At one time or another, we’ve all been through onboarding for the first stage of a new job.

The onboarding process can be exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. Now, as we see a rise in remote workers, what is onboarding like for them?

That’s what we’re here for, to take the practices and principles of strong onboarding programs and apply them to the digital workplace.

Managers and remote workers get ready, we’re going through changes!

What is remote onboarding?

In business, onboarding is the process of familiarizing a new hire with their role and how they fit into the organization as a whole. The first period of the employee lifecycle is the most pivotal in setting up a good working relationship, so the onboarding experience really has to be done right to integrate a new hire properly.

Remote onboarding takes the principles of regular onboarding and applies them to remote workers (someone who works out-of-office). Just like regular onboarding, it can be a lengthy process, with an optimal duration of a few weeks to half a year.

So, as workplaces digitize and become more remote and hybrid-capable than ever, the onboarding process has to cater to remote hiring. 50% of workers in the US now work in a hybrid system and 30% use remote arrangements. That’s a staggering amount.

New digital business practices present novel challenges, but it’s nothing a good manager can’t tackle!

What are the most common challenges in remote onboarding?

Remote onboarding is no easy task, and the truth is that as remote workers rise, getting onboarding right is critical to keeping talented remote workers engaged in the workforce. This is reflected in the fact that 63% of remote hires are more likely to leave their job if unsatisfied, compared to 29% of in-office hires.

One of the biggest challenges is making sure new hires in an onboarding process have access to all the materials that they need. In fact, 77% of new hires believe this is make-or-break for the first few days. Supplying remote workers with all materials might seem more difficult than in-office staff, but with good planning and cloud storage, you can supply them with the same resources on-site workers have. We’re showing you how!

The challenges are big, but not insurmountable. We’ve got 6 steps to ensure you’re getting the remote onboarding process right.

Steps to onboarding remote employees

Here are our 6 steps to onboarding remote employees. Use them all.

1. Prepare your teams for the new hire’s arrival

The first step to onboarding your remote worker is to set the stage for their arrival with a welcoming atmosphere. Just because they’re far away doesn’t mean they should feel disconnected.

Take the opportunity to get your current workforce ready to welcome the newbie and help them feel right at home (even if they’re working from home!)

Set a date in stone for the new hire’s first day in their new role, and let your teams know exactly when it will be (in all time zones). A welcoming atmosphere is worth prioritizing, and when the whole squad does it together, you’re really cooking with gas. Don’t feel as though welcoming the new hire is something only you can do. Get everyone involved!

Create a personalized and unique welcome message in the company group chat when they start, or even earlier, during preboarding. Before you make this announcement, you could ask for a fun piece of trivia about your remote worker, like their pet’s name or how they spend their weekends. Then, as long as they’re okay with it, share it with a load of fun emojis and welcoming messages. The stage is set!

2. Help them prepare their remote workstation

One thing to remember for remote employees is that to truly get the most out of them, they need to have the best tools at their disposal. Working remotely can be stressful when your equipment decides to give up. Offering help and support to optimize their equipment is a great way to let them know you’re there for them.

By kitting them up with the equipment they need, you’re actually enabling them to reach higher levels of productivity. Think about when equipment goes wrong at the office. Nine times out of ten, an IT specialist is called in to repair whatever is broken. Remote employees don’t have access to the same on-site tech support as an office worker does, and a lot of the time this can frustrate them and mess with their workflow.

Think broadly about exactly which equipment might benefit them. A good camera and microphone for remote meetings, sturdy keyboards, or headphones are great choices for tech peripherals. Even the software they use for work should be the most up-to-date edition, or provide them with powerful alternative software if you have something better.

By spending a bit of time and effort (and money!) on your remote workers, you’re helping them to get straight into the zone in a supportive way. Enable them to reach new heights so they can shine in every task they do.

3. Fill them in with onboarding documents

Now comes the more paper-heavy step. Getting all onboarding documents ready and distributed is extremely important for the first few weeks and months of the new hire’s life cycle. The whole principle of this step is to give your new hire a kind of road map or itinerary of what to expect in the onboarding program, as well as the integration time afterward!

Having a point-of-reference handbook for your new remote hire is an invaluable tool as they get to grips with their new role. You need to ensure it’s a handbook suited to remote workers, not for regular onboarders, with valuable resources and points of contact if they ever get stuck. 

Include organizational charts in the documents to showcase things like company culture, as well as copies of their employment contract and maps of their team setup. Package all these together, and you’re helping them map out their journey.

No matter if your remote onboarder is in Turkey or Timbuktu, you need to make sure their onboarding documents are packaged conveniently. It might be best to keep them all in digital form, and you might need to do some careful preparation if you’re posting tangible documents abroad. All in all, follow this step carefully as documentation is one of the most critical onboarding practices!

4. Connect them with a remote onboarding buddy

Now we’re stepping away from paperwork and into fun social practices. An onboarding buddy is a person who works closely with a new hire and helps them get to grips with the new role. It’s a little like a mentor, but a buddy goes above and beyond, providing extra touches of personal help and support. 

Now, take the role of an onboarding buddy and design it for a remote setting. Maximize a remote onboarding buddy by having a deep evaluation of your more senior members. Who would be the best go-to person for a new employee? Who is suited to the experience your new hire needs to learn? Whoever you choose, connect them with your new recruit on a remote platform. 

One important consideration is the time difference between your buddy and the new hire if they’re in a different country.

Choose a buddy who has experience with the different kinds of pressure remote workers sometimes face, as well as someone who is knowledgeable and approachable. Sincerely ask your teams if anyone is excited about a potential buddying role, you never know who has hidden skills for making new hires feel welcome! Try it out.

