Onboarding is officially the first and one of the most crucial processes an employee undertakes with a new employer. It’s the process of familiarizing the employee with the company, and it helps them understand their role, how tasks are performed, and the company's culture.
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Put simply, an employee would simply be lost without undergoing at least some form of onboarding. And with the rise of remote working, we’re witnessing the rise of remote onboarding as well. But as new trends rise, new challenges do as well. And that may hinder your firm’s working.
Let’s look at what challenges arise during remote onboarding and how you can overcome them to provide a seamless onboarding experience to your new hires and set the foundation of a healthy working environment.
What is virtual employee onboarding?
Virtual or remote onboarding is an onboarding process performed in a virtual setting to aid the remote working requirements of a firm and help employees perform to the best of their abilities in a remote setting.
Essentially, it’s the same process as in-person onboarding but done virtually with the help of virtual tools. Companies use tools such as an AI presentation maker to streamline the process of creating presentations and video calling to educate and orient new hires about their role and tasks in the remote onboarding processes.
What are the steps to onboarding remote employees?
To create the ideal remote onboarding process and help the employee settle into their new role, you need to:
- Welcome the employee into the company,
- Explain their role to them in terms of the tasks they’d perform, their roles, responsibilities, and scope,
- Establish a clear communication channel so that they’re always connected to their team and superiors,
- Familiarize them with their department and superiors,
- Help them understand the company culture,
- Provide required training to help them get started.
You can achieve this by using various remote tools such as email communication, chat, video calls, instruction videos, and Artificial Intelligence & ML.
What are remote onboarding challenges, and how do we overcome them?
The end goal of onboarding — in-person or remote — is to help you build a dynamic and skillful team in the long run. To facilitate a seamless remote onboarding process, you’ll need to overcome some challenges that may hinder it. Here are some key challenges you can face during remote onboarding and advice on how to overcome them with a bit of planning and agility:
Challenge — Lack of standard procedure
Many companies view remote onboarding as an ‘on-the-fly’ process and don’t give it the weight they give to in-person onboarding. The result is a lack of a proper onboarding process or steps to follow.
Hiring managers and department leaders are forced to create a process on the spot, leaving key bits out. This makes it challenging for the new hire to understand their role. It may even leave them with a negative impression of your firm.
Solution — Automate the process
Create an SOP for onboarding remote employees while leaving room for custom changes. By doing so, you’ll have a structure and standard steps to follow for onboarding all kinds of roles, with the option to add custom practices if needed.
This involves creating:
- Videos,
- Training materials,
- Documentation.
Automating the process with standardized steps brings uniformity and professionalism to your remote onboarding process. If you want to automate employee onboarding, you can do it through various systems, such as HR systems or learning management systems.
Challenge — New hires that aren’t technologically proficient
Only a certain percentage of the employees will be tech-savvy, so it’s better not to assume anything beforehand and disrupt their onboarding process. Setting up high expectations can put a lot of pressure on the newbies who naturally want to present themselves in the best light.
Solution — Begin with tech orientation
Begin every remote onboarding with a quick tutorial, guide, or video about the basic technical tools used within the company that the employee will be expected to use eventually.
Include topics such as:
- Logging into the system,
- Accessing emails,
- Operating different tools.
If the employee already has experience with all of the above, they won’t mind a quick recap, and if they don’t, they’d appreciate you making the effort. Additionally, you can ask them if they require more training in the technological aspects.
Challenge — New hires feeling overwhelmed
Remote onboarding can overwhelm new hires as they enter a new company with no physical surroundings to rely on. Getting large chunks of information in one go can add to the anxiety, making them feel even more burdened.
Solution — Extend the process
One of the easiest ways to help new hires absorb the influx of information is to extend the onboarding process and spread it over a week or two. Begin with the most crucial information they need to get started, such as logging into their accounts and communication channels.
After you’ve shared what’s most important, you can gradually share new information once they face their new tasks. This allows the employees to settle in and take things at their own pace without being overwhelmed with data and instructions.
Challenge — Existing employees not playing the needed role
Often, team members who are part of the team the new hire is joining are unavailable to meet and greet them. Sometimes they’re not even aware of their role in the orientation of the new person.
This leads to ineffective remote onboarding and communication gaps between teams and colleagues that can grow and hamper the workflow in the long run.
Solution — Teach employees different ways to help new hires
Educate your existing employees about their general and particular role in onboarding new employees so that they can become active participants. If they cannot be present when the new hire joins, make sure they interact with them the first chance they get.
Doing so ensures that the new employees meet every team member and are comfortable with them. It helps break the ice amongst team members and foster a positive work culture.
Standardize remote onboarding to help new hires begin on the best foot
Remote onboarding is the need of the hour as we shift toward a remote working model. It’s true that there are challenges that come with making an in-person process – virtual. However, with some planning, you can seamlessly make the shift and help your new hires begin their journeys on the best foot.
Simply put, standardize the procedure. Take care of the technical aspect first and foremost. And let the new hire absorb information at their own pace. Ask existing employees to actively participate in the onboarding to make it a collaborative and positive experience.
