Today’s enterprising employers are more dependent upon virtual onboarding than ever before. Virtual practices that were supercharged by social distancing measures are set to stay for the foreseeable future, with most businesses embracing this digital revolution as an exciting opportunity to reshape how they hire, train, and integrate new employees.
Nevertheless, many companies have failed to perfect the practice of virtual onboarding. This critical step must be taken to ensure you remain competitive and competent in a digital era where more of your workers will join the team remotely than ever before. Luckily, this employer’s guide to effective virtual onboarding contains everything you need to know.
The Necessity of Virtual Onboarding
Employers across the country can no longer deny that virtual onboarding is a modern necessity for commercial success. Even once social distancing measures elapsed, it became clear that countless companies across the world could only attract the best talent in their respective industries with savvy digital practices that meet the needs of employees. To achieve a greater level of competitiveness, most major brands and even many small businesses have embraced virtual onboarding to cut down on costs and hire the very best.
Despite its newfound importance, the virtual onboarding process isn’t easy for many managers to master. Digital interviews are harder for many to conduct, and keeping employees in the loop without a shared physical office space has proven quite difficult for many companies. Still, failure isn’t an option; Those businesses which fail to implement virtual onboarding best practices will quickly find themselves left in the dust by their faster-moving competitors.
Is your company struggling to successfully implement virtual onboarding? Here are the key virtual onboarding ideas you need to pay attention to.
Virtual Onboarding Best Practices You Need To Know
Here are some essential tips you need to know to ensure your virtual onboarding goes as smoothly as possible.
Ensure Workers Are Properly Equipped
Not all workers have access to the technological tools they need for smooth implementation into a digital workspace. Taking steps to ensure each and every worker has access to a high-quality webcam, microphone, and tolerable home work environment is an essential part of the virtual onboarding process. Company laptops and company phones, sometimes erroneously viewed as excessive luxuries, are increasingly becoming standard for brand new hires in many sectors. This ensures crisp, clear communication can occur at any time.
Not all employees enjoy the luxury of working from home. Some simply don’t have the extra space or the peace and quiet needed to meet their key objectives within their own homes. Employers overseeing the virtual onboarding process should thus consider renting out office spaces across the country to ensure their employees who can’t commute to the company headquarters still have access to a work environment that will help them succeed.
Many workers would love to work for your company but can’t relocate across the country for a variety of reasons –– in that situation, they can still find gainful employment with virtual onboarding that’s coupled with a nearby rented office space for them to utilize. Virtual onboarding best practices always consider the needs of each unique employee to ensure everyone wins from a new hiring situation.
Check In On the Wellbeing of New Employees
Talented office managers can often detect when a new employee is struggling to fit in with their coworkers or acclimate to the company culture. Employers who are dependent upon virtual onboarding often lack that ability given the vast distance that separates each worker and makes it hard to read a person’s body language or tone of voice. Conducting regular digital check-ins with new workers to assess how they’re faring should become a key part of your virtual onboarding best practices.
Ensure that each new hire has access to the information they need to log in and use company systems long before their first day of work. This will help you avoid costly and aggravating hiccups that delay the start of a new project. It will also remind your workers that virtual onboarding doesn’t mean they’re being forgotten by the wayside when it comes to their personal wellbeing within the company.
Scoot Makes Connecting With New Hires Easy
Virtual onboarding should never come at the expense of learning opportunities, and it doesn’t have to. Providing new hires with extensive opportunities to ask questions is easy with the help of platforms like Scoot, which enable constant communication and effortless integration into a wider company culture. Interactive platforms like Scoot go the extra mile and let all users who are undergoing virtual onboarding stay in touch with their immediate supervisor and new coworkers.
Scoot goes the extra mile as a social presence platform that helps workers connect with one another and their managers. As a result, virtual onboarding is easier than ever before because everyone is kept in the loop about new start dates, digital practices, and work expectations before the first work week even begins.
Have a Dedicated Virtual Onboarding Liaison
Recruiters are excellent at scoping out the best talent in the market, but not all of them are familiar with the virtual onboarding best practices needed to ensure a smooth transition into the actual workspace.
You need a dedicated liaison, or welcome buddy, who’s capable of overseeing the virtual onboarding process from start to finish. They’ll also serve as the first point of contact for new hires who are confused, stressed out, or simply need some guidance as they begin working.
A virtual onboarding liaison effectively serves as a mentor for many of those who may be joining a professional work environment for the first time without the added benefit of sharing an office space with others to mingle, acclimate, and learn from.
They should be a savvy people-person who’s well-informed and flexible enough to answer most questions about what new hires should expect when the job begins. Your liaison will be uniquely capable of checking in with new hires to ensure they’re feeling comfortable.
This professional can help integrate the new hire with the help of Scoot, making time available to answer any of their questions before the hiring period begins. They can also loop in established team members and inform them of the progress that the new hire is making. Virtual onboarding is far easier when a dedicated liaison is there to smooth out the rough edges of integrating a new employee into a remote workspace.
A liaison can even oversee personal integration into the company culture by sending a care package to workers before they begin their first shift. Whether it’s a physical goodie-bag, a set of company equipment to make working easier, or an array of digital coupons or benefits sent to them online, this can instill confidence in the new hire and reassure them that they’ve found a fitting company culture that values them as a person.
Make the Most of Virtual Onboarding With Scoot
Your new hire has all of the needed skills for the job. They’re confident about the virtual onboarding process thanks to your liaison, and they’ve been granted access to the company systems they’ll need to manage their responsibilities. The only step remaining is to welcome them to the team with the help of Scoot to ensure that physical distance doesn’t stand in the way of acclimation and success as the newest member of the company.
Don’t let virtual onboarding intimidate you –– remote workers are increasingly essential in every industry, and with platforms like Scoot it’s easier than ever before to remain connected and in tune with one another regardless of the space between you. Stay dedicated to implementing the virtual onboarding best practices and soon every member of the company will be hitting new highs with the help of Scoot.
Download our virtual onboarding guide for an in-depth checklist and additional tips to welcome your new hires and keep them engaged in the onboarding process.
