Welcome New Employees by Doing Remote Onboarding Right 

There’s still a lot of uncertainty about when we will return to the office. However, if your team is thriving during the pandemic, chances are you aren’t waiting for that. It is very likely you would have hired at least a few new employees over the last few months. That’s where the challenge of remote onboarding comes in.  

In office, you can allocate meetings for new hires with their team, managers and company leadership. With remote working though, it is not as smooth or easy. If you have felt that remote onboarding is a challenge, you aren’t the only one. Talent LMS found that 15% of HR managers find it difficult to integrate remote workers into the company culture. 

Solving this challenge is critical to your team’s long-term success and wellbeing. Here are a few tips for all you HR managers to try. We hope you find that they work for your team!

A Remote Onboarding Checklist 

Clickboarding found that 69% of new hires are likely to stay with a new company for three years if they have a great onboarding experience. To maximise your new employee’s experience, you need to create a handy checklist so you don’t miss out on any critical information. Here are a few things to include: 

• IT manuals and hardware (if applicable) 
• A branded welcome kit 
• A company handbook with your mission, vision and goals 
• A guide on the tools they will use for their role 
• Communication platforms the company uses and their purpose 
• A meeting with their manager and immediate team 
• One to ones with senior management 
• A checklist of goals or targets specific for their role 
• Detailed guide to benefits including employee healthcare benefits
   

This checklist is a good start, but it is not the end. There’ still plenty of work you need to do for a good remote onboarding experience. Here are just a few common mistakes and how to avoid them.
 

Make Remote Onboarding Fun 

Very often, onboarding can be a dry process. There’ a lot of formalities and paperwork to be done. Then there are loads of meetings. Just because they are necessary, doesn’t mean they can’t be fun. You can send your new hire a virtual certificate or sticker for completing a task.  

Also try to schedule onboarding calls in the evening, when your team has some free time to engage in a games session. You can try introducing your new hire through dumb charades, karaoke or other fun ways. Get creative and show your company is a fun place to work.  

Avoid Isolation 

Remote working means that people are often isolated. The best remote onboarding experience is one where your new hire isn’t. Give the employee a buddy, someone they can connect with who has similar interests.  

That way, they’ll have someone to talk to. Having a buddy or companion comes with the healthcare benefits of reducing stress and depression. It also shows that you as a company, really care for your employees.  

Do Not Overwhelm 

The last thing you want to do is overwhelm your new hire with work. As a HR manager, you need to work with the new employee’s manager to create a weekly or biweekly plan of action.  

Ensure the hire has ample time to learn all the tools he/she will be using. It’s also important to give the person time to learn about the company’s structure, culture and ambitions. Small steps at first can help ease the employee in. 

Stay in Touch 

Once your new hire is comfortable with their buddy, make sure his/her team takes time out to communicate. Work-related communication will happen, what you need to do is ensure that they get to know each other personally as well. 

Personal communication helps build trust, and make your team appear friendly and approachable. Remote onboarding won’t just become easier, but impactful. 

Please remember that remote onboarding is not a weeklong process. It takes months of constant communication, planning and feedback to fully integrate a new hire into your team. The more effort you take, the better the results.  

An important part of the remote onboarding process is to ensure your new hire has access to their employee healthcare benefits from day one. You never know when they will have a medical emergency, so you need to assure them that as a team, you have their back.  

The best way to do that is to have access to a comprehensive wellness membership plans, which provide all-round healthcare benefits to your team. For the best employee experience, your business health plans need to have preventive care, fitness and hospitalization assistance.  

If you are a startup or small business, why not check out Onsurity’s wellness membership for employees? Our comprehensive plans offer employee healthcare benefits like doctor teleconsultations, fitness tracking, discounted medicine and lab tests and group health insurance for startups and MSMEs. Click on the button below.