What is remote onboarding?
Remote onboarding is the process of integrating a new hire who works remotely into your organization. Just like in regular onboarding, you need to help them understand company goals, products, and work culture. However, since you can’t rely on showing them around the office and immersing them naturally into your team, you need to focus on helping employees feel informed, supported, and welcomed through technology.
Because of the increased physical distance which can lead new hires to feel isolated, remote onboarding is often even more important than in-person. As Lina Bil, CEO & Founder at Elevate Talent Solutions, describes “a robust process becomes essential not just to integrate employees, but to set them up for long-term success and engagement.”
A closer look at the importance of remote onboarding
Remote onboarding improves employee productivity. Rather than your new hires needing to spend their first weeks searching for the resources they need to be successful, they’ll have everything at their fingertips. As Bil says, “With clear role expectations, hands-on training, and quick access to the right tools, employees can begin contributing to their teams more quickly.”
Effective remote onboarding also provides a solution to the disconnect remote workers often feel, fostering a sense of community where there aren’t spontaneous office interactions or meetups after work. “A strong onboarding process addresses disconnect by emphasizing culture,” Bil describes.
Overall, a strong remote onboarding process saves organizations both money and time. Employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years if they have a positive onboarding experience. And since replacing an employee is expensive and the global talent crunch is causing skills shortages across sectors, businesses can’t afford to lose new hires shortly after recruiting them.
Remote onboarding challenges & how to solve them
When you begin to evaluate your remote onboarding set-up, three immediate challenges spring up. Here we explore those issues and provide solutions before looking at how you can optimize your remote onboarding processes step-by-step.
Extensive HR administration
Getting a remote employee ready to work can be time-consuming. Sending out equipment and instructing them on how to set everything up on their own is far more complicated than putting their laptop on their desk. Adding them to the payroll requires you to research local labor laws, collect relevant details, and often to use several different software solutions. Organizing benefits means speaking with dozens of local administrators.
The solution? Partnering with an Employer of Record like Multiplier. Acting as the legal employer of your global staff, this solution will manage all core HR functions in line with local laws. When you hire an employee, we add all their details to our easy, centralized platform. Then we send out equipment, set up payroll, and administer localized benefits — without any input required from you.
Cultural disconnect
Helping your new hires feel connected and aligned with your team culture is no simple process. Traditions and social dynamics are not easily conveyed in a remote setting and, without the benefit of in-person meetings and casual conversations, new hires may struggle to fully understand the company’s ethos, goals, and unspoken norms.
To bridge the gap, focus on creating opportunities for meaningful interactions. Collect details about your new hires such as their past experiences or hobbies to craft a warm welcoming message and send it across your organization. Then make sure they’ve been connected with key members of the team. “Virtual meet-and-greets or leadership introductions can create a sense of belonging which is key to long-term engagement,” Bil says.
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Communication difficulties
To track onboarding progress and support new hires, communication is key. However, this can be difficult when your team is distributed across multiple time zones and can’t just stop by your desk if they have a question.
Remote onboarding advice often points to the importance of communication tools like Slack and Notion, but these are not enough to ensure seamless collaboration on their own. You also need to provide guidelines that outline how and when employees should reach out and who to. This will bring in much-needed structure and empower new hires to seek help.
You should also write guidelines about what’s expected of your remote employees as new hires may struggle to know how often they are expected to check messages and communicate with the team. Offering guidance on effective remote work habits and how to maintain a work-life balance can set your employees up for success.
A step-by-step guide to remote onboarding
Follow these steps to make sure the process of onboarding remote employees runs smoothly.
Pre-boarding
Your new hires need the time between signing their contract and logging in on the first day to be as seamless as possible. And this means you need to have all of this set up before they start:
- A welcome book. This should include employee directories, communication guidelines, and well-being support.
- An onboarding guide. This should include a structured timeline that outlines key milestones for the employee during their onboarding journey.
- A company email account and access to communication tools.
- All the IT equipment your employee needs. This should be sent directly to their home address.
- Software guides. Pre-install non-cloud-based software and provide guidance on how employees can download other tools and navigate the entire tech stack.
- Signed copies of all legally required documents. These can vary from country to country — check our employment guides for tips.
- Payroll. You can save time, stay compliant more easily, and ensure a great employee experience by using an Employer of Record which handles your entire payroll process across countries.
- Benefits administration and resources to help employees understand what you provide. By using an EOR for global benefits, you avoid needing to negotiate with local suppliers.
Your employee’s first week
Though they’re not in the office, your employee’s first week will still be centered around meeting new people. Provide them with a detailed onboarding schedule that outlines meetings, orientation sessions, and training sessions, but schedule a virtual orientation first to welcome them warmly first. “Here you should introduce the company’s mission, values, and key stakeholders,” Bil advises.
From here, you should direct your employees towards a meeting with the IT department. It’s crucial that new hires are educated about security standards as soon as possible and the department can train them on using appropriate file-sharing applications, cloud backup software, password management, and data encryption tools.
It’s also a good idea to assign your new hire a peer mentor. This can help them integrate into the community and avoid feelings of isolation and loneliness. It’s ideal if you choose a mentor on the same team as your new hire can shadow them and ask questions.
Ongoing onboarding processes
Remote staff spend more time alone than they would in-office and this means it can take longer until they feel fully onboarded. For this reason, through the first month and even beyond, it’s important to ensure that communication from managers remains strong and that HR is available for any queries.
As the focus shifts from active onboarding into a more ongoing process, it’s important to ensure that initiatives are in place to keep employees engaged. Bil recommends “Regular feedback and professional development opportunities which ensure that employees remain committed beyond their first few months.”
Remote onboarding best practices
In this section, we explore tips and remote onboarding software that can help you welcome new colleagues.
Avoid information overload
Self-guided remote onboarding needs to empower employees by giving them easy access to the information they need. But during remote orientation, most companies provide dozens of SOPs for new employees to learn about the company, the industry, and their goals. This overwhelming amount of information often causes more anxiety and can lead to confusion.
The best attitude to take is to think people first, paper next. Have employees set up introductory calls with their peers before they are presented with tons of information and, to avoid overload, schedule trainings where you can review key information with your new hire in real time. You should also create onboarding checklists with important milestones outlined and keep all key information in one place.
Personalize your process
“A one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work for remote onboarding,” Bil advises. Instead, you need to tailor the process based on the employee’s role, department, and background. Here are some ways you can do so:
- Assign role-based mentors. Pair new hires with mentors who are experienced in the same role.
- Utilize department experts. Organize onboarding sessions that address the unique processes, tools, and workflows of each department.
- Tailor communications. Adjust your check-in methods and intensity based on the new hire’s background and familiarity with remote work, offering additional support where needed.
Use an EOR to streamline the global onboarding process
When you’re using several different tools to manage employees in different countries, remote onboarding can quickly become complicated. But by partnering with the right EOR, you can ensure a seamless remote onboarding experience for all involved. You’ll retain control of your operations, but centralize and outsource HR functions to global experts.
At Multiplier, we leverage our on-the-ground knowledge and streamlined software to provide a great employee experience while saving you time. In our self-service solution, your employees can easily send over their details. Then they’ll be seamlessly added to your payroll, able to access great, localized benefits, and ready to start work with equipment delivered right to their door.
Meanwhile, you’ll never have to worry about staying in line with local laws or managing compliance across several different payroll solutions. In a single dashboard, you can manage all your people processes and view key data as we handle payroll, benefits, and more. Got questions? Just contact dedicated 24/5 human-first support.
Remote onboarding doesn’t have to be stressful. Speak with one of our team to learn more.
