Virtual Onboarding Made Easy

As a fully remote employee and as the newest member of the See What I Mean (SWIM) team, I have experienced virtual interviews, onboarding and the strange feeling of starting a job without ever having stepped foot in the office or shaking my bosses hand. In March of 2020, companies were forced to adapt and for the last year and a half millions of people have gone through virtual orientations and onboarding sessions. As we all continue to adjust to new realities and as the workforce experiences a great resignation, now is the time for your organization to evaluate and improve your virtual onboarding.

Workers are demanding more flexibility, a sense of purpose, and fulfillment from their jobs. With a spotlight on mental health, work-life balance, and a general sense of well being in our lives, it’s never been more important to create a sense of trust and engagement for your employees.

Here are some recommendations for building trust and loyalty in your virtual onboarding and the first few crucial days:

Before they Begin

Think of yourself as an advocate and lead with empathy. Starting a new job or changing positions in your organization is intimidating. Your new employee will have many standard challenges: reading HR policies and documents, learning the mechanics of the position, remembering names and figuring out positions to name a few. However familiar these challenges seem, navigating solutions will be all the harder virtually without someone sitting nearby to help you through.

If you were in this person’s position what would you want to know ahead of time? What documents, tools, and insight into the office culture would be helpful? It’s common to share documents relating to current projects but what would help answer those culture questions. Can you be prepared with a frequently asked questions document or playbook for the position?

Make sure you liaison with IT and HR to gather materials, documents, and any resources and organize them into an easy to follow format. With so many unknowns, a simple and well-communicated process, such as a checklist and onboarding schedule, will put your new employee at ease. As you build out this checklist consider adding a lead or point of contact and scheduling a virtual meeting for that person to introduce themselves and walk your new hire through the document.

Starting early on in the process is key. As you build out your checklist, you may be surprised how many ideas, documents and links you’ll have especially as you gather information from relevant departments. Edit the checklist into a digestible document, send materials in advance and encourage other staff to send a welcome message.

The First Day

I love this episode of the Smart Thinking podcast which encourages you to think of the first day like a first date. We want the person to feel welcomed, included, and to have just a little bit of hand-holding (not literally of course, but figuratively, as in support and encouragement).

Consistency, clarity and structure will be the key to build trust and put your employee at ease. You can do this by setting clear expectations for how you’ll work together. For example, how often will you check in? How do you both prefer to communicate? What is important for you in your job? In return share what they can expect from you as a colleague or supervisor. In a virtual world, we don’t have as many social cues to help people learn about one another; open conversations and plenty of opportunities for feedback will strengthen your professional relationship.

You want that first day to feel like a breeze, so what’s left? Well, first-day-on-the-job lunch of course! How can you replace this experience, which is so often used to get to know each other on a more personal level, and make them feel appreciated and eager to join your company? Could you send them a gift card for food delivery? Send a SWAG bag to their front door? Set up a virtual happy hour with your favorite Jackbox game? Remember, you need to set intentional time to get to know the person since the ‘water cooler’ isn’t around. While the work is what brings you together, it’s the people and recognizing each other’s humanness that keeps employees engaged and satisfied.

The follow up

Don’t let your onboarding end after the first day or the first few days, in fact. Continue regular one-on-one meetings, some fun small group activities, and high praise and feedback. Check in regularly on the new employees progress and how they are managing with everything from specific projects, efficiency with the technology, and office culture to ensure success. At See What I Mean we love tracking progress on Trello, having brainstorming sessions on Miro, and sharing project updates and more on Loom.

With a spotlight on mental health, work-life balance, and a general sense of well being in our lives, it’s never been more important to create a sense of trust and engagement for your employees.

While it may feel like we’ve been doing virtual work all of our lives, in reality virtual engagement and tools change daily. Brush up on your virtual efficiency with some tools from SWIM such as:

Author: Meghan Walters

 

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Trust, Leadership, MeetingsMeghan WaltersRemote Work, Culture, Onboarding, OrientationComment