Onboarding is critical to getting an employee up and running as quickly as possible, and making sure they’re happy in their work. This process is doubly important for remote employees. It’s harder to embed culture and ways of working when you’re not in the office together – developing a robust process for remote workers increases productivity and should help to improve retention.

" /> Onboarding is critical to getting an employee up and running as quickly as possible, and making sure they’re happy in their work. This process is doubly important for remote employees. It’s harder to embed culture and ways of working when you’re not in the office together – developing a robust process for remote workers increases productivity and should help to improve retention.

"> Onboarding is critical to getting an employee up and running as quickly as possible, and making sure they’re happy in their work. This process is doubly important for remote employees. It’s harder to embed culture and ways of working when you’re not in the office together – developing a robust process for remote workers increases productivity and should help to improve retention.

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    • Action plan

    Onboarding new employees remotely

    High effort

    High impact

    Onboarding is critical to getting an employee up and running as quickly as possible, and making sure they’re happy in their work. This process is doubly important for remote employees. It’s harder to embed culture and ways of working when you’re not in the office together – developing a robust process for remote workers increases productivity and should help to improve retention.

    • We’ve designed our action plans to be completed in the order of steps laid out and explained why each step is important
    • Customising your action plan lets you set your own completion dates, assign tasks to others and get notifications
    • Helpful tools are provided for certain steps while a tracking metric at the end will help you determine the long-term success of your effort
    • A downloadable PDF version of each action plan is available if you’d like to compete it offline
    What's involved? Ways to use this action plan Measuring impact
    1

    Make sure employees have access to the tools they need to carry out their role and work remotely

    Impact: medium

    Why will this help?

    It feels stressful when you don’t have the tools you need to do your job effectively. This feeling’s worse when you’re remote, so it’s important to have everything working straight away. They’ll obviously need whatever remote communication tools are necessary too.

    The tools you need for successful remote working

    Equip remote employees with the right tools and you’ll create a productive, collaborative environment. Our checklist shows you how.

    Overcoming employee barriers to tech adoption

    Employee buy-in plays a decisive factor in making new technology a success. Work through our template to anticipate any potential barriers to adoption.
    2

    Implement a small number of contact points before the employee starts

    Impact: medium

    Why will this help?

    Including a small number of light touch contact points in the run-up to joining the team helps set expectations around the way you work and gets them thinking about how they’re going to contribute.

    3

    Book intro meetings with key team members and stakeholders – and plan for ongoing support

    Impact: high

    Why will this help?

    It’s hard to learn how a business works remotely. Plan around two weeks of meetings that will help them get up to speed and set up their ongoing support, such as monthly one-to-ones. The learning process needs to be more structured when team members are remote.

    Employee onboarding – tips on what to do and not do

    A great onboarding experience gives new starters the tools they need to succeed, but there are plenty of common mistakes to avoid.

    How to keep remote teams engaged virtually

    Keeping a team engaged is vital to reap the benefits of greater collaboration – but it’s easier said than done when your staff are remote.
    4

    Create opportunities to be social remotely, like online quizzes or a weekly meetup for a team lunch

    Impact: medium

    Why will this help?

    For a lot of people, bonding socially increases job satisfaction. It’s a great way for them to learn and get to know each other too.

    5

    Check in with the new employee to see how they’re getting on, revisit company goals and get feedback on the remote onboarding process, then put that insight to use

    Impact: high

    Why will this help?

    Having an onboarding wrap-up meeting gives you an opportunity to discover any challenges they’re facing, similar to a one-to-one. You can also get feedback on the onboarding process that allows you to improve the way you support remote workers.

    Onboarding an employee remotely

    Onboarding an employee remotely is a completely different beast compared to doing it on-site, so it’s crucial to shape your process to fit.

    Getting employee feedback on management

    Gathering feedback from employees helps managers to develop their skills and grow. This simple survey template used by Google is a great place to start.

    What can I do with this Action Plan?

    Start this Action Plan

    Add some extra information to this plan and we’ll help you get it done.

    • We’ve designed our action plans to be completed in the order of steps laid out and explained why each step is important
    • Customising your action plan lets you set your own completion dates, assign tasks to others and get notifications
    • Helpful tools are provided for certain steps while a tracking metric at the end will help you determine the long-term success of your effort
    • A downloadable PDF version of each action plan is available if you’d like to compete it offline

    Download and print

    Get a printable template for this Action Plan, fill it in with some target dates, and share it with your team. Pin it on the wall where everyone can see it.

    Get the printable Action Plan

    Learning Groups

    We also run Learning Groups on these topics where you can join other leaders tackling the same challenges.

    Find a Learning Group

    How will I know if my action plan is working?

    Staff satisfaction survey results

    Staff satisfaction surveys help gauge sentiment at regular intervals

    Why this metric?

    Whether gathered anonymously or not, staff satisfaction surveys help gauge the sentiment of your people as changes are made and impacts felt.

    How do I start tracking?

    Use an online survey to get feedback from members of staff three and six months after making changes to see what impact it has had.