Remote Onboarding: Effective Techniques for Welcoming New Hires

Let’s welcome your remote employees with virtual open arms! Use these remote onboarding tips to boost belonging for new hires now:

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Could your virtual onboarding process use a glow-up?

The latest remote onboarding techniques incorporate new tech upgrades and proven remote team-building strategies to show new hires that you’re thrilled to have them and invested in their success.

Creating this sense of value and belonging right from the start helps new employees feel welcomed and pays dividends for your organization. 

According to research: 

So let’s kick off our ultimate guide to remote onboarding with the basics before we jump into our roundup of tips, tools, and best practices.

Hiring remotely in 2024? Check out our complete guide to hiring remotely in 2024 here.

Remote employee onboarding is the process of orienting, training, and integrating new hires into your company’s culture, online workflows, and teams — all in a virtual office setting.

Employee onboarding begins the minute your candidate signs their offer letter and ends when they can effectively perform their remote job without training wheels. Depending on your company and their role, onboarding can last a few days, weeks, or even months.

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During this time, your team will aim to:

The sooner your new hires feel comfortable in their role, the more engaged, productive team members they’ll become. They’ll also feel more confident about accepting employment with your organization (i.e., they won’t keep entertaining potential job offers). Also, there are tools like Remote, that can help you with onboarding, and much more, during your hiring process.

Now that we understand the mission, let’s dive into the first stage of how to onboard new hires remotely.

Before welcoming your new hires with virtual open arms, you must craft a well-structured roadmap to navigate them through the onboarding journey. Include these tasks on your checklist:

A standardized onboarding process shows new hires that your team is professional, organized, and trustworthy. This game plan should include:

Receiving this intel upfront alleviates first-day jitters. It also helps new hires know what to expect during work-from-home onboarding if they’ve never done one before.

Many organizations have been using Learning Management Systems (LMS) that provide structured training modules when onboarding new employees remotely. These allow new hires to learn at their own pace and track their progress.

But to step up your virtual onboarding game, we suggest:

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Just like remote hiring in specific industries requires different techniques, so do your remote training strategies. They may require a bit of setup on the front end. But their reach, impact, and power to captivate attention are unrivaled. 

Send a welcome package to your new hires to reinforce your excitement. Consider stuffing your goodie boxes with:

Your new employees will be pleasantly surprised by this gift and feel valued, welcomed, and appreciated. Way to make a fantastic first impression!

One of the best tips for remote onboarding is actually pre-boarding. This allows new hires to complete all the administrative prerequisites online before their first day.

Some digital onboarding platforms offer customized onboarding workflows, document management, and e-signatures, making paperwork seamless and reducing administrative headaches.

But you can also set up an onboarding portal to serve as a centralized hub for:

Your new hires score 24/7 access to this hub to read/complete tasks on their own time. And instead of the first onboarding day revolving around boring paperwork, you’ll make more time for connecting. 

Investing more in communication and engagement may actually improve the onboarding experience by at least 80%.[*]

When the big day finally arrives (yay!), try to use as many of these effective remote onboarding techniques as possible:

If you’re striving for digital workplace integration, scheduling a remote employee welcome party is a hands-down must. 

Take the lead on a quick, company-wide virtual call to introduce your new hire, highlight their awesomeness, and make them feel like they’re part of something bigger and special.

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Then, sprinkle virtual coffee breaks and team-building activities throughout onboarding to break up training blocks and foster virtual bonding. Schedule one-on-one video calls with their team members, team leaders, and department managers. Here they can all:

These casual “get-to-know-you” chats are the closest thing to in-person interactions. They help build rapport, trust, and belonging for new hires.

Building a strong culture with a remote team influences your employee’s behavior, work ethic, decision-making, and more. So it’s imperative to get new hires invested and aligned ASAP.

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Spend some time covering your:

Follow up with how your new hire will add value to your organization and help achieve its ultimate mission.

Setting SMART goals and outlining expectations are some of the top remote work best practices for managing teams. Turns out, they’re also one of the most effective onboarding techniques.

New hires must know what’s expected of them in their role. Then they’ll understand how to best contribute their talent. That’s why your team must outline specifics upfront like:

Iterate exactly why you hired them for the role, whether it’s their experience, skills, portfolio, perspective, etc., to encourage, support, and motivate them to succeed.

Assigning every new hire a virtual buddy gives them a friend in your organization on their very first day. That may be why almost 50% of organizations implement a Buddy System or Virtual Mentorship Program for new employees.[*]

This experienced or senior team member will guide them through the intricacies of your remote work environment, offer insights, answer questions, and provide moral support. Buddies can also introduce new hires to cross-department employees and check in occasionally to see how they’re acclimating.

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Stats show that nearly 90% of companies believe assigning a buddy increased their new hire’s efficiency and productivity.[*] And close to 60% of employees say having a buddy or mentor at work was essential when they started.[*]

Congratulations on covering the basics! Your new hire should have a better understanding of how to perform at your company. Now it’s time to show that you’re invested in their success too.

Learning how to best support career growth for remote employees starts during onboarding. Here’s where you should ask new hires questions about their career goals, where they want to make progress, and how they plan to excel.

Discussing career development during onboarding more than triples job satisfaction.[*] Plus, new hires with a professional development plan are 3.5 times more likely to call their onboarding process “exceptional.”[*]

So help your new employees envision their future with your organization by:

This conversation will promote your culture of learning and development and encourage new hires to set goals and expand their skill set, which are all perks for your workforce.

A healthy, happy team member is a productive one. So make sure your new hire knows about the resources your organization offers to:

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These resources can help your new remote hires combat the potential loneliness and isolation many telecommuters experience and motivate them to make friends and be more social.

As your new hires transition into their roles, schedule regular one-on-one check-ins to gauge their progress and promptly address any concerns or challenges. 

Don’t forget to acknowledge and celebrate their achievements and milestones. Public recognition definitely boosts morale and motivation.

Finally, create a safe space for honest, open feedback so they can provide input on their onboarding experience and suggest improvements. Iterating on these demonstrates that your company values their opinions and strives to improve.

By creating a comprehensive game plan, fostering connections, and leveraging the right technology, your remote onboarding experience can eagerly welcome, instill loyalty, and boost new hire productivity.

Just keep in mind that successful onboarding isn’t just about imparting information; it's about creating a sense of belonging and making your new team members feel like they're part of something special.

Implement these techniques, and you’ll set the stage for a thriving remote work culture where every team member feels valued and supported.