How To Onboard A Remote Worker: Seven Easy Steps

Let’s not delve too much into how and why we got here but remote hiring and remote worker onboarding is super relevant right now. Because despite the pandemic many companies still have jobs to fill.  Beyond where the biscuits are stored, effective onboarding has shown to increase employee performance by up to 11%. So, it’s worth getting right. Here’s 7 tips to make sure your remote workers are ready, able, and excited to start working with you.

1. Set Expectations Early - Make sure your website, especially the “Careers” and ‘About us” pages, are up-to-date and sending out the right message about your company culture. For remotely hired workers this is the only exposure they’ve had.  Set out your expectations during the interview process. Being transparent about workload, hours of work and other prospects will help avoid misinterpretation or conflict further down the line.
2. Remote Worker Checklist - Create or adapt an onboarding checklist for new remote workers. Take time to consider all the tools they will need to work comfortably. Once again being clear about this from the start means your employee will be quickly ready to work.
3. Welcome Pack - Posting welcome packages, not only filled with necessary equipment and employer information but exciting swag too will really create a warm welcome for new employees.
4. Part of the Team - Getting to know colleagues and putting “faces to names” early on will help alleviate feelings of isolation, nervousness about reaching out to people, and fast-tracking their assimilation of the company’s culture. Set up virtual video coffee meetings or have a daily team chat, like we do at 1PS. You can even coordinate personalised videos from a prospective employee's post-pandemic desk-mate.
5. Ask what works for them - Having laid out your expectations early on why not set up a “How I Work” document and ask your new employee to fill it out? It will help your new employee to settle in, feel valued by showing you are prepared to consider specific needs. After the initial settling in period, go over your employee’s individual goals and motivations and the KPIs they can demonstrate as they work towards them. After all, everyone works better when the metrics of their success are clearly defined.
6. Regular Feedback Loop - Things can change in the Covid-Era and in the early months of new role, so be sure to check in with your staff.  Set up a meeting to revisit their working preferences further down the line. Make sure the remoteness doesn’t affect your ability to make your employees feel heard and looked after, but also achieve their full potential.
7. Refine the process - While we’re confident these tips should help you on your way to successfully onboarding a remote worker, it always pays to reassess a process.  Be actively ready to improve things, tweak others and be open to feedback.

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