In just a few short years, remote working has become common for millions of people all over the world. As more candidates continue to look for more flexibility in their careers, it’s important that leaders fully integrate new workers in a remote work environment.
With many companies opting to move to remote-first or hybrid futures, one of the challenges faced by many leaders over the last two years has been how to bring their new workers onboard in a remote work environment.
As mentioned in other posts, onboarding a new worker is a crucial part of the hiring process and failure to implement a structured onboarding plan can be a big mistake. An onboarding experience can be a make or break situation for new workers and their managers. In fact, research by Brandon Hall Group found that organizations with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82 percent and productivity by over 70 percent. Whereas an unsuccessful onboarding experience can result in new workers leaving, wasting time and money in the hiring process.
We know how important the onboarding experience is for business which is why leaders need to implement a successful plan to fully integrate new remote workers into the organisation.
Below, we look at some of the steps leaders can take to ensure a new remote worker is successfully integrated into the company.
1. Warm welcome
While it is easy to gather everyone into a conference room on a worker’s first day in an office, it is more challenging to build relationships when working remotely miles away. Therefore, it’s important for leaders ensure that their new starter receives a warm welcome from the company.
Prepare an existing team by communicating what the new person’s role is to get the team excited, as well as setting up an introduction meeting with their new colleague. A quick video call is enough to put a face to a name and begin building an easy rapport.
2. Ongoing communication
Regular communication is vital during the onboarding period. Remote workers can sometimes feel isolated, so a quick catch-up in the morning can make the new worker feel very welcomed and connected.
This is also the perfect time to help you gauge how an employee is coping and if they need any extra resources. Regular one-to-ones also build trust and helps sort out any issues before they become major problems.
3. Focus on worker wellbeing
Employee wellbeing is an important aspect of onboarding and beyond. Mental health challenges at work have increased over the last year so leaders have focused on building and providing mental health support for their workers.
For new starters it’s important that they know that there is a company well programme available to them. Having a programme that provides access to mental health support such as counselling or online health programmes helps develop a culture of wellbeing for remote workers which helps maintain employee productivity.
4. Maintain team culture
Understanding the company culture and philosophy is very important for new workers. In fact, one of the reasons why a new worker does not work out is due to not understanding how the company works. During the onboarding process, it is important that leaders brief the remote worker on the company’s history, policies, mission, and goals.
Additionally, cultivating a workplace culture that engages, rewards their workers is also key to helping keep a worker engaged and productive. While the new starter may work remotely, there is still plenty of opportunities for them to communicate and feel part of a team.
5. Set clear expectations
During onboarding it’s vital that workers receive training and guidance on their new role. Leaders must let their workers know their expectations of them in terms of meetings, conversations, and work.
In addition, it’s important to maintain the workers productivity by letting the worker know they know that you can grow with the company. Having early conversations about career opportunities, professional development helps a worker stay engaged and integrate well into a team.
Final Thoughts
A good way to ensure the worker is fully integrated is by having a successful onboarding plan in place. However, as more people work remotely, leaders will need to ensure that they onboard their worker suitable for a remote work environment. It’s important to focus on technology, training, and job expectations. However, when someone is working remotely, team integration, ongoing communication and worker wellbeing are also vital to ensure a successful integration in a company.
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