Onboarding New Hires Virtually

For many years, as companies began to become more global and finding talent locally became harder, many organizations needed to onboard new hires virtually. We, at The Training Doctor, advised many organizations, such as Hershey’s and Synchrony Financial, on how to do so in a way that helped the new hire to feel as though they had made a smart decision to join the organization.

Here are four keys we believe are non-negotiables for ensuring that new hires feel connected to the organization and to their new colleagues.

The onboarding platform

The virtual platform that you use to onboard new hires must be “live” - meaning everyone joins online at the same time - and it must allow for video and breakout rooms. You want people to be able to see one another and to go off in smaller groups or 1:1 to meet with others or their new managers. Not all virtual platforms have these features, so if you don’t have a platform that allows for this you won’t have the benefits of the next three success factors.

Building camaraderie within the new hire group

People look for validation of their ideas through what others are doing. When joining a new company virtually you want to see what kinds of other people have made the same decision. So the first part of the onboarding process should be time spent on letting the new hires get to know one another. The first step in the process is to ensure everyone has their camera on so that they can see their new colleagues. (We had one client that did not allow cameras on their computers because the employees dealt with confidential financial information, and there was a marked decrease in how engaged the group was during onboarding.)

Another tactic is to have people share insight into their lives and roles. We’ve asked people to share what their previous job was (prior to joining the new organization) or what their first job or most unique job was. You can have the attendees vote on the last one to identify the person who held the “most unique” job and then ask that individual to “tell us more.”

One activity groups always enjoy is asking each new hire to share something their co-workers would never guess about them based on a working relationship. Fun facts that people have disclosed include they are a triplet, they are an endurance runner, and they speak multiple languages.

These types of getting-to-know-you activities get people talking, get them fascinated in their fellow new hires (they’ll start having side conversations in chat, which is fine, you want them making connections), and make them feel like they “know” their colleagues even if they are sitting at their kitchen table by themselves.

Building a connection with the organization

Many companies share their history, vision, and values during onboarding. Even in person these presentations can be snoozers, but online they can be even more uninspiring. One way that you can orient the new-hires to the company and not simply present data is to make an interactive “game” out of the information; for instance, instead of saying “our company was founded in 1934,” put up a slide with four options and ask, in what year was our company founded? 1934, 1954, 1974, 1994.” Have the attendees cast their vote, then reveal the answer.

Keeping people engaged in the delivery is a sure-fire way to ensure they remember the information.

To give the history of the company, one of our clients, rather than detailing expansions, acquisitions or product launches on a timeline, instead identified all the philanthropic activities the company had conducted on the timeline. The expansions and product launch information can be found on the website or wikipedia, but the philanthropic timeline demonstrated their commitment to the community and impressed upon the new-hires the kind of organization they were joining. When a friend or family member says “tell me about your new job” the new-hires will pridefully talk about relief efforts or the establishment of an endowment rather than reciting a litany of business facts.

Building camaraderie with one’s new boss

The fourth critical process in successfully onboarding new-hires virtually is to ensure they develop a relationship with their boss. We purposefully put this meeting in the middle of the orientation to break it up and we recommend scheduling it over lunch so that it is a more relaxed conversation rather than a formal meeting.

Using the breakout room feature of the platform, have each new-hire and their manager go into their own room. The manager should have a template or checklist to follow during the conversation to ensure every new-hire receives the same information such as when 1:1’s will be held or how to request supplies. Additionally, because working virtually is a unique “environment,” it’s important for the manager to share information on their working relationship, such as, “I prefer to communicate via our chat-channel, but if you have a real emergency, absolutely you should call me.” Or, “I will never schedule meetings after 12n on Fridays.” It is also important to share who else is in the workgroup and what their speciality is so that the new hire feels as though they have a group of colleagues they can call on for answers and support.

Working remotely is a challenge and onboarding new employees to work remotely is even more challenging because it takes much more attention to detail and to interpersonal aspects of their new work environment. With the right tools and planning, however, you can successfully bring new-hires onboard.

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Bonus Tip

While this article is focused on the first-day orientation, one additional success factor is to assign a near-peer or buddy to the new-hire to help them through their first month on the job. A near-peer is someone who was recently hired themselves (within the last year or so) and who understands and empathizes with the questions and dilemmas a new-hire will encounter.

Nanette MinerOctober 17, 2021