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5 Tips To Onboard New Remote Hires

By
Lucas Campbell avatar
on July 11#business-tips
5 Tips To Onboard New Remote Hires

Many employers are still getting used to their staff working remotely. Remote working has increased by 159% since 2016. Today, even though many employers are still akin to the old way of working, more staff work remotely than those in the office. Remote working has proven to be more efficient and cost-effective than the traditional office system, and many companies are gravitating towards this system of working.

As the work meta changed, the recruitment process has also taken a new phase, and HR teams are having challenges onboarding new staff. To curb this challenge, global companies are coming up with new strategies to onboard their staff and improve the retention of talent in their companies. If you or your organization fall in this category, here are five strategies you will find helpful if you are trying to onboard new hires.

1. Begin early

Many brands add new employees to their slack channel after the interview is completed. As the new team members join, they are introduced and given access to materials that outline the company culture and the projects the team is working on. It is wise to give them time, as much as three weeks, to prepare for the projects.

This can be in the form of PDFs or in the form of videos that they can watch. You can even send them GIFs to make them feel welcomed and assign a mentor to help them acclimate to the team.

Adding them to your social platforms is the fastest way for them to learn about your brand. If you are dealing with remote foreign hires, you can use translated materials with the help of professional translation services to ensure the clarity and accuracy of the content materials.

2. Connect new teammates to the digital employee handbook

Connections on the web will never be the same as face-to-face, but if you follow the strategies listed here, you can get the best out of the system. Connecting digitally will be more efficient when you have access to the digital workplace.

You can use the company intranet, messaging apps, video conferencing apps, and other apps that help your team stay connected throughout the workday. Expect many questions from new hires and engage them until they get familiar with the team.

Stay on message with the IT team and communicate usernames and passwords promptly. Make all of your employee orientation materials digital. Also, engage professional translation services to carry your foreign teammates so they are on board with the headquarters' decisions.

Share company culture and success stories and plot new visions and goals. Use your intranet and website to help teammates bond over a shared vision. 

3. Encourage collaborative learning among your team

New teammates often have impostor syndrome in their first month and find it hard to become a part of the team. Make sure they know that feedback and any questions are welcome. Help them combat feelings of isolation by encouraging teammates to work together on new projects.

Giving them a mentor or work friend to help them acclimatize is fine. You can also train the teams in twos so that they get to know their team members and connect as humans, as well as teammates who need to work on meeting their goals individually and as a team. It’s important to incorporate some team-building activities that will help new hires bond with the team and make their first days easier to handle.

4. Provide an individualized remote onboarding plan with video check-ins and goals

Give them concrete goals and encourage them to meet with their managers weekly to discuss their work and strategies to help them achieve their goals. You can use video conferencing tools and make it a semi-formal chat so that they are comfortable during the chat.

Employees who feel supported by their line managers and team members are 54% more productive in their first few months on the job. Keep the support system going for at least six weeks.

You can brainstorm and come up with monthly and quarterly action goals to help your new team members produce at their optimum and provide a conducive work environment that encourages productivity. You can use the same template or create new ones as needed for different departments.

5. Initiate professional development and personal growth from the start

You keep your new teammates engaged when you initiate training from day one. Create opportunities for new team members to access online courses weekly and practice the skills learned on the go or the following week.

Ask for weekly reports on how the training has improved their work assignments and how they plan to make their learning practical. Allow the new team members to choose more personal and professional development courses every quarter. They will show the management how their skills are building the company brand and contributing to the bottom line. 

Bonus Tip

There are many tools available to help manage a team and many have success with using Slack to communicate. Make sure you set yourself up for success and ensure you have an excellent task management system in place to ensure that your new hires know exactly what work needs to be done. Check out Workast in Slack, a free tool to create and manage tasks for remote teams.

As with everything else, ensure that all work content is translated for team members in other countries so that remote foreign hires can participate. Using professional translation services helps you communicate with every staff member locally and internationally.

Make teamwork simple with Workast