Virtual onboarding process: Give new employees a great onboarding experience remotely

When a new employee joins a company or organization, it's important to ensure a good onboarding process to make them feel welcome in their new workplace. However, more companies are increasingly turning to digital recruitment, and with the pandemic and many employees working from home, the subsequent onboarding process is also taking place virtually.

However, a virtual onboarding process requires something extra from the management, the team and the new employee who is being introduced to a new workplace and new tasks remotely. When onboarding takes place virtually, it requires an even sharper structure to maintain an overview of the different onboarding processes. At the same time, it can be difficult for the new employee to settle into the new workplace when all contact with management and other team members takes place virtually.

Therefore, it is important that you as a manager, together with the HR department, make sure to plan the onboarding process to fit the virtual space and give the employee a good start-up phase in the company remotely.

Get a handle on the different processes in virtual onboarding

Once the right candidate for the position has been found and the contract has been signed, the new employee needs to be onboarded into the company and the team. During the onboarding process, there are often many administrative tasks and processes that need to be completed, which can make it difficult to keep track of everything.

Especially when onboarding is virtual, it can be difficult to keep track of who is responsible for which tasks. With HRM-Nordic Onboarding you can easily structure the different tasks in the pre- and onboarding process and assign different tasks to different people in the company.

In this way, HRM-Nordic Onboarding can be used in connection with preboarding, for example, to ensure that the employee is created in the system and that a computer and other IT equipment is ordered and set up for the new employee to use at the home office.

The module can also be used in the onboarding process itself to create and distribute tasks to create an overview of who is responsible for sending introductory material and who is responsible for following up that everything is working as it should in the home office. It's also possible to set deadlines for tasks so that all processes are completed on time both before and after the new employee has started.

Tips for creating a good virtual onboarding process

As mentioned, virtual onboarding requires extra effort from management to ensure that the new employee gets a good introduction to the company, culture and tasks, as well as to the other employees in the team.

In addition to getting a handle on and structuring the different processes in the onboarding process, here are some other tips that can help ensure a good virtual onboarding process for the new employee.

Welcome with flowers

Even if the new employee doesn't have to physically come into the workplace, it's still a good idea to send flowers and a small greeting to the employee's home address to say welcome. This way, the new employee feels welcomed despite the fact that they'll be working from home alone at their home office for the next while.

Give a good introduction to the company and employees

It can be difficult for the new employee to get an insight into the company culture and get to know the other employees in the company when everyone is working from home. Therefore, it's a good idea for you as a manager to arrange a virtual meeting where you give the new employee a good introduction to the company and where the other employees in the team can introduce themselves and their work areas.

Here, the HR department can help the manager create an agenda for the virtual meeting and a template with a number of points that the team members can use as a starting point when introducing themselves to the new employee. Both the agenda and the template can be distributed to the team members through the company's HR system.

Hold regular virtual meetings

In addition to holding a virtual start-up meeting shortly after the new employee is hired, it's also important to hold frequent virtual meetings and conversations. This includes 1:1 conversations between the new employee and their manager, but also between team members.

With 1:1 conversations, you as a manager have the opportunity to follow up on the new employee and ensure that the employee has a good onboarding and thrives in the new job. Through the conversations, you can discuss work tasks as well as the employee's well-being.

Virtual meetings between employees can be held as a virtual coffee meeting, where employees have the opportunity to talk informally about things other than work tasks. This gives the new employee more opportunity to get to know the other employees.

Select permanent mentors

As a new employee, the first time will often be a big upheaval, and there are many things to remember about the company, employees, IT systems and work tasks. To ensure that the new employee has a good onboarding experience, it may be a good idea to appoint 1-2 mentors to whom the new employee can ask questions.

Mentors will often be colleagues who are familiar with the company and the work tasks, and will help and provide feedback on the new employee's work tasks. Mentors are also tasked with following up on the employee and giving the employee greater insight into the company's values and goals.

We help you with remote onboarding

If you have hired a new employee who needs remote onboarding, we can help. With HRM-Nordic Onboarding, you can create structure and an overview of all the different processes in both pre- and onboarding, ensuring that the new employee has a good virtual start in the company.

Contact us at 70 26 32 25 or send us an email at info@hrm-nordic.com, if you're interested in learning more about how our onboarding module can help your company onboard new employees.