Virtual and hybrid components are becoming the norm as companies continue to be more global. The rise of remote work environments means incorporating a virtual onboarding process. With 49% of human resource managers continuing the remote hiring and onboarding process post-pandemic, virtual onboarding proves to be a valuable resource for hiring teams.
There are no geographic or financial restraints to attend these training sessions. All your new hires need is a device to connect to the internet (most of us are connected 24/7 anyway!) Now is the time to embrace virtual onboarding for your future recruitment plans.
Let’s get into more detail about virtual onboarding as well as some best practices and ideas to get you started. Innovate and level up your virtual onboarding process for the best employee training experience possible!
What is Virtual Onboarding?
When you hire a new employee, the next step is orientation and onboarding to familiarize them with their position and the company. Virtual onboarding is attended online with video conferencing and online resources. The virtual onboarding process is used for remote and hybrid employees that may not go into the office often (or at all.)
Companies can also use virtual onboarding for any employees that are located in other parts of the world that can’t be in person. This has solved many challenges companies have faced with training their remote teams (especially useful during the pandemic when this was the only option!) With 55% of companies saying that onboarding was their biggest challenge with remote work, virtual onboarding plays a vital role in alleviating this issue.
Optimize Employee Training with These Virtual Onboarding Ideas
We get it, the employee onboarding experience can be a time-consuming task for new hires. Avoid overwhelming your new team members with tons of information all at once. Instead, think of creative virtual onboarding ideas to get your employees excited to start with your company. Changing things up helps to build a positive company culture through the virtual onboarding process.
Start with these easy and effective virtual onboarding ideas for new hires:
Organize Keynote Speaker Sessions
Set up live video calls with inspiring keynote speakers for your virtual onboarding process. This should be individuals from within your company to help welcome your newest team members. It’s always refreshing to hear from a variety of different people for their perspectives and expertise. This will help your new hires get to know leaders within the organization and familiarize them with the company.
Host a Virtual Q&A
This is the ideal time to get those questions out in the open from your remote team. New hires will likely have many questions and need an opportunity to get answers. By hosting a virtual Q&A, employees can benefit from hearing the questions and answers from their colleagues too. Everyone can collectively learn from each other and benefit from having their inquiries addressed in a group session.
Schedule Virtual 1:1 Meetings
For leaders and managers that are onboarding new employees, face time is essential! Set up one-on-one meetings for a more personalized experience. Group sessions are helpful, but it’s also beneficial to have break-out sessions with new hires one-on-one to address any concerns they may have. You can also use these to check in with them as they go along their virtual onboarding process to ensure they’re on track to complete everything in the timeframe given.
Make the virtual onboarding process as seamless as possible with virtual onboarding ideas that motivate and educate your new hires. Next, we’ll go over some virtual onboarding best practices to consider.
Follow These Virtual Onboarding Best Practices
As you begin setting up your virtual onboarding process, think about how to make the process as smooth as possible for your new employees. Starting a new job can be overwhelming with learning all of the policies and procedures. Help them to ease into their position as they embark on this journey.
Craft a winning orientation program with these virtual onboarding best practices:
- Make the virtual onboarding self-paced to allow your new employees to complete the training without added pressure.
- Encourage new employees to get to know other new hires and current team members through a team email thread, chat, or video call.
- Set up reliable video conferencing technology for remote communication and collaboration for an efficient virtual onboarding process.
- Create an itinerary summarizing the virtual onboarding based on each day and the training sessions they must complete.
- Pair up new employees with current employees to help transition them into the team and promote social integration.
- Incorporate a combination of pre-recorded training videos and live streaming to fully immerse new hires with everything they need to know about their position.
- Check in with your new employee periodically throughout the virtual onboarding process to ensure they feel supported and productive.
First impressions are everything! Put together a virtual onboarding program that paves the way for a promising career ahead.
Set Your New Employees Up for Success with Virtual Onboarding
With the rise of remote work environments, it’s only natural to change with the times and incorporate a virtual onboarding process. Implementing virtual onboarding adds flexibility for your employees and allows them to complete their orientation entirely online. Your new hires will feel less pressure with self-paced online onboarding programs. Take advantage of all the resources available to you when planning your virtual onboarding plan.
If you’re struggling to find the time to get everything set up for the virtual onboarding process, our experiential agency can help! With state-of-the-art video production resources, our team at Reimagined Experiences can help your employees get up to speed with onboarding videos. The possibilities are endless for your HR leaders exploring virtual onboarding options. Let us help you create a program that leaves a lasting impression! Contact us to book your free discovery call to get started.
