Ensuring remote employee success on day one

Published by Andrea Day on February 2, 2022February 2, 2022

How to set up a remote employee for success on day one

Remote onboarding presents challenges compared to the physical introduction of a new staff member. Without the experience of physical meetings among colleagues, it can be difficult for your remote employee to feel comfortable.

The first day on a new job can create anxiety for everyone. Be aware of this when crafting your onboarding process. Providing a positive experience is key to employee retention.

As more companies move to remote working, it is imperative that employees don’t lose out as a result.

Start early

Creating a connection between your new hire and your business early on is important. This can even begin during the offer process. Advise them on what to expect on their first day, and provide any other information that they need.

Ensure that your new hire has access to all necessary technologies. This could be a new computer or any platforms that they need to sign up to. This is a relatively stress-free task to start their first day and should quell some first-day nerves.

Appoint a member of staff as a liaison. It’s key that your new hire has someone they can connect with on their first day. They will also have plenty of questions, so ensure they are answered.

Build relationships

Apart from their initial liaison, your new remote employee needs to feel connected with your business.

Schedule video meetings on a 1:1 basis, and group meetings. This allows them to get to know their colleagues on a more informal basis. Replicating in-person relationships is important.

If multiple new hires are joining your team, allow them to connect. They can help each other along the onboarding journey.

Scheduling meetings is also a great way to provide structure. Remote new starters maybe a little unsure about what is expected of them, so a structured workday is important.

Training and goals

Your new remote employee is likely experienced in your field, but not within your business. Spend some time demonstrating your company’s work processes. They are likely to be a little different when working remotely.

Setting them a short task is a great way to do this. This allows them to learn the processes first hand, and ask any questions along the way.

They may also wish to advance their experience within their field.

Discuss what training would be most useful to them, and offer them clear development. Most of the time this will take the form of tools and services that let employees self develop and hone their skills.

Ensure that you are transparent about what their workday should look like. Set daily goals, including catch up meetings, so that they feel confident about their working day.

It is also important to set deadlines for certain training milestones. Clarity on expectations helps them to begin working towards goals and gives a clear sense of what you expect from them and when.

Feedback

Gather, using tools to analyse trends, feedback throughout your new remote onboarding process. This includes day one, ninety days and beyond.

Your digital onboarding should continue to evolve as you learn what is required to set up each job role remotely. You need to work with systems that ensure feedback is captured, insights acted upon and improvements pushed out systematically to end-users and new employees.

Creating a positive introduction for remote employees is key to their progress. This will ensure that they remain productive for your business, and connected within your company. Ultimately, this is how to hire and retain valuable employees.

At BAD, we provide digital experiences that quickly onboard and upskill your employees. We like to say we do digital experiences so you can do you!

Get in touch to find out how you can integrate digital experiences and communication to further your success. At BAD we do digital, so you can do you.