Five ways to take your remote onboarding process to the next level

As any seasoned manager knows, a lot of work goes into successfully onboarding a new hire — coordinating with the talent team, organizing meet and greets, and scheduling recurring one-one-one meetings. 

But as a result of the ongoing pandemic and transition to remote life, new hires have been forced to join companies without ever having met a single team member in person. Given these circumstances, chances are high that your new hire will feel at a disadvantage when it comes to relationship building at the company. 

So how can you create an inclusive onboarding experience that specifically addresses — and hopefully minimizes — the challenges of joining a new company remotely?

Record a welcome video to share with your new hire ahead of their first day. 

Have everyone on your team record a 10-second video clip welcoming your new hire to the team. Splice the videos together, and voila! You’re done. This is a quick and easy project that goes a long way toward helping your new hire feel welcome and familiar with the team — all before they’ve even started!

Get to know them. 

Have everyone on your team (new hires included) answer a series of entertaining questions about themselves (think: fun facts). Not only will these answers come in handy once you start scheduling your new hire’s meet and greets, this is also a great way to give your new hire a better sense of your company culture.

Share what projects you’re excited to work with them on. 

Give updates on projects you discussed during the interview process and offer a high level overview of any new projects you have on the horizon. This will help your new hire feel better equipped to jump right into the swing of things from day one.

Email your new hire a detailed day one agenda at least one week in advance. 

The first day can be overwhelming for any new hire — but it’s much worse when you can’t just show up in person and go with the flow. Create an agenda that your new hire can lean on as a roadmap for their first day. Pro tip: Coordinate with your talent and IT teams to make sure you incorporate things like new hire orientation and when to expect their company laptop.

Reach out regularly. 

Don’t roll out all of these steps in one go. Spread them out over a series of weeks so your new hire can feel confident that you haven’t forgotten about them. Make sure it’s clear that you’re committed to a successful onboarding experience.

Of course, you should also continue to do all the usual onboarding prep: scheduling meet and greets, dropping recurring meetings on their calendar, etc. But if you don’t prioritize the above five tips, you’ll risk falling short on the EQ side of onboarding — no matter how welcoming and helpful you are on your new hire’s first day.