Onboarding new hires without ever meeting them or having them step into a physical office is definitely a new challenge that a huge number of companies have had to face over the last few years. Here’s what five great companies have learned so far.
What are some things you’ve learned about remote onboarding over the last few years?
At Medallia, every experience matters. As a customer and employee experience company, our new hire onboarding begins the day a candidate signs their offer. From day one our new Medallians experience our values in action and are engaged in our listening strategy. Feedback is more important than ever! We acknowledge that a career move is a defining moment of transition and setting them up for their next journey is key. Having a listening strategy has helped us stay connected with new hires from day one, shape the remote experience, and the new hire journey. Based on new Medallian feedback, we continue to build connectivity, create engagement, be available but also make information available to them via self-service and close the loop.
What are the most important things to remember when you’re remote onboarding a new employee?
Remote onboarding is ever-changing and change is good. We strive to make every experience matter, it’s our mission. At Medallia, we obsess over the details and this is why it is so important to listen to your new hires. Onboarding should be purposeful, help new hires with connectivity, and create a sense of belonging with a well-defined onboarding journey. We would also incorporate an open communication plan with self-service that sets up your new hires for success. Don’t forget to close the loop! This will keep new hires engaged and will continue to help you shape your company’s desired virtual onboarding experience.
Check Out Medallia’s Careers Page Here!
What are some things you’ve learned about remote onboarding over the last few years?
Everbridge is a global company with 26 offices around the world, which means we have been on-boarding geographically distributed team members since long before the global pandemic hit. In 2020, we simply scaled our remote onboarding procedures to keep pace with best practices and guidelines put forth by health and government authorities. We found it is important to allow “classes” of on-boarders to engage with each other to feel they are part of the company, so we have made our “Bridge2Everbridge,” a two-day training on Everbridge as a company, virtual. New hires meet with and hear from our executives to get excited and feel connected. We have found this helps transition them into the company as a unit.
What are the most important things to remember when you’re remote onboarding a new employee?
We try to put ourselves in their shoes and remember how we felt when we first joined Everbridge. Because our products are nuanced, we take the time to clearly explain our offerings, our culture, what we do and how we do it, and, most importantly, our mission as a company so that the new hires are thoroughly brought up to speed. We also remain patient and understanding, trying to calm nerves and eliminate any “Zoom-awkwardness” to make our new Bridgers feel comfortable and included.
Check out Everbridge’s Careers Page Here!
What are some things you’ve learned about remote onboarding over the last few years?
We’ve learned that onboarding remotely has made us far more effective at onboarding than we ever were in person because you have to be more strategic about making your new hires feel welcomed. In the “before times,” there was an unsaid assumption that a sense of inclusion and belonging would build itself organically, but in this remote-first world, community forms through well-thought-out plans that go beyond the initial onboarding. This mentality has positive ripple effects on the rest of the employee experience. It has led to lower turnover and higher employee satisfaction, signaling that whether or not we go back to in-person work, we’re much better at onboarding because of our remote onboarding experience.
What are the most important things to remember when you’re remote onboarding a new employee?
It’s essential to make the onboarding experience as personal as possible and remember to plan out opportunities to show your new hire the company’s personality. You should know a little more than what your new hire’s CV looks like or what their job description is. To show them the company’s personality, think of ways to get them connected to other departments, perhaps by sending a fun company-wide new hire introduction message or arranging a new hire mixer.
Check out WhoWhatWear’s careers page here!
What are some things you’ve learned about remote onboarding over the last few years?
Over the last few years, while everyone has been working from home during the global pandemic, we’ve realized there’s a yearning for connection and engagement, especially when it comes to new hires joining a new company. At many companies, new hires receive a lot of attention Week 1, but what happens after that? We recognized we needed to help bridge that gap for our new employees, or N-abilities as we like to call them, so we created a unique onboarding experience called New Hire N-tegration. This global onboarding program was built around the N-able core values and begins about 3-6 weeks after an N-ablite’s start date. It’s a half-day, virtual program that gives new hires the opportunity to interact with our executive leadership team, learn how to collaborate better via a work-styles assessment, network with one another, and most importantly, have fun! 100% of participants in the program agree they leave the program understanding N-able’s mission, culture, and values, creating enhanced connections with our people and company during the onboarding process.
What are the most important things to remember when you’re remote onboarding a new employee?
One of the most important things to remember during remote onboarding is that in order for a new hire to focus on building connections and integrating into the company, they need to be set up for success – both from a technical and company culture perspective. That’s why we designed our unique onboarding program to focus on both aspects. During a new hire’s first week, we ensure they have the technology and systems they need for the virtual world. Then, after about 3-6 weeks with the company, we transition them into a New Hire N-tegration cohort of fellow new hires. This holistic onboarding approach gives our new N-ablites the ability to be efficient and productive in a remote environment, while also beginning to fully integrate into our N-able culture. Additionally, we have found it’s important, especially when working virtually, to continuously check in with your new hires so they can ask questions and feel like they’re a part of the team – that’s why in our New Hire N-tegration program we make sure members of each cohort have opportunities to keep connecting and building relationships even beyond the formal program.
Check Out N-able’s Careers Page Here!
What are some things you’ve learned about remote onboarding over the last few years?
Onboarding needs to be comprehensive because you cannot rely on “turning to the person in the office next to you for an answer”. You also need to provide onboarding information in different types of media to address those who prefer to read, versus those who prefer videos to learn. We have increased our onboarding to include 5 categories of content and we provide it both in written and video form
What are the most important things to remember when you’re remote onboarding a new employee?
People need time to onboard before you throw them into meetings. We give people 2 full weeks to complete the 20-40 hours of onboarding content so that they know the company, our target audience and our solutions. It is also important to make sure the content is broken down for easy “digestibility” and it is important to follow up and have a point of contact for new onboards to reach out and ask questions. They shouldn’t have to go to their manager for everything. An onboard specialists should be assigned.