The first impression is the last impression. You might have heard this on several occasions, but did you know that it is true when it comes to new hires? The first three months are crucial for new employees as it sets the tone for new employee’s experience in the organization.
Joseph Puglise, Senior Director of executive search and recruitment at JMJ Phillip said, “In those three months, new team members will form opinions on the best practices, leadership capabilities, and culture of a company. In the mega-competitive technology sector, where talent is extremely difficult to secure and retain, it’s more important than ever to create a stellar employee experience in those first 90 days that will shape the reputation of your firm with that individual on the open market.”
What if you must pass that initial 90-days period as a remote employee? This increases the feeling of isolation and makes new remote workers feel more disengaged and disconnected than they were before. What should a business leader or manager do in such a situation? That is exactly what we will find out in this article.
In this article, you will learn about seven key things business leaders should do for new remote workers.
The first thing you need to do is to introduce your new hires to other team members and stakeholders. Create a list of people your new hire should know and schedule a small meeting where they can meet with others and share their past experiences. Make sure the meeting revolves around work and is not only focusing on meeting and greeting.
Ian Cook, Vice President of People Analytics at Visier said, “New people often want to be busy and feel like they are contributing. Giving people a project or work assignment on day one is a good way to make sure they know they are important and that their contribution matters.”
It will be much better if you give your new remote worker a task which would help your team. This allows them the opportunity to gain trust of other team members as well as give them a chance to engage with their fellow colleagues. They would be spending more time communicating through chat and video calls, which goes a long way in killing the feeling of isolation that remote workers have.
It is much easier to build a working relationship with new employees when they are in your office, but it can be a huge challenge when they are working remotely. Employers struggle to deliver a meaningful experience to new remote workers. It is important for new employees to stay in touch with their supervisors and communicate with them consistently. The more they communicate, the better understanding they can develop with their supervisors.
According to Jon Check, Senior Director of Cybersecurity protection at Raytheon Intelligence and Space suggests that managers should have byte size five to ten minutes check ins. He adds, “This should be a time when any onboarding question – regardless of how minor – can be addressed, to help the new employee thrive.”
According to a report by Addison Group, 53% of hiring managers struggled with skill training during the remote onboarding process. This clearly shows that integrating a new employee in your organization is not easy, but it is even more difficult when you are working from home. That is where IT leaders should come into the play and multiply the training time. Even if it is not possible, you should at least give 25% more time to new remote workers so you can train and prepare them for future challenges.
Even though most companies use some kind of communication and messaging app to keep employees connected to one another but if your company does not, you need to ensure that your new remote team members get quick answers to their questions. This prevents them from wasting a lot of their time while waiting for a response. The faster they can get the answer, the quicker they will perform the task and the higher will be their productivity. Investing in a Hostnoc vps server can have the same impact on your productivity.
There are instances when you cannot fully understand what the other person want to say. Remote workers can face this problem more often as they are new to the setup. They need more clarity on who they want to reach out to when they have a problem or question. You do not want them to ask everyone they know or barking in front of the wrong tree, as it can create frustration for both new remote workers and other team members.
The best way to get a new remote worker onboard is to assign an onboarding buddy. This way, our remote hires feel that you care for them and are ready to accept them with open arms. Moreover, that onboarding buddy can help them with onboarding tasks such as how to set up their workspace and tell them who they should contact when they need help. In short, dedicating a person to help new remote workers settle in will go a long way in making their onboarding smoother.
Michael Solomon, co-founder of 10x management and co-author of the book Game Changer: How to Be 10x in the Talent Economy thinks that managers should offer constructive feedback to new remote workers. According to him, “If you do this well, they will improve quickly and appreciate you for it.”
Don’t just criticize new remote workers for the sake of it. Be clear and provide reasoning when you are criticizing them and accompany that with ways to improve. Tell them how fixing issues you are pointing fingers can help them and their organizations. This will not only give them direction to move in but also encourage them to act.
How do you make your new remote workers onboarding easier? Let us know in the comments section below.
