Starting a new job can be incredibly daunting in the most traditional of settings, and many companies are set up to onboard new in office employees. As the trend towards remote continues to gain popularity, hiring new employees and starting new jobs have a whole new set of challenges.
For Employers
What does onboarding look like for a remote position? Laptops and office supplies show up at the front door instead of being delivered to a crowded floor of cubicles. Onboarding materials disseminated through HR zoom calls instead of in empty conference room tables. Virtual onboarding, when done well, can be an engaging and cost saving endeavor that empowers companies to widen their hiring pool and thereby attracting the best candidates without having to worry about when they can be on site for orientation…and how much it will cost to get them there. When onboarding remote employees, here are a few things to bear in mind.
Home Office set up
When a new employee starts in an office building, there are always overhead costs. Consider offering home office setups to remote employees. If this is the employee’s first time working in a remote engagement model, they may need things like an external monitor, a comfortable chair, standing desk, and so on. Providing these things as part of the onboarding process is a great way to engage with a new remote worker and to send the message that they are valued. If new desks and fancy workstations are not in the budget, something as simple as company swag and a headset, or pens and post-its can go a long way in creating an inclusive work place even across state lines.
Team Introductions
Have a formal plan for welcoming new remote team members. If the remote employee is the only remote worker on the team, be mindful of how being the only person not in the room can feel. Limit side conversations as those can be impossible to follow as a remote participant. If the rest of the team is also remote or there is a hybrid model, you are likely well practiced at video conferencing etiquette, but be sure to be mindful that the new teammate isn’t familiar with team norms just yet, and those can be really difficult to convey virtually.
Intentional Engagement Model
After intros have happened, don’t forget that your new remote employee is not randomly meeting people at the coffee bar in the office kitchen. Be thoughtful about how your new worker will engage with people on the team and across the company. Setting up onboarding meet and greets, daily checkins or regular team meetings are a great way to help your new employee get to know the culture of the company. Don’t hesitate to sprinkle in a few lighter, more social opportunities to get to know one another virtually as well. There are myriad opportunities for virtual team building, do your research and have a plan.
Lean in to Async
Use asynchronous chat tools as a way to build company culture across time zones and work schedules in the absence of a shared physical location. Fun channels that are specifically for employees to interact on a more personal level are a great way to help connections form. This may take some support from a few motivated participants to get off the ground, but play around with the model to fit your team’s needs. Here are some ideas to get you started:
Have some passionate cookers? Start a recipe sharing space!
Jetsetting team? Create a Travel Channel where teams can share tips about locations, ask for suggestions or share photos
Use a shared team space for weekend highlights (Monday) or weekend plans (Friday)
Themed Photo Contests around specific holidays or events
For Employees
When starting off as a remote worker at a new company, or when working at home full time for the first time, you may face some new challenges. Hopefully your employer has some infrastructure established to support you in your new adventure. If not, you can absolutely take some steps on your own to ease the transition. Additionally, a lack of intentional engagement models with remote employees may mean an opportunitiy for you to be a change agent in that space! Either way, here are a list of tips that you may find helpful as you start off remote!
Schedule time with your team
It can be easy to fade into the background as a remote employee, especially if you are in a hybrid or mostly non-remote setting. Try to be as proactive as you can and schedule 1:1 time with your teammates. It can be helpful to have a bit of a structure for these one on one get to know you calls, but try to keep things light in the beginning. These are a nice place to share your elevator pitch of your career path that led you to being on this team. Additionally, it is a great forum to share a hobby or two you have or an interesting fact about yourself. It would also be appropriate to have a question or two about each person’s role, their favorite part about working on the team and, especially if they are remote also, any tips they have about being a good teammate. The goal here is to open the lines of communication.
Designate a work space
Home may be where the heart is, but it’s also where a LOT of distractions reside as well. Depending on your space situation, dedicating a whole room as an office may not be an option. That doesn’t mean remote work is not an option for you! Having a space where you work in your home is a great way to keep the lines drawn between home and work.
Keep a schedule
Obviously the flexibility of remote work may fly in the face of the need for a schedule, but try to establish some sort of routine for yourself. This will greatly facilitate a healthy work-life balance. Of course your routine may need to change for one reason or another, but maintaining some sort of start/stop time will help keep work from taking over your whole life.
When in doubt, Take a Beat
Whether an employee or an employer, remote work affords a great deal of flexibility and freedom. There are some barriers to overcome (just as there are in an office setting), but empathy for one other is a great foot upon which to start. Whether a brick and mortar or a remote teammate, employee or employer, take a beat and consider one another’s perspective. Remote work is here to stay, and the more we can all consider its impact on one another and take steps to craft an environment of equity and inclusivity, the easier its adoption will be for all.
