Onboarding employees into your business is an extremely important part of the hiring process. Get it right and you’ll have engaged, well-informed new employees who can get off to the best start in your organisation. Get it wrong and there’s every chance that a new employee will decide your company isn’t for them.

But what happens when the working environment is turned on its head by a global pandemic? How do you implement an effective process when you might not be able to meet your new starters face to face? For many new employees, they are starting a job from their lounge room or in a half empty work site.

Though onboarding might not be at the forefront of many employers’ minds at the moment, the need for a successful and streamlined onboarding process has never been greater. Amidst so much change and uncertainty, it is crucial to help new employees feel supported and give them the best chance of success.

Here are some ways you can ensure your onboarding process maintains its integrity in the face of COVID-19 and uncertain times, whether your team is working remotely or on-site.

Review your current onboarding system

Whether onboarding new employees who will be working from home or in the workplace, it is helpful to review your current onboarding system and take note of all the processes that rely on face to face interaction, such as a welcome morning tea, office meet-and-greets, or technical training. From here consider how these can be best achieved and translated into a remote environment, or if working on-site, how they can be performed with the requisite social distancing laws in place. Overall, aim to maintain the integral purpose of each of these processes.

It can be useful to request feedback from your team in order to map out new and creative ways in which to optimise the process and achieve the best results. For those employees working remotely, Consider, online webinars, a virtual team event or even posting a welcome pack to your new employees. For those employees who will attend the workplace, determine whether necessary training can be performed with minimal contact and how a new team member might still feel welcomed despite social distancing.

Onboarding remote employees

1. Create a digitised onboarding system for remote work

Many organisations have been forced to digitise their entire onboarding process for new employees who will be working remotely. To ensure a smooth transition for the new starter, you will need to ensure they have all the hardware and software required to perform their job correctly and communicate with your team via distance. Confirm and test the new employee’s connectivity and that they can access all required programs. It is also important to consider things such as cyber security and bandwidth.

Furthermore, new employees should be provided with the organisation’s Working From Home Policy and will need to conduct a safety assessment to ensure they are set up in a way that will not result in injury. Some questions to ask are: do they require a keyboard, a second monitor or an ergonomic chair?

2. Make communication personal and regular

Working remotely can make employees feel remote and isolated, particularly new starters who haven’t yet formed connections with your team. This is why it’s crucial that in the first few weeks of their start that you try to emulate the same experience they might have had in the workplace.

National Manager of CozWine and Baytech, Ed Milne says that the use of technology has streamlined the onboarding process and saved time. Time, which he recommends, investing back into additional communication with new starters and your remote team.

“We need to recognise the efficiencies that we’re making by digitising the system and, instead of reducing the human element of HR, enhance it,” he says. “It’s not just about saving time – it’s about what you do with it. Invest that time back into communicating with them, talking to them about plans after remote work and having team introductions via video chat.”

Remember that starting a new role remotely during a pandemic might be quite stressful for some employees, so touch base with them regularly. Initiate a video call to start their first day to answer any questions they may have and set them on the right path. Also consider screen sharing for systems training, so they’re not alone. Follow up the day with a phone call, and make an effort to maintain regular contact for the next few weeks. If you can’t do this yourself, perhaps consider implementing a mentor or “buddy” system, so the new starter feels supported by someone else within your company.

3. Building team rapport

Creating a sense of connection to colleagues, company culture and values is an incredibly important part of building a successful onboarding process. But even though this component of your onboarding system would have likely been facilitated in person, this does not mean that it can’t be achieved remotely.

It is important to continue celebrations and gatherings – such as birthdays, work anniversaries, morning teas and Friday drinks – as they would have occurred in the workplace. Though slightly more difficult to replicate remotely, this can be done through offering social catch-ups on zoom or Skype, sending all-company emails congratulating specific staff on achievements, or offering video links to remote employees so they still feel included in events occurring at the office. Include all new employees in these events, as they make up a large part of your organisational culture and help emphasise key business values.

Onboarding on-site employees

1. Find ways to digitise the onboarding process where possible

“The digitisation of communication is perhaps the biggest change we’ve seen occur in our onboarding process,” says Ed. “We conduct telephone and video interviews with people that we shortlist, and conduct physical testing via distance too. The same principles that we had in our traditional onboarding system are utilised, but are contactless to ensure the safety of everyone involved.”

Even though new employees may begin working straight away at your workplace, it can still be beneficial to perform as much of the hiring and onboarding process remotely where possible. This limits physical contact and keeps your teams safe during those instances when in-person communication is required.

2. Initial training and induction processes

For those jobs where a new employee is required to work on-site, there may be an element of training within the onboarding process that must be performed in-person, for example using a specific piece of machinery. Whatever it is, you will need to consider how this can be done and what new safety precautions will need to be implemented on-site.

According to Ed, within the industrial and warehousing sector, there has been a “quantum shift” in the way processes are executed on-site to ensure social distancing and the safety of staff. For your organisation, this may look like segregations between shifts to allow for thorough cleaning, or “rolling lunch breaks” so there is never more than a certain number of staff in the break room. When new starters are undergoing training, it is important to make them aware of these changes and reiterate their importance. Furthermore, if they are required to work alongside a colleague or manager for training and induction purposes, make sure they understand that they may need to be wearing a face covering or be working with Perspex or a set distance between them.

If you require assistance implementing or managing your onboarding system,  see how Bayside Group  can help your business today.