A company’s onboarding process says a lot about how it treats its employees. That’s why a comprehensive and effective onboarding process, even virtual onborading, goes a long way in helping new hires get used to the work culture, colleagues, and technology and enable them to start doing their jobs as they are supposed to. If the onboarding process is not up to standards, it could make the new employees try to figure out things and get to know people and processes completely new. It could also lead to unproductivity, eventually resulting in employee turnover.
And the importance of an employee-centred onboarding process can’t be emphasized enough, especially in the new normal where most employees are still working from home. Remote employees don’t have the privilege of knowing about their responsibilities and their new company’s way of working in person. They can’t reach out to experienced employees and have a face-to-face conversation or the IT team to sort out their technical issues. This is why an organization’s virtual onboarding process needs to encompass everything that could make the new employees feel at ease with their new roles. The objective should remove all the impediments to making new employees thrive.
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First and foremost, organizations should prioritize giving their new employees all the tools they need to function at their best. Having to wait for tools required to do their work, new employees working remotely will lose interest and not feel engaged. And organizations should also understand that not all people are as good with technology as others. This is why they need to send them their computers or laptops a few days earlier than their date of joining so that they have enough time to set it up and overcome challenges before the start of their first workday.
Employers should make the new employees feel welcomed through personalized virtual onboarding material. Employees working from home need this more because there is no one to welcome them in person. The suitable virtual onboarding material at different onboarding stages can increase engagement and make the new hires feel valued. This onboarding material is excellent for employees as it can be accessed from a computer and a mobile phone.
Another important thing that organizations need to consider during the virtual onboarding process is making new employees understand their roles thoroughly. Knowing what they are supposed to do daily and what outcomes they are expected to deliver over time will help new employees plan their roads better. This isn’t so difficult for people working from the office as they can observe other employees or seek help from them whenever needed. But, this isn’t possible for remote employees.
That’s why organizations need to change their ways a little. They need to communicate a few outcomes they want employees to work on for the first few months. It is essential to ensure that these outcomes should vary regarding the part of the job they come from. Some should be about learning and others about performance and so on.
Reference: 7 Best Practices for Onboarding Employees Virtually | Glassdoor | September 28, 2021
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