjustments
Third month
- Performance review
- Review short and long-term goals
Technology Checklist and Resources
We’ve created our technology checklist and related options to make sure you and your new hire are well-prepared for a virtual on-boarding.
- Send IT hardware and manuals: Order computers and other hardware remote workers need well ahead of their start date. Confirm they have received all necessary equipment for their work and ask your IT department to assist them with setup, if necessary. At the very least, make sure your new hire has the following to get started:
- Help them complete HR paperwork: Having your new hires sign employment contracts and other legal documents can be time consuming if they’re required to print, scan and email all copies or send them via mail. Consider using an e-signature tool, like HelloSign or DocuSign, so that employees can add their signatures digitally and share contracts with you in a secure environment. If that’s not an option, employees can use free apps like CamScanner or Scanbot to scan printed documents through their phone to convert to PDF and send back to HR.
- Get them up to speed on your company culture: Remote employees are part of your culture, despite not being in the office. To help them understand the culture, share your employee handbook in a digital format using free PDF editor tools.
- Ensure new hires understand how to use communication tools: Explain the best ways to contact team members and how to troubleshoot communication technology. Communication tools might include:
- Company email through Microsoft 365 (paid) or free equivalents such as LibreOffice. Ensure that you also advise on standard email signatures and after-hours availability expectations.
- Group messaging tools such as GroupMe.
- Get video conferencing software, task management and cloud storage in one with Slack or Microsoft Teams.
- Web-phone application such as Versature.
- Arrange role-specific trainings: It’s often challenging to train remote employees since real-time communication is usually limited. To effectively train new employees virtually, consider:
- Using interactive training courses and recording product demos with Loom.
- Coordinate training with your IT department so that remote workers become familiar with:
- File-sharing applications and cloud backup software like Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive.
- Computer security including how to lock laptops and install encryption and antivirus software. You can find free antivirus protection such as TotalAV.