5. Video conference for their first team meeting

So now we have a lot of bases covered for your remote worker’s onboarding process. Your new hire is well-equipped with all their documents and has a fantastic buddy to help out too. So now comes the big conference to introduce them to the team. Getting this step right is the real kicker!

Whichever virtual platform you use, get everyone you possibly can to join. You might think more people add more pressure to the remote hire’s first day, but remember, they have their trusty onboarding buddy with them, so no worries! Your teams were well prepared in step 1 for this initial meeting with the new recruit, so have some fun.

Online games are a great way to help everyone loosen up and shake off those first-day nerves for your newbie. Use virtual icebreakers to establish connections for the new employee in this early period. 

The first team meeting can set the tone for weeks and months into the new hire’s job, and they might not see the rest of their team as frequently as those based in-office. Spend a little time planning a great first meeting, and you’re set!

6. Set expectations

Now the new hire’s first-day meeting is done, it’s time to lay your cards on the table and let them know the full list of responsibilities and expectations. You might hint at expectations while in a remote group setting, but doing so in a one-on-one setting is usually better, as you can be more direct.

When used together, firmness and fairness go a long way to letting a new employee feel supported and trusted. You are trusting them to carry out their tasks, and they feel supported by the leader’s fairness. Getting the balance right can be difficult, but keep things simple and they’ll know how to meet your expectations of them.

Their employee handbook should outline complete responsibilities, like their availability through remote channels and their key deliverables. One beneficial system to set up in the remote communication channel is emergency and non-emergency messaging categories. You can clearly color-code which messages should be treated as an emergency, and which ones are less severe and can be looked at secondarily.

Remote work presents new challenges for teams and managers, but with the right preparations and communication systems, your business operations can be carried out better than ever before. Set your expectations out and watch your new remote employee flourish.

7. All systems go! Set up continuous support

There we have it, your new remote worker has everything they need to get the first few days and weeks right. One highly beneficial thing is setting up a regular check-in routine with them. For remote employees, regular communication is essential. 

This is your chance to cultivate a culture of continuous learning with them. As remote workers, they might have fresh and valuable perspectives on the job, offering advice on things you might not have even considered. Fresh perspectives give killer insights!

As your worker doesn’t have the same chances as in-office staff for meetings, you just want to make sure your communication is steadier than ever. Remote workers often thrive on over-communication with their teams.

By this we don’t mean sharing things considered as TMI (too much information!).

We mean things like marking tasks as “in progress” or “ready for review,” even if the update isn’t essential. Receipt confirmations and clarification of messages are essential for remote productivity.

If you’ve followed our guide and implemented all 6 steps, your new remote worker should feel supported, well-integrated and ready to rock! Cheers to them!

Tips to get the most out of your new remote hire

Here are some quickfire tips to maximize the feeling of welcome for your new hire, even if they’re really far away:

• Develop and optimize a powerful onboarding buddy program. They’re totally worth it!

• Be present for your remote hire as much as you physically can in the first few weeks. It can make a massive difference.

• No matter where your remote hire is based, send out a physical welcome package. A great tip is to add merch like shirts and mugs, for brand positivity (packs of coffee are great too!)

• Set up virtual meet and greets with any other remote workers or even in-office staff. New remote hires love meeting their colleagues remotely, any chance they get!

• Use remote project management tools (PMTs) to create clear milestones and work structures. Shop around for some of the best ones, like Monday.com and Smartsheet.

• Provide networking opportunities for your remote employees as much as you do for your on-site workers. Networking events are just as important to them, too!

• You can even consider providing remote new hires with beneficial stress-management tools like Calm and Headspace. You might not be physically there with them as they work, but tools like this can be a wonderful gesture of positivity.

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Nothing solidifies onboarding like a company retreat!

In the employee’s life-cycle, the first few weeks and months are make-or-break. This is also true for remote workers. As they are working far away, you might still try your best to strengthen their team bonds in online meetings and virtual corporate events

We’ve found out the best way to strengthen team-building: Bring everyone (including remote employees) on a team-building retreat.

Here at Surf Office, organizing work retreats is what we do best. A twice-annual retreat for your teams provides an unforgettable and productive environment that helps stress melt away like a cube of sugar in a swimming pool.

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Here’s what we offer:

• Stress-free transfers? We got you! ✅
• Quality-assured accommodations? Check! ✅
• Engaging team-building activities? Our speciality ✅
• Restaurant reservations? That's on us! ✅
• Expert retreat planning assistance? Of course, we have this covered! ✅
• Onsite support, tailored to your needs? Absolutely ✅

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Not only this but we also have access to 160+ locations around Europe, APAC, the US, Latin America, and now Africa, meaning the sky is your limit when it comes to choosing the right location for you and your team.

There is only so much team-building you can do when your employees aren’t meeting face-to-face. Bring everyone on a work retreat, including your remote new hires, and watch those team bonds solidify into a rock-solid, supportive work culture.

Let us sort out the tricky logistics for you. Spaces are very limited, so get in touch now!

FAQ:

1. Is (remote) onboarding the same as orientation?

Onboarding (whether remote or otherwise) generally differs from orientation. Orientation is the first day a new hire spends in the job getting set up. Onboarding is a long, holistic practice of integrating them deeply into their roles and responsibilities.

2. How can I make remote onboarding fun?

Well, think about the ways you make on-site onboarding fun. Regular teambuilding activities can be brought into the remote workplace, with screen and sound-sharing activities. You’ll likely get fantastic results if you invite them in-person to one of our team retreats too!

3. How do remote employees feel during the onboarding process?

Most remote workers already have experience with working during unusual business hours and are comfortable delivering work unsupervised. Remote workers generally appreciate the extra effort companies show to make their remote work setup more optimized and productive