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Pandemic-led global lockdowns kept the workforce at home. Businesses quickly adapted to work-from-home strategy, many struggled, while few blossomed. Over time companies perfected the remote working model and with it, came its own challenges. As productivity rose, so did employee anxiety and burnout, owing to lack of communication.
To ensure productivity and retention, communication is key. As the world opened up, employees and job seekers prioritized flexibility, work life balance and competitive salary. Virtual onboarding is no longer a one-off thing, which means companies have to double down on their remote onboarding practices. Here are 5 creative ways in which you can hire your remote employees and connect them better with the rest of the team.
5 Creative Ideas For Virtual Onboarding
Here is a collection of remote onboarding activities that can assist remote employees feel at home right from the start:
1. Grand Entrance Announcement
One of the best ways to welcome new employees online is to let the rest of the team know. This step is critical not just to greet the new coworker but also to notify the rest of the firm that the job is no longer vacant. You should gather an employee picture, name, role, and a brief bio. Here are a handful of online methods for announcing new teammates:
- Send an email to all employees.
- Make a video conference call.
- In an employee forum, start a welcome topic.
- Announce an organizational bulletin board online.
You may surely go outside the box regarding a remote employee grand entrance. For example, you may invite the employee to create a short dating video-style reel by answering virtual team-building questions. Alternatively, if your team uses video games to connect, you might ask your recruit to create a character and introduce the new player to the roster. Regardless of how you introduce the employee, ensure that other coworkers react with warm words and support. Remote work may be isolating, but a kind greeting can set the tone for an inclusive and happy environment.
2. Create a fun Digital Library For New Joiners - even better, quiz them
Even if the new team is friendly, breaking the ice with them can be nerve-wracking for the new hire. While you should encourage new workers to approach senior colleagues, your new teammates may be more comfortable mixing with other newcomers. You may develop a digital new member library to make your new staff feel welcome. Make sure you include fun stuff about the team - their nicknames, a funny incident, or some fun facts about them. And when it is time for the new hire to meet them in person, quiz them on this fun stuff. People tend to remember names and connect better when the introduction is done in mirth.
Collect useful materials such as style guidelines, staff manuals, contact lists, organizational charts, and a glossary of corporate words in a folder in Dropbox or Google Docs to construct the library. You may limit a chat channel, video conference room, or social media group to new hires so that these individuals have a secure environment to explore, network, and ask questions with other learners.
3. Lunch For The Remote Team
The department may take a new employee out to lunch on the first day of work in a non-remote office. This tradition does not have to be abandoned by virtual workplaces. While your work-from-home team may not be able to eat together in the same restaurant, you may still enjoy a meal through WebEx or Zoom. You may give each team member a monetary coupon to spend on a treat. You may add a personal touch by allowing the guest of honor to choose the cuisine everyone orders, such as pizza, noodles, burritos, or breakfast dishes, or you can provide free choice. The quality of the conversation is much more significant than the meal. The group may play online team-building activities during your call or have informal get-to-know-you talks.
4. Survival Kits For New Hires
Sending survival kits during the initial weeks is one of the most personal new employee onboarding ideas. You may create personalised care packages with help from the rest of the team and ship them. Suggestions for new employee survival kits:
- Funny pictures
- Snacks
- Motivational phrases
- Water bottle
- Business cards
- Coffee
If you invite each team member to recommend an item and write a welcome note, the present may double as a virtual team-building activity. Perhaps an employee drinks a particular tea that helps him concentrate, but another employee thinks that gazing at photographs of hedgehogs in hats is the ultimate way to decompress. Instead of asking each employee to donate one thing, you may collect recommendations and gather all of the package's elements, making the gift more personal and collaborative. As a bonus, acquiring your new employee's address in advance allows you to send future surprise packages!
5. Brand New Buddy Calls
Given the minimal encounters, professional friendships may take longer to establish in virtual workplaces. Remote employees often report feeling lonely, more so during the initial days. You may combat feelings of isolation and build familiar faces inside the virtual workplace by partnering up a new coworker with current workers.
You can encourage colleagues to seek out new members on their own. Create a bunch of questions that a new employee should gather from their teammates such as, ‘tell me something that no one would know about you, or two truths one lie from every employee. Inspiring these dialogues is the foundation for connections and may assist remote workers in settling into new work environments much more quickly.
The first day of work at a regular office entails getting to know an unfamiliar building, new rules, and hundreds of new people. In the case of remote work, the physical environment remains the same. While remote employees may feel more at ease at their home office on the first day, the lack of change might make the transition difficult. The online onboarding ideas on this list may commemorate the beginning of the virtual worker's journey while solidifying the new employee's position as a valuable part of the team.
