A 2018 survey by FlexJobs found that 65% of people believed they’d be more productive at home than in the office. That’s because there would be fewer distractions (75%) and interruptions from colleagues (74%), plus less stress from commuting (71%) and minimal office politics (65%). And, according to a Stanford University report from 2015, employees working from home increase their performance by 13%. Most organisations will typically have two aspects to their onboarding programmes.

Optimizing Based on Feedback:‍

Most, importantly, with limited resources, this all can become too much to handle. That’s why you must arrange vital resources and provide good training and reliable tools. Technical issues can quickly turn onboarding into a frustrating experience, especially without someone nearby to help. These small efforts keep things moving smoothly and help new hires feel supported and accomplished every step of the way. To keep the momentum going, you can send gentle reminders—whether it’s a quick note or an alert through a project management app. In fact, if a company does excellent onboarding, 69% of them will stay for a minimum of 3 years.

Make introductions to your team and other stakeholders during the first week of the new hire’s employment. Ensure that your new hires are interested in your company and its values by providing them with an engaging onboarding experience. During the onboarding process, be sure to emphasize your company’s culture and key principles. In a LinkedIn survey, new employees rated this as the most crucial part of their onboarding process. As you may find it challenging to conduct background checks on remote employees, consider partnering with a third party platform that can automate the process. Of course, onboarding employees remotely has money-saving aspects as well.

• Show how pleased you are to have them on the team by welcoming them to the team!
• Fostering ties between new hires and current employees is an important aspect of the employee onboarding process.
• Discover the top 5 best practices for successful accounting talent offshoring.
• It also encourages a sense of belonging which is especially important since employees will be working from a remote location and not have face-to-face interaction.

For honest and candid feedback, allow survey participants to submit their feedback anonymously. Being truly onboarded—having a full understanding of one’s role and the ins and outs of a company—realistically takes weeks, or even months. But an onboarding orientation, the first step towards being fully onboarded, should take anywhere from a 4-hour half-day to two full 8-hour days. The online onboarding process for remote employees differs from traditional onboarding, mostly in the tech aspect. According to the Live Career’s 2021 study, remote workers are less likely to be given feedback than those who work in an office. Remember the milestones you set for yourself throughout the onboarding process?

Remote working is more popular than ever before and it seems inevitable that most businesses will have at least one remote employee. With the right onboarding strategies and a clear remote onboarding plan, the challenges of remote working can be effectively managed. Having at least one off-site (i.e. not at the company offices) gathering makes it possible for new employees to meet other team members in person. This is not only vital to creating stronger relationships between remote employees and other team members, but it can also often make the difference between a high and low employee turnover rate. Try incorporating the welcome video into one of the early stages of the onboarding process.

Step #4: Keep New Hires Engaged with Checklists and Gentle Reminders

An engaging and empathetic preboarding experience can help reduce these vulnerabilities. As per Indeed data 83% of surveyed employers reported being ghosted during the hiring process. And out of this, 22% accepted the offer but did not show up on the first day. So, you need preboarding to ensure new hires feel informed and welcome before their official start date.

Why the increase in fraud highlights the need for deeper background checks

• Good surveys capture employees’ experiences, perceptions, and challenges, helping organizations tailor training content and onboarding schedules to better meet employee needs.
• The best companies recognize that supporting employees is an ongoing process.
• It’s crucial you onboard remote workers properly, so details about the brand and its culture can be delivered as soon as possible.
• This could mean scheduling team lunches, virtual coffee chats for remote hires, or after-work gatherings.

Lastly, it is important to ask your remote employees for feedback on the onboarding process. Ask them what went well and what they liked, and also what they think you could have improved on. Having gone through the process they will be the best equipped to give you constructive feedback. Their advice is vital to making your company’s future onboarding process as good and as effective as possible. But when that job is fully remote, and joining a team means opening up your laptop at home, it becomes even more important for companies to consider how to thoughtfully welcome new team members.

But even one well-integrated tool per category can eliminate dozens of manual steps and make remote onboarding seamless for everyone involved. When expectations are not stated explicitly, remote employees hesitate or focus on the wrong priorities. It’s about building connection, setting expectations, and enabling success right from day one, or even before that, regardless of the location. HR Cloud is a leading provider of proven HR solutions, including recruiting, onboarding, employee communications & engagement, and rewards & recognition. Our user-friendly software increases employee productivity, delivers time and cost savings, and minimizes compliance risk. It improves clarity, boosts engagement, ensures compliance, and leaves new hires with a strong first impression — all critical for ensuring long-term retention.

Facilitating Lasting Connections

Create a centralized online platform for company culture tips and employee documentation. This hub serves as a go-to resource for new hires, offering easy access to vital information, policies, and the overall ethos of the company. Remote onboarding timelines vary based on company needs, but with proper HR tools, some tasks can start before the first day.

Getting off to a poor start breaks a new employee’s confidence and leads the organization to question the wisdom of the hire. What separates firms that do onboarding best — whether in-person or virtual — is that the work is intentional, and it does not end after the first week, the first 30 days, or even the first 100 days. In 2023, 63% of workers said their company trained employees on how to hold effective and inclusive hybrid meetings, which is a huge win for remote workers. It’s easier to manage new hires remotely when you onboard them in groups. If you’re using a company intranet, setting up a category or tag for new hires lets you introduce them to the right resources and training at once. This allows them to make progress as a group.If you are hiring a large group of employees, you can onboard them in batches weekly or monthly for simple management.

The first week should gently move your new hire from introductions into actual work. It’s where they begin to understand team rhythms, navigate tools, and try small tasks. Structure, clarity, and early wins go a long way in building confidence. Remote onboarding is the process of welcoming new employees who work from home or distributed locations, and and equipping them remote onboarding best practices to become an integral part of your organization. Without physical proximity, onboarding needs to be a structured, intentional experience that determines how quickly a new hire feels confident, connected, and capable. A common onboarding mistake is overwhelming new hires with excessive information in a short period of time, making it difficult to absorb and retain key details.

If they have already received their employee handbook, you can take this opportunity to highlight the most important things and to receive questions. Companies that have a standard onboarding process experience 54% new hire productivity. Personalisation has become deeply ingrained into our way of interacting with the world, from the way we shop to how we absorb information. Remote workers can’t pick up on organisational knowledge or culture as easily as their office-based colleagues because they aren’t physically with their co-workers. It’s crucial you onboard remote workers properly, so details about the brand and its culture can be delivered as soon as possible.

Research shows that some firms provide either too little essential information or overload employees with impractical volumes of knowledge, both of which hinder effective onboarding. Another study found that remote employees require more deliberate and structured communication efforts to navigate relational uncertainty, particularly in knowing when, how, and to whom to raise concerns. An empirical case study published in 2011 further underscores the importance of structured peer support. It found that inviting newcomers to informal, one-on-one video conferences with designated colleagues helped bridge the gap created by the absence of in-person interactions. By focusing on these elements, companies can create a seamless onboarding experience that enhances engagement, integration, and productivity.