On-Boarding Is A Massive Problem Everywhere!
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Remote On-Boarding. It is a massive problem, everywhere
Is your company having a problem with OnBoarding Remote Employees? Companies are losing every hire they have made this year in less than 30 days because of their On-Boarding experience.
Oftentimes, effective on-boarding involves getting-to-know you activities and training from coworkers. These efforts give new employees an opportunity to develop relationships that help them feel more embraced and connected. We are finding companies are not able to retain employees because they don’t feel integrated into their company culture.
On-Boarding Stages and Activities
We have three distinct stages in the employee on-boarding journey: Pre-OnBoarding, OnBoarding and Post-OnBoarding, each demonstrating an employee experience that keeps them from exiting the company. These three stages allow for new hires to become active participants in their on-boarding process and acclimate to the social and professional expectations of their new work environment so that they can proceed comfortably and effectively in their roles.
As more companies choose to hire remote workers, they face the challenge of creating an on-boarding process that accomplishes this goal for their virtual employees. CultureSparq is helping companies re-imagine their on-boarding process to attract and retain talent.
In this post, we want to share several ways to get you started and have fun doing it.
Take a look at these 7 activities for On-Boarding remote employees
Face-to-Face Connection: Get all new hires on a video call and create social distancing activities to get people outside to participate in a team event so new employees can feel that energy of connectivity (i.e., Neighborhood Cleanup campaign, Feeding the homeless or Renovating a School in the community or an Ice breaker with food in the park). This is important because people perform better when they know each other.
Digital Workspace: Get employees online quickly by having a digital workspace with the all access to tools and other apps to help them become familiar with the flow of the team deliverables and how things are communicated.
Culture Handbook. Build The Culture. Provide a digital employee handbook on the company historical milestones from a culture perspective. People want to be part of something big that inspires them to overcome challenges. Share insights about the company and on other employees experiences by having leaders across the organization record a short video on their experience, achievements and purpose with the company will help new employees feel they are a part of something bigger than them.
Create a sense of belonging. Due to the isolation of working remotely, it can often lead people to have this imposter syndrome and feeling of loneliness. We suggest hiring Employee Success Managers who work with new hires and teams by serving as a transformational/life coach to help remote employees navigate and get familiar with the company. These Employee Success Managers are experts in organizational and personal development. Their primary focus is to transform business structures by working closely with new employees to achieve their own personal goals in first 90 -120 days.
Check-Ins: Provide an individualized remote on-boarding plan with fun video check-ins and goals. If your company wants to make remote work work, then you need to embrace many modes of communication but more so around video experiences. As remote employees are spread across different time zones, a bigger portion of your company’s internal communication will be asynchronous–with employees reading email, chat messages and Slack updates anywhere from minutes to hours after they are originally sent — Video checkins are great ways to have fun and take a break from that mode of checking in by allowing people to create cool video message to communicate on their progress.
Accountability: Initiate professional development and personal growth from the start. Expect them to take initiative and seek ways they can level-up and be accountable for their responsibilities.
Encourage collaborative learning. Have new employees work as a group to complete a proof-of-concept or project during on-boarding to get them to bond with each other— this introduces team members personalities and skills along with providing an opportunity to cross-train teams early on.
Remember
Make your objective to create experiences in which remote employees feel as assimilated and supported as traditional in-office employees. This will take some experimentation along with some careful hiring and an open mind. If you don’t get it exactly right the first time, gather feedback to make an adjustment and try, try again! Or give us a call.
If you need deeper insights, please schedule a 1-on-1 with Chris Campbell to learn how we are mobilizing a winning culture.