The sudden global crisis has fueled the need for virtual hiring, onboarding, and process flows. As the companies are getting driven by remote working, the trend seems to be going a long way. Global companies, operating over a vast expanse of demographics are fully operating remotely. This shift has triggered the companies to adopt the virtual functioning trend on a large scale.
All the companies had to adapt to the virtual working norm over the months of the pandemic outbreak. Some companies were anyway aware of virtual hiring. However complete operations of the onboarding process remotely are a new thing that every company is adjusting to at their pace. The best advice here for the companies is to learn by doing it.
Getting the Virtual Onboarding Right
A set of expectations and obligations take shelter between the employer and employee. Meeting these expectations means job satisfaction, employee engagement, better and faster employee training, elevated performances, and much more. Therefore, the start of virtual recruitment should be right. Understanding the virtual onboarding end to end makes the hiring process smooth and effective.
That’s why it is important to learn and find a good guide to virtual onboarding.
The Essentials of Getting the Virtual Onboarding Right
Getting the virtual onboarding impacts the new hire retention positively and productivity. But virtual onboarding of remote employees comes with its own set of challenges. The much-needed human touch lacks in virtual onboarding. Hence, the human resources have to be extra thoughtful while carrying out the onboarding process and introducing the company culture to the new hires.
Here’s is your Guide to Virtual Onboarding :
Before the Virtual Onboarding Starts
The pre-boarding process is the focal point of starting a smooth process. It is the window to resolve new hire doubts before they set their first foot in the company. Virtually, it is more feasible to go with the pre-boarding process. So, before we go into the details of the guide to virtual onboarding, we shall start with the measures you could take for the virtual pre-boarding process.
- Sending notification emails updating the hires about the date of logging in, things to do before joining, etc.
- Providing video calls and company user ids. Even adding them in office messaging groups.
- Emailing a welcome onboard mail with the links to training videos, company information, product information, procedure documents, etc.
Effective Involvement
Active participation of everyone involved in the onboarding process is important. This includes but is not limited to the onboarding team, leadership team, and department heads. Equal participation of everyone involved in hiring makes the onboarding process smooth and easy. It also establishes effective communication from the beginning. Transitioning new hires into the usual workflows of the company is an important process and it has to be carried out by giving attention to the small details. Everyone taking part in this process also means increasing the positive mindset of the new hires and making them feel good about joining the company.
How to Accomplish Effective Involvement in Virtual Onboarding?
In the office premises, it is way easier and flexible to go with various interactive ways of onboarding. Virtual onboarding is a bit different in this regard. You cannot shake hands, have a coffee break, or have an opportunity to walk up and introduce yourself. In such a scenario, virtual coffee breaks, onboarding meetings on a video call is the key.
So, the first step in virtual onboarding is-
- Organizing online collaboration hubs
- Scheduling Virtual meetings
- Virtual breaks
These will involve the active participation of everyone involved and establish the first point of communication for all.
Day One of the New Hire
Typically, day one in the company for a new hire means touring the company campus, getting to know the IT Team and the technical team with who they would interact during technical issues, and so on.
In the virtual setting, you need to do the same processes virtually.
So, Day one of the New Hire should start as-
- Virtual tour of the company and the teams
- Virtual orientation with the teams and IT Team
- Sending out welcome mail to the team, copying the same to the new hire.
- Setting a video introduction of the new hire and some interactive activities along.
Communication is the Key
Getting to know the culture of the new company, meeting new people, working in a new environment is often overwhelming for the new hires. On top of it, they have jitters thinking that the other team members of the company have known each other for quite a while. So, new hires usually battle the fears of meddling in along with anxiety in the workspace. With remote working, these fears only take the turn of the worse. Thus, onboarding is also meant to help new employees settle in swiftly.
For this, the management team, human resources, and managers need to stay connected with the new hires through emails, calls, and messages. Communication should cover the practical as well as the social aspects of the work function.
LMS for Employee Onboarding Training
Successful employee onboarding means better employee engagement, retention, and lesser turnaround. When automated, the process flows not only work smoothly but give you enhanced results. That’s the prime reason, LMS system for employee onboarding training is highly recommended by several smoothly functioning global companies. These companies take the lead from the first steps by using LMS for employing onboarding as well as training. So, at every point, employees recognize the company’s efforts and perform with full vigor to give excellent outputs.
Tips to Keep them Engaged in the First Month
- Scheduling regular meetings for the new hires and keeping it a bit informal in the beginning to get the new hires comfortable.
- Interactive online group activities that facilitate communication between the new hire and the other team members.
- Scheduling meetings with the management teams to help new hires catch up on the business health, company’s mission, values, and so on.
Taking Under the Technology Wing
Helping new hires learning about the hardware and technology is the next important step in virtual onboarding. So, the resource team not only has to make these available to them but also provide online guidelines to follow to use them properly. Companies can make this process even smoother with appropriate and interactive e-learning programs while onboarding the new hires. The training courses can be a part of this e-learning initiative that will fasten not only onboarding but training and induction too.
To sum it up, here are the steps to virtual onboarding of the new hires in few simple steps-
- Getting started with a formal communication
- Focusing on engagement
- Making new hires acquainted with company technology
- Enabling teams and managers to continuously collaborate
- Let them imbibe company cultures and values through virtual communication
- Check-in frequently to ensure engagement of the new hires
- Nurture opportunities to establish effective communication among one another
- Facilitating communication with mentors, managers, and designated buddies online
- Taking feedbacks from the new hires to discover the loopholes in the virtual onboarding process.
