Welcome on board! Or how to adapt remote employees

Onboarding of employees is a start that directly affects the finish line. It is the adaptation process that specifies the employee’s satisfaction and awareness and, hence, in the future, his work efficiency. It would seem that remote employees’ adapting is much more difficult than it is in office mode, but with the right approach, on the contrary, it is easier and faster.

During the time of self-isolation, we’ve hired several new interns, an HR manager and a designer. Their onboarding was easy and fast, so we decided to share our experience with you. So, we do not divide adaptation into stages, it takes us a maximum of a week time to achieve complete comfort, in office mode as well. 

Highlights of Remote Onboarding:

• the future employee will learn about the values ​​and mission of the company, as well as all the details of cooperation, during a second interview before the start of work;

• 2 people adapt the employee — the HR manager and the tech-mentor; HR gives access to all corporate resources (mail, Staff, Slack, etc.) necessary for communication and work, and the tech-mentor introduces the technical part, but at the same time, each member of the team is always ready to help on a particular issue and is always in touch;

• to be in touch is generally a key factor in successful remote interaction, since the quality of work directly depends on effective communication;

• the company's management maintains a constant contact with the newcomer, thereby encouraging and inspiring;

• acquaintance with the team takes place first in Slack, and then in Skype;

• feedbacks of course, about their importance in general, we’ve already written in our article “Through a mix of carrots and sticks or the ways to give feedback to your employees”, and for newcomers, they are like air, so they regularly receive instructions, tips for optimizing work, and of course praise;

• various online meetings that allow to immerse the employee deeper into the life of the company and acquaint him better with colleagues.

So, the main advice is to be as close as possible with a newcomer even at distance.