Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels
Remote onboarding is just as important in the recruitment funnel as onboarding for office employees. During the trial period, it is necessary not only to assess the skills of a person but also to complete some steps so that he or she can comfortably switch to the remote work and fully join the team.
1. Stage one – basic instructions
After the initial selection, you need to contact the candidate and provide basic instruction for the next steps. All applications from candidates who have passed a preliminary interview should be managed in the HR-management system or any other management tool to avoid any inconvenience later on.
2. Second stage – test tasks
Tests may look at who candidates are, what they can do, or whether they can safely perform the tasks of the job. You can keep all your tasks on the corporate Google Drive. This is handy for two reasons:
- Access to the document is provided to the exact person;
- You can observe how the work goes fully online;
For example, a test task for a content manager is to write a detailed article on a given topic. Moreover, it can be any topic, even rediculous: from the step-by-step automation of the sales department to the competent choice of a blander. The main selection criteria will be literacy and logical presentation of the material and, of course, creativity are welcome.
For a QA, the test task is to develop Quality Assurance documentation. Here is better to use a more serious approach as it saves costs by detecting and fixing issues and flaws early in development. He or she receives data on which he must draw up test-cases, checklists and any other appropriate documentation.
3. Stage three – a personal conversation
This stage is very important. The point is, it’s harder for remote workers to join a new company. They can’t just walk into the office and talk to colleagues. Personal conversation allows you to better understand the person. He or she has already passed the interview, left behind the first two stages. At this step, a person is often revealed. You can understand the motives for getting a job, true goals and aspirations. Call a new colleague personally and introduce him or her in detail the company’s mission, a big idea, a team, clients, projects and, of course, answer all the questions. The main task of such a conversation is to show that a person will not be deprived of attention, they will not forget about him/her, he or she is really a part of the team.
4. The fourth stage – training
Training can give employees the tools and skills they need to succeed in a remote climate. Therefore it’s crucial to organize the most effective environment for online training, to achieve this you can you the following types of online learning:
- Skype sessions;
- Webinars;
- Online courses;
- Recorded videos;
- Online tests;
- Articles with infographics
- Any other study materials (e.g. brochures, booklets, etc.).
The undoubted advantage is face-to-face communication via Skype, using webinars with feedback and recorded videos also can be a good option. Online video sessions or webinars are a great replacement for the classic corporate seminar. You do not need to rent a place, print handouts it is enough to create a webinar room, prepare a presentation, and send a link to the audience. You can use Zoom or Google Hangouts to host live webinars, it completely covers the needs.
Here is how the learning process look like
- The employee gets to know his/her job responsibilities;
- Get acquainted with the projects in which he/she will participate;
- Get acquainted with the third-party services (e.g. Jira, Confluence, Slack etc.);
- Take professional training (if requires).
Each employee should have a mentor who oversees the training and provides initial support.
5. The fifth stage – checking the knowledge
In the fifth stage, knowledge is tested. This is done using standard tests that you can post to Google Forms. After such a check, you can decide which of the employees to send for additional training, and who to connect to the implementation to work on real projects.
6. The sixth stage – the first working day
During the first working day, the manager conducts a video meeting (until 11 o’clock in the morning) he tells brief information about the tasks and answers the questions. To organize the efficient work of a remote employee basic instructions are required. These instructions should include everything the history of the company, the mission, the first day at a remote location, where to find access to resources, some tips and so on. To prepare instructions, you can use the service www.notion.so.
Thant’s all, try to follow these simple steps to allows your future remote employee to get on board quickly and without any troubles.