Skip to content

So Nice to E-Meet You: Tips for Virtual Onboarding

Your organization pivoted to virtual job fairs and video interviews to ensure access to a steady pipeline of talent. The next step in remote hiring? Virtual onboarding. 

Whether you’re hiring extensively to meet urgent needs, seeking out technical talent, or looking forward to an influx of ‘new hires’, chances are high that your organization will bring on new employees who need remote onboarding.

What is virtual onboarding?

Depending on your organization, virtual onboarding might include automating employee data collection, scheduling virtual one-on-ones for new hires and managers, or shifting to recorded video training.

Is onboarding really that important?

Leveraging your tools effectively to maximize the experience of a new hire matters. A positive onboarding experience has been shown to increase employee retention by as much as 82%, and increase productivity by over 70%. Disorganized onboarding, on the other hand, leads to lower productivity, higher dissatisfaction, and expensive turnover.  

How can my company shift to virtual onboarding?

Integrating a fresh face into your old team from afar poses some special challenges. Here are our top tips on how to maximize your technology to help welcome new joiners and ramp up participation ASAP with virtual onboarding.

Ease Up

Most companies already struggle to allow enough time for effective onboarding, according to one industry study. And with remote employees suddenly working under less-than-ideal conditions, it’s easy to see how a new hire might feel overwhelmed. Postpone non-essential tasks and allow for extra time on those that are essential. Take a cue from LinkedIn, which extended one day’s worth of material over an entire week.

Customize

Rather than focus on broad policies and legal rules, focus training activities on critical job functions. Also, try to customize materials to fill particular gaps in your new hire’s hard and soft skills. (Need help with this? Try out Cangrade’s Personalized E-Learning.)

Connect

Interviews and hangouts only go so far. Communicate the importance of reaching out to managers and check in regularly to make sure your new hires receive plenty of individual attention. Whether it’s a virtual office birthday party, a team happy hour over Zoom, or a company-wide fantasy football league, make sure your new joiners receive as many opportunities as possible to interact with co-workers and begin forging connections. 

The Takeaway?

As more and more ‘people processes’ move online, smart companies leverage technology like Cangrade’s Personalized Onboarding to maximize new hire satisfaction and productivity.