Starting a new job is nerve-wracking at the best of times. The awkward small talk, the “where’s the kitchen” panic and of course, the frantic effort to remember everyone’s names. Most of that anxiety comes from the single human fear that you won’t fit in, won’t know what you’re doing and everyone around you will notice.
But when your new starter is joining from their spare bedroom in Leeds or home office in Glasgow, the whole thing gets a layer more complicated. They can’t read the room and they end up doing the emotional heavy lifting of being new on their own – minus any of the in-person cues that usually make it more manageable.
Quite frankly, remote work won’t be going anywhere any time soon. The Office for National Statistics show that around 40% of UK workers currently work remotely in some form – roughly 14% fully remote and 26% hybrid.
This means that for a lot of companies, remote onboarding isn’t an edge case. But the businesses who treat it as an afterthought are the ones watching the good hires leave after the first three months.
How To Onboard Remote Hires For Long-Term Success
But the good news is that when remote onboarding is done well, it can actually be better than the in-person version. If it’s done badly, well, you may just lose that hire before they figure out your company’s Slack channels.
Get The Tech Sorted Early
Nothing kills momentum on a first day like a laptop that hasn’t arrived or a login that doesn’t work. These can be avoided if sorted out timely and include a simple setup guide that doesn’t assume your hire has any prior technical knowledge. If they do, even better.
Before their first day, make sure their email, communication tools and any required software are ready to go and offer an IT contact to help troubleshoot if something goes wrong.
Give Them A Reason To Show Up To Their Desk
Having a well-structured first week tells the new hire that you’ve actually thought about them, not just getting them up to speed on the role. Schedule a call with the direct team that they’ll be working with, offer a walkthrough of key tools and one-on-ones with those they will report to.
It may be very tempting to dump every policy document that your company has on them all at once – but don’t do it. Spreading out the reading and training over the first two weeks is more effective and far less overwhelming.
Consider Using The Buddy System
Yes, this is used in schools but it is extremely useful and incredibly underrated in business settings. It just means that you pair every new remote hire with a “buddy” – being someone else in the company on a similar level who isn’t their manager.
That’s the person to ask all the questions, even ones that sound silly, that they wouldn’t want to bother their boss with. This is the kind of informal knowledge that is impossible to put in a handbook but it’s often the difference between someone feeling like they belong and feeling like a total stranger.
Check In More Than You Think You Need To
When you start working in a physical office, you can absorb a lot. But working remotely? Not so much. You end up missing the ambient noise of the workplace, the overheard conversations, the sense of what’s normal.
Ideally, a line manager should schedule a check in at the end of the first day, end of the first week and at the 30-day mark. And not just “how’s it going?” but specific questions to ensure the new hire is settling in as quickly as possible.
Your Obligations Don’t Disappear Because The Office Does
It’s important to note that UK employers have the same duty of care to remote workers as to office-based staff. That means making sure that their staff have a safe working environment and proper tools to carry out their work.
As an employer, you are required to provide written terms of employment within two months of the start date which should reflect the remote working arrangement. If the role is fully remote or hybrid, that needs to be clearly stated.
Another thing to think about is expenses. Sure, there is no legal requirement to pay for home office equipment but many employers do and it honestly goes a long way in making people feel valued.
Are The New Hires Settled At The 90 Day Mark?
It’s very easy to confuse “quiet” and “fine.” Just because a new hire isn’t asking a lot of questions does not necessarily mean that they’re thriving, they could just be struggling along quietly.
To make sure this isn’t the case, have a proper review conversation at the 3 month mark. Discuss what has gone well, what was maybe harder than expected and what they need more of.
At the end of the day, remote onboarding isn’t about trying to recreate the in-person experience over a video call. It just comes down to building something that works for how people actually work now and probably will continue to work for the foreseeable future.
