Image commercially licensed from Unsplash

Remote work is here to stay. According to a 2022 Zippia report, 15 percent of job opportunities in the US are remote, and “up to 36.2 million Americans will be working remotely by 2025.” Given this state of affairs, business leaders are paying increased attention to onboarding remote employees effectively.

Because almost all of the staff at Cyberbacker work remotely, no one knows how to help such team members adjust to their new positions better than Theresa Coo, the company’s Vice President of Cybercare. An expert on effective onboarding processes for remote companies, Coo specializes in creating positive work environments that promote employee engagement.

“An effective onboarding program is crucial for the success and retention of remote workers,” Coo explains. “It makes remote workers feel comfortable and is akin to giving them a tour of the company — you show them where the entrance and exits are, explain the house rules, introduce them to people and departments, etc. That way, they know where to go if they have questions. This provides them confidence and a sense of inclusion in the company.”

Challenges remote workers face

Several challenges confront remote workers. According to Coo, people who work remotely sometimes contend with a lack of human interaction. Feelings of loneliness can arise, as well as the need for human interaction. Isolation can become exacerbated for remote workers if there are cultural differences between them and their employers.

For these reasons, Coo places special emphasis on onboarding programs’ ability to connect workers to the rest of the team and create an open, collaborative workplace culture. “The goal we need to achieve in onboarding is not only for remote workers to learn the rules of the company, but also to ensure that the new team member feels comfortable in this new setting,” she says. “This is very important because people spend a third of their day at work. If they are not comfortable where they are, then it can cause them to feel unsettled or lost.”

According to Business News Daily, “Lower employee morale, lower levels of employee engagement, lower confidence among employees, a lack of trust within the organization, and missed revenue targets are among the other negative impacts of not having a thorough onboarding program.”

Effective onboarding for remote workers

For Coo, successful onboarding is an ongoing process that should be mapped out with clear goals and intermediate steps. “Mark the trainees’ progress off in achievable chunks,” she says. “When they complete a section, make sure to reward them and recognize their accomplishments.”

In addition, Coo advises providing new employees with handbooks to guide them with regard to rules and policies. While this kind of company-wide, standard onboarding material can ensure compliance, she also stresses the necessity of tailoring the onboarding experience to each particular employee. “Recognize that people are individuals, and each circumstance is different from another,” she says. “People have different personalities.”

To help new workers form bonds with the rest of the staff, Coo recommends finding areas of common ground. “Team members share the same mission and sometimes even the same kind of work,” she says. “But, in addition, try to find other commonalities among team members. This can be their shared interests such as hobbies, pets, or sports. Each team member should feel like they belong in the team.”

Along the same lines, one of Coo’s top priorities for onboarding is establishing clear lines of communication. “Providing tools for communication isn’t enough,” she cautions. “Ensure all parties know how to properly use them. Check regularly to see whether the tools meet the communication requirements for the team.”

Opening avenues for sincere connection

Over and over again, Coo emphasized the importance of cultivating a workplace culture of openness and honesty. “Oftentimes, new members are not very vocal about what they need or what they are confused about,” she says. “This is because they aren’t sure as to how their concerns will be handled, and how speaking up would affect how they will be perceived.”

In addition, Coo notes that some employees aren’t comfortable talking about their concerns in group settings. “That’s why a proactive, individualized communication approach is imperative,” she explains. “Onboarding is not a one-day affair, so communication must not stop.”

Coo defines proactive communication as company-initiated efforts to probe new employees for any concerns. This communication “should not be limited to opening a hotline for complaints, feedback forms, or the like,” she says. Instead, employees should feel safe to turn to others within the organization to gain support and solve problems. “Make sure to explain avenues where help or guidance for personal concerns are available as part of the onboarding process,” she says.

To make sure communication occurs regularly, Coo advises establishing one-on-ones, team meetings, and company-wide meetings as key performance indicators. “Communication should be done freely and not forced, but it is also important to establish guidelines on when and how frequent it should be. If it is part of the metrics, then leadership has a visual of how much communication is being done and when.”

Aim for high engagement

How can you tell if your onboarding program is effective? “Engagement,” Coo answers. “High engagement is an indicator of an effective online training program, while low engagement indicates otherwise.”

Toward that end, Coo recommends making orientation as interactive and fun as possible. “Gamefy the onboarding process,” she says. “A little friendly competition is surprisingly effective in grabbing people’s attention and holding it.”

A great onboarding program can make a huge difference in remote employees’ experience and will quickly make them an integral part of any team.