Remote Onboarding Best Practices for Talent and Performance Management
Online training can be part of onboarding for remote workers.
Even though some states are beginning to allow shut-down businesses to reopen as the coronavirus pandemic begins to decline, remote work is supposed to continue for at least the next few months and could be a long-term solution for many people as they wait for a vaccine or effective treatment for the virus.
As companies hire new remote workers, they will need to be onboarded remotely as well. Setting your new employees up for success in a new corporate remote environment requires some extra steps, but best practices are now becoming more established as remote work becomes the standard.
Establish a Connection
Part of the reason remote workers can often feel out of place or have difficulty adjusting to a new remote job is that remote onboarding doesn’t focus on establishing a connection between the new employee and coworkers or management. Video conferencing should be a priority during the early days, with ample opportunities to get to know each other, make eye contact, and ask questions.
Zoom meetings with coworkers will be common now when whole teams are working remotely, but become even more important when some are back in the office while others are not. Don’t let new remote workers slip through the cracks; make sure they are included so that connections can be formed.
Finding ways to connect remotely can make new hires feel more comfortable.
Enable Collaboration
Outreach Pete founder Pete McAllister advocates sticking new remote hires in a Slack channel together and backing off while they figure out how to accomplish tasks and objectives. This kind of onboarding can help to build camaraderie and support quickly.
Provide Documentation
Onboarding involves large amounts of information, and the more of it that can be provided in written form after the initial presentation, the more comfortable new remote employees will feel with their jobs. Let’s face it, it can be a little embarrassing to ask a question about information already presented, so it will make remote hires feel more comfortable to be able to look it up on a website or portal and not need to ask.
Documentation can also be useful when training multiple workers on the same task so that the trainer doesn’t have to create new materials each time.
Map out workflow
Some remote jobs are complex and will require remote employees to be carefully trained in steps. Mapping out the workflow of a job will help you see which tasks to train on first and how to best handle the situation so that employees will clearly understand what to do. Effective training can make the difference between a smooth transition to your company and the frustrating experience that may lead to high turnover.
Assessments can be part of the onboarding process to help management understand a remote employee’s strengths and weaknesses on a cognitive and behavioral level. Not only do assessments provide unique insights and connection points, but they also increase engagement to prevent future problems that could occur.
Narish International can help your company build higher-performing teams.
