This ongoing pandemic has changed the world in many ways. Due to the increasing necessity and popularity of remote working, employers virtually update their systems and policies to interview candidates. The onboarding task is the final chapter of the tech recruitment process, which follows the interview and selection procedures.
Employee onboarding is critical as it gives the first impression of your tech company to your freshly hired employees.
Remote Onboarding Strategies for New Tech Recruits
“The first impression is the last impression.”
Hence, you ought to ensure that your onboarding process is impressive for the new joiners. Research indicates that 31% of new employees quit within their first six months. Therefore, the way you can onboard your new employees could make a massive difference in your tech company’s attrition rate and long-term growth. So, on that note, let’s check out some remote onboarding strategies in detail.
1. Online Document Signing
Documentation is a formal agreement between an employee and an organization. Making documentation a priority during onboarding can aid in the resolution of disputes, offer resources (if and when required), and answer crucial questions about the tech company. Hence, initially, the recruit will probably have to sign a few documents after hiring. However, it’s impossible to remotely use physical paperwork so you can opt for virtual documents. For example- DocuSign and HelloSign, are legally and legitimately binding electronic approval services that you can use to sign documents remotely.
2. Providing Work Devices
You have to provide your new remote tech employees with their requisite devices, like laptops and mobiles, a few days early, but make sure they don’t wait too long for these devices after joining. Otherwise, there will be a waste of time, and the company’s impression will be anything but professional. You should keep an eye on non-delivery days on weekends and holidays and, if required, choose premium shipping services that guarantee prompt deliveries.
3. Streamline The Induction Process
A remotely hired tech employee’s sense of belonging and productivity, especially a new joiner, can easily be jeopardized by feelings of isolation. Team lunch breaks and water cooler conversations are non-existent for remote employees. Hence, a virtual introduction is a must-have in such remote inductions.
You can schedule brief video conferences with the entire team and then individually with managers. These introductions are critical for communicating team structure, establishing shared goals, and inducing enthusiasm.
Also, introduce the newly joined tech employees to your organization once they’ve met their teammates. You can send a company-wide “new hire” email or a welcome message on your company messaging app, like Slack or Google Chat.
4. Introduce them to their job roles
As your remote new joiners are not in the office, they take a little longer to onboard and acclimate. Therefore, you should plan and schedule most meetings with agendas, video links, and other details to help your new tech employees ease into the new role.
Ensure that they are introduced to all necessary people, processes, and projects which will be required to execute their tasks successfully.
Furthermore, you need to work together with the new tech employees to create a clear strategy for their initial 30-, 60-, and 90-day periods so that you’re all on the same page about the role’s expectations.
5. Promote Open Conversations
Remember that some new hires hesitate to ask questions via email or instant chats, as it is usually a little harder to build rapport and get comfortable in a virtual environment. Hence, you have to make an extra effort to be proactive and discuss an onboarding plan ahead of time to know what to expect.
You should consider making a remote onboarding checklist with activities and goals broken down by day or week for your new employees.
Work in Batches
Onboarding and training new hires in small groups is a terrific method to minimize time and effort. It also fosters a sense of belonging among your new employees. A lot of successful companies use this method to onboard their new joiners in small batches. A smaller group of people allows new employees to get to know each other better.
Take Feedback (and act on them)
If you’ve never managed a remote team before, there’s a strong possibility that you’ll have some difficulties at first. Ideally, you should ask each new remotely hired tech employee to evaluate the process and provide candid feedback on what worked and what didn’t. The input will allow you to streamline the onboarding process for future hires.
Encourage Bonding
Although it may not always be practical, you should aim to include the remotely hired tech employees as much as possible in your team activities. Even sending an invitation is a significant gesture that will make them feel more included in the group.
Furthermore, try to mix in some informal conversations and fun ice-breakers in your professional sessions. For example, you can request your senior staff to reach out to the new hires, introduce themselves from the first week, and build rapport.
The remotely hired tech employees that are happy, cohesive, and well-equipped add more value to the company. You will reap benefits in the form of higher employee engagement, a boost in productivity, better employee retention, new talent attraction (via references), and rich company culture.
We hope you have got some good pointers from this article regarding the remote onboarding of your tech employees. Please let us know, in the “Comment” section, how you are going about your remote onboarding process.
You are also welcome to mention how this article has helped you with your remote onboarding strategies. We would love to hear your thoughts.
