How to Craft a Great Virtual Onboarding Experience

Despite a dramatic increase in the number of employees working from home, many business leaders are still struggling with how to craft a virtual onboarding experience that’s as great as their traditional process.

In this article, we’re going to look at what commonly sets remote employee integration apart so you can make the most of your virtual onboarding practice.

What’s so different about onboarding virtually?

To be honest – not a whole lot. When it comes to guiding principles in fact, recruiting and onboarding a virtual team isn’t all that different from welcoming your new hires in person.

What does make onboarding in a virtual environment unique from traditional methods are a few distinct but critical challenges.

So to help you integrate new work-from-home (WFH) employees into your team as seamlessly as possible, here are 4 important factors to consider.

1. YOU’RE GOING TO NEED ADDITIONAL LEAD TIME

From a practical perspective, onboarding remotely will mean planning how you’re going to equip your new hires with the tools that they need.

If, for example, you’d normally set up in-house staff with work laptops their first day in the office, you’ll need to make arrangements to ship that same equipment to WFH employees in advance.

Building a lead time buffer into your onboarding process will ensure new hires can get to work and start contributing to your team’s performance as quickly as possible.

2. YOU’LL HAVE TO BE MORE PROACTIVE ABOUT BUILDING CONNECTIONS

Developing connections with and among team members is equally important whether your workplace is virtual, physical, or some mix of both. But building those connections digitally isn’t always so easy.

In a traditional workspace, personal associations tend to form naturally, whether around lunch room breaks or coffee encounters.

While you can still introduce remote hires to colleagues during work-related virtual meetings, creating opportunities for them to get to know one another on a more personal level (in a way that doesn’t revolve around work) is going to take some effort and planning on your part.

You might, for example, consider:

·       Bringing team members together (online or in person where possible) through regular company-wide social events

·       Setting up virtual rooms to facilitate planned or casual small group work sessions

·       Matching new hires with existing employees in 1:1 sponsor- or mentorships

In every case, your goal should be to help newly onboarded staff connect with others in a meaningful way that extends beyond mere shop talk.

Want more tips on how to keep connections with remote team members strong? Check out our blog post on 9 Simple Do's to Keep Your WFH Employee Relationships Thriving.

3. YOU’LL WANT TO MAKE AN EFFORT TO BRING YOUR PHYSICAL WORK ENVIRONMENT TO REMOTE EMPLOYEES

To recreate a sense of belonging for new WFH employees, think about how you can customize your virtual onboarding process to reflect the message you want to deliver or the feeling you want to invoke. 

For example, traditional employees get to walk through the doors of a shared physical workplace every day and experience tangible reflections of your company’s personality and values – from the décor and art on the walls, to the quote board that hangs in your lunch room.

Since remote staff can’t share that same level of immersion, bringing some of those physical elements to them will help them better understand:

·       What your organization’s personality looks like (are you quirky? serious? fun?)

·       What you want them to know about and experience as part of your company

·       What sets your organization apart from other workplaces

One simple way to do this is by sending remote hires a package of company swag (think product samples, stationery, or branded items) that will help make their home-based workspace feel more like an extension of your company.

Consider this your opportunity to get creative and really set the tone for how you want every employee to feel about your organization.

4. YOU SHOULD BE PREPARED TO DISCUSS TEAM WORK NORMS IN ADVANCE

If it’s been a while since you engaged a new team member – or you’re still getting used to virtual onboarding – make sure you identify and clarify established norms and boundaries around how and when remote work gets done.

For example, collaborating virtually often includes laying out a brand-new set of parameters to address:

·       Expectations around employee work hours and availability

·       Rules for sending and responding to team communications at appropriate times

·       Considerations for scheduling meetings and activities to account for employees who might be working in different time zones

If you’re happy with current practices (and the results they’re producing), it can be worth reflecting on the habits that allow your existing team to work effectively together and on their own.

Discussing these norms with new hires – and taking time to explain the “why” behind them – will help every employee you onboard merge as seamlessly as possible with the way your team operates.

At the same time, don’t forget to ask new staff about remote working habits they’ve established for themselves. Understanding how they like to work will make it easier for you to support them in ways that can contribute to their ongoing success.

Remember, when employees work from home, it can be all too easy for them to blur the lines between company and personal time. Setting clear boundaries is critical to keeping one from monopolizing the other.