Advantages of remote onboarding

The world of work has changed, and remote work is no longer an option or perk. Teams worldwide have been forced to go fully- or mostly-remote, many with a weekend’s notice. As the months of working from home drag on, we’ve had to readjust our processes and systems -- one of which is employee onboarding.

The importance of a strong onboarding program can’t be overstated -- especially since only 12 percent of employees are happy with their organization’s onboarding programs, and 50 percent of new hires leave their organizations within their first 18 months. While remote work is associated with decreased retention, we can’t deny the outsized impact of an employee’s first few months on the rest of their tenure.

For the many companies whose onboard processes are steeped in in-person activities like team lunches and decorated desks, remote onboarding can seem like a second-rate substitute. However, if we’ve learned anything over the last few months, it’s that remote work doesn’t have to mimic the in-office experience to be successful. We can build rich, thoughtful onboarding experiences for remote employees that keep them engaged throughout their tenure. And, if you plan your onboarding experiences right, you can even take advantage of some key benefits.

Benefits of remote onboarding

The goals of onboarding are to acquaint new hires with their team, coworkers, and company. Over the course of the first few days, weeks, and months, new hires are expected to get familiar with their organization’s people, systems, software, and culture. While the best onboarding processes are multi-step and clearly-defined, they all rely (at least partially) on unplanned encounters: chance water cooler chats, introductions between friends, and meeting breakouts.

Remote onboarding can’t rely on these unscripted moments. To help new hires get settled, HR has to build an airtight onboarding process with partners they can trust.

Strengthen connections from a distance

In-office onboarding gives employees formal and informal opportunities to meet teammates and colleagues; remote work, however, limits those "water cooler chats" whose importance remote work naysayers have cited for years.

To make up for this, you’ll have to plan more intentional meetings for your new hire. While this may sound boring or stifling, taking the time to set them up with some friendly faces will ensure that they always have someone to talk to, instead of leaving relationship development up to chance. Or the water cooler.

These scheduled interactions are a major plus for remote onboarding because nothing is left to chance. When you set up a week’s worth of lunches and coffee for your new hire, you know that they’ll never feel alone -- something that, unfortunately, can and does happen in the office.

How can you socialize your new hires from a distance?

• Set them up with an onboarding buddy. Pair your new hire with a kindred spirit on their team (maybe even someone they interviewed with) who will help teach them the company’s ways, from Slack etiquette to affinity group introductions.
• Take advantage of tech tools. Slack integrations like Donut help new hires build connections outside of their team by introducing them to randomly-picked friendly folks in the organization.
• Engage ambassadors. Check in with your ultra-engaged employees (you know who they are!) and ask if they’d like to be a welcome crew for new hires. On your new hires’ first day, make some introductions and let the new friendships develop.
• Create unity among new hires. Onboarding new hires in groups gives them the chance to meet new people from across the organization, make friends, and learn more about your culture.

Formalize your check-ins

When you see your new hires every day, they quickly begin to blend in with the rest of the team. Within a week or two, they’ve hopefully settled in so well that you forget that they’re new.

Right? Wrong. A risk of in-person onboarding is that you might see them laughing and smiling with their new teammates and think they’re doing great—so why check in? Meanwhile, they’re hoping you’ll check in so they can share their experiences, thoughts, and worries.

When you’re working remotely, you don’t run that risk of assumption. Remote communication is more intentional than in-person work and it demands that you make an effort to reach out to the new hire to ask how they’re doing, instead of relying on hallway encounters. These remote meetings are a great opportunity for setting conversation agendas and making sure that your new hire is all set up in every way.

Learn by doing

For companies that went fully-remote because of COVID, communication practices had to be redesigned on the fly. No more shoulder taps and impromptu team meetings; we suddenly became dependent on Slack, Zoom, Asana, and a handful of other tools to keep our work tidy.

For employees who were used to working "a certain way" -- read: the way your teams functioned pre-pandemic -- the move to a different set of tech tools may have been jarring. For new hires, however, this is how the company works. They don’t have to change existing practices; they just have to learn how yours work. Thorough training will help your new hires get up to speed fast.

A major advantage of remote onboarding is that your new hires can learn how to use your tech stack by doing. There’s no confusion about when to use Slack and when to visit a desk: there’s one set of rules, and they’re sticking to it.

Remote onboarding is possible, and it can be great

Concerns about remote work, engagement, and onboarding are justified. We’re in a whole new world and while the possibilities are endless, so are the opportunities to make mistakes.

I say, however, that onboarding is supposed to be fun -- so why let location get in the way? When we open ourselves up to new kinds of experiences, we can create new practices that will help us survive, and even thrive, in our strange new normal.

Image credit: fizkes / Shutterstock

Ronni Zehavi, Co-Founder and CEO of Hibob. He has over 25 years of experience leading global SaaS companies. A former Entrepreneur in Residence at Bessemer Venture Partners, he co-founded and served as CEO of Cotendo, following his role as co-founder of Team8 Cybersecurity. Ronni is dedicated to enhancing company culture for fast-growing businesses.