Organizations keep hiring new employees as per their requirements. Any employee’s first day in your company sets the standard for the rest of their time in your organization. In that case, greeting every employee face to face might be difficult for enterprises.
But the management should always put their best efforts and ensure that new employees are taken care of, adequately oriented and have a personalized experience which starts their successful journey in your organization.
The pandemic situation brought a significant change in the employment process. Organizations are adopting new ways of onboarding practices. It is a challenge for hiring team and HR professionals to adapt to new circumstances while welcoming new staff as the HR team also is working remotely.
The pandemic situation led to a shift in many ways business operations are conducted, and enterprises are transforming their operations from traditional onboarding methods to remote virtual onboarding programs.
Virtual Onboarding
Virtual onboarding is a process that allows you to connect and engage with new employees. It is a similar process to that of traditional in-person onboarding in a company. As the name suggests, virtual onboarding is a virtual process. It is effortless to conduct virtual onboarding as it provides you flexibility in arrangements.
Companies can use webinars, video conferencing, text resources, videos, and interactive exercises to succeed at virtual onboarding. The new hires can access all these via their mobiles, desktops or tablets and revisit them at the time of their need during the whole process of virtual onboarding. Most companies opt for a 100 per cent virtual onboarding process to work during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Guidelines to Design a Virtual Onboarding Program
Any organization have to follow specific guidelines before designing an onboarding program virtually. The guidelines are as follows:
- Adapt Technology Effectively
Technology is an essential requirement and foundation in any working conditions, especially in remote working situations. Always ensure that the right technology and equipment is available for new employees for effective engagement.
Every individual must be provided with network access and configurations, required software and requisite hardware to perform his job.
They also need to have adequate access and training on job-based tools for quality working and meet their work deadlines. Communication and project management tools such as Slack and Proofhub at workplace helps to perform remote work faster. Documents and acknowledgement from the new employees can be collected online for the verification process.
- Develop a Virtual Onboarding Plan
Onboarding plan needs to be planned in such a way that it is engaging in nature. It would be useful is the companies opt for a 30-60-90-day plan rather than one day or one week schedule. The virtual onboarding process needs to be planned to engage with the new hires that are as effective as one-on-one interaction.
The schedules of the new employees for the upcoming week or month needs to be prepared. Conduct online meetings for introductions and develop platforms that help employees understand the company’s policies and culture.
- Staying in touch
It is always essential to check on new employees and make sure they are settled and informed about their role and position. It is crucial during remote working.
Provide the employees with the contact list with detailed descriptions of each person’s names, contacts, and respective roles. It helps them to contact people according to their work requirements.
- Improve Engagement
To make sure that the new employees are focused always think of innovative ways to keep them engaged. Keep virtual meetings fun. Encourage everyone to turn on their videos during virtual meetings so that the new employees get familiar with the team. Start the meeting by addressing concerns about remote working or work from home situations faced by any employees.
The companies can also schedule virtual bonding sessions, where new employees can connect and interact with old employees. Always find new online communication methods to stay in touch with new hires and make sure they are informed and engaged with their respective teams.
Onboarding should be a personal experience for each new employee. With the pandemic situation, a virtual onboarding program is the best way
