Essential Remote Onboarding Checklist

culture Feb 1, 2024

As studies show the remote work boom accelerating, with a 98% desire to continue flexibly working in some capacity—it’s tricky. Adapting systems to maintain human connections with dispersed teams takes serious insight.

We’ve found figures projecting up to 82% retention when onboarding helps new hires forge genuine bonds company-wide. And best practices enabling culture immersion from their first login can lead to around 70% productivity too! Not too shabby if we do say so ourselves.

But it’s no simple task welcoming remote hires with warmth and clarity to get them aligned behind the collective mission fast. Which is exactly why we recommend creating your own custom roadmap using tools like Monday and Slack (plus CultureBot) to make it a smooth transition. Out