The hiring process has changed in 2020, it had to. One of the biggest changes? Nearly 100 percent of onboarding is now done virtually. This has meant in-person meetings, team lunches and traditional onboarding processes are a thing of the past, replaced instead by video conferencing, at-home lunches and virtual, and cloud-based employee onboarding processes. What kind of grade do you think your organization would get from recent hires on your training and integration? If you aren’t confident that you’d get a passing grade, we understand. We know helping a new employee feel like part of the team is a lot more difficult when everyone is working remotely.
Our team has worked with dozens of companies this year who have struggled to make changes to accommodate new needs. We have navigated new territory with our clients this year. Through this experience we have four suggestions you can use to improve your onboarding process, even if you’ve gotten compliments on your current program.
Do a Technology Check
LinkedIn found four percent of new hires leave a job after a disastrous first day. Many new hires that do not have technology that works, especially when working remotely, would classify this as a disaster. Whether you’re shipping technology to your new hire to set up before their first day, or asking that he or she buys what the job requires, give them access to internal resources that can help with troubleshooting. Insure the new hire has all the passwords they need before they start their set up. Lastly, not all new hires are tech savvy. In addition to troubleshooting support, give access to ongoing training options to help your new hire expand their skills.
Train With Another Manager
Gallup finds that when managers take an active role in onboarding, “employees are 3.4 times as likely to strongly agree their onboarding experience was exceptional.” With remote training, mixing up the person delivering the message has additional benefits, and gives your new hire exposure to other employees within the organization beyond their direct manager. Not only does this take some of the heavy lifting of conducting training off the new hire’s direct manager, it also builds the strength of the entire organization. When managers feel like they can depend on each other and support one another it leads to exceptional teamwork.
Schedule Activities
Traditional onboarding usually includes a lunch outing, coffee shop meeting, and/or happy hour. Just because you’re virtually onboarding doesn’t mean you have to give those up! Choose a cocktail recipe to make for your next virtual happy hour and send your new hire a gift card to pick up the ingredients. Order your new hire lunch, send it to wherever they’re working, and eat together. Here are 73 additional virtual team building activities you can choose from if you’re looking for non-food ideas.
Add Some Fun
Don’t be afraid to add in some interactive fun with your online meetings or activities.
Here are 16 games you can play on your next virtual call or during your next online happy hour.
Your new hires are some of your most important assets this year. Make sure your onboarding process makes them feel appreciated, valued and that you’re invested in their success. It’s not too late to turn things around if you’re not feeling confident about your current onboarding. Our four suggestions can be implemented easily, quickly, and oftentimes with very little up front investment. You can make this the year that your virtual onboarding process becomes the world class experience your new hires will rave about.