COVID-19 recruitment challenges – How to support and onboard remote hires

64% of people leave a new job in the first year after experiencing poor onboarding. If you haven’t adjusted your onboarding process for remote hires, here are some things to consider.

As an extreme introvert who started a new job during the pandemic in late 2020, I know all too well the struggles of starting a new job remotely.

Even if you are not an introvert, starting a new job can be nerve racking. You have no idea who you are going to work with, what the culture is like or how management operates.

When tackling recruitment challenges, there are a few things you need to be aware of to ensure your new hire feels welcomed, can work effectively, and doesn’t end up leaving!

Even if you don’t have new hires, check out our tips below for manufacturing , insurance , wealth management or any other specialist recruitment . Your current remote workforce might benefit from some points.

What happens if you don’t have a remote onboarding process?

New employees will be less engaged, feel isolated and end up leaving after a short period of time if you don’t have a different approach to onboarding. That’s the obvious.

You, as the new hire’s manager, will have trouble tracking performance, trusting your new hire and find it difficult to connect and be empathetic with them.

Employees who have a negative experience with a company are less likely to recommend that company as an employer. In industries where the candidate market is short or where your company is well-known, negative word-of-mouth will damage your brand tremendously. Afterall, we do tend to believe what our friends tell us, rather than what we read on a company’s ‘about’ page.

You will also need to consider the impact on your existing employees. If you are unable to acquaint your employees with your new hire it can reduce productivity, especially if your employees need to work together with the new hire to complete tasks or projects. Productivity is higher when people know how to work together. Not knowing how to work with others can be frustrating. Getting to know a person helps to relieve that tension.

How to improve your onboarding process to best support your new hires

Create a checklist of everything your new hire needs to do their job

In the office, it can be hard enough to perform your role if you don’t have access to the software, programs or inboxes you need. Imagine not having access to these while working remotely AND not being aware that you needed them either.

In one of my previous remote roles, my email was not a part of my departments distribution list, so I was not receiving any emails that I might have needed to see. It wasn’t until someone asked if I had seen a specific email that we realised I wasn’t connected the whole time!

This Dunning-Kruger situation could happen to anyone. You don’t know what you don’t know, so managers should utilise a checklist to ensure everything is set up correctly.

Embrace technology and use it to implement training and collect important documents

Useful tools such as SecuredSigning, PandaDoc and DocuSign can be used to collect electronic signatures and important documents, such as licences and academic transcripts, easily and securely.

You could use platforms like WorkPro or Keka to implement and track the progress of any training you need to deliver online.

I probably don’t need to tell you that you can use these tools in the future, too, when your workforce goes back into the office. The ease of use, ability to track progress, and elimination of outdated processes will undoubtably save you and others in your business a bunch of valuable time.

If you don’t hire often and it’s just not feasible to pay for licenses or purchase software, it might be in your best interest to outsource your recruitment and/or onboarding to a third party.

Have regular one-on-one catchups with your new hire

We are all human, so the solution above is not entirely fool-proof. In case you do forget something on your checklist, or something was checked off accidentally, regular catchups could identify this.

Regular catchups will help to resolve a few things. Your new hire will:

• Feel less isolated if they have someone to talk to
• Have a better understanding of what is happening and what is expected of them

You will have the chance to build a relationship with this new employee and gain an understanding of how they’re performing and feeling in their role. It’s also a valuable time to ask for any feedback on what you could do to ensure they are, and any future new hires are, onboarded properly.

With offices in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide, plus remote employees outside of these branches, we’ve used technology to uphold and strengthen our corporate culture. At Fuse, our team have regular catchups and scheduled meetings with our remote employees. Additionally, by embracing video calls, we have created connection between teams in other branches and built a stronger culture as a result.

Set up time for your new hire to meet the rest of the team

One of the biggest COVID-19 recruitment challenges is to build corporate culture.

Ways to bring your team together:

• Having team lunches
• Running team debrief meetings
• Spending a few extra minutes at the start of meetings to have a chat
• Asking all team members to share a specific memory/story
• Playing games over video calls

Corporate culture is a huge contributor to why people leave their roles or join new companies. So, be sure to have events or a routine in place to maintain and build great culture.

Have remote onboarding tips of your own? Reach out to us at hello@fuserecruitment.com and let us know your ideas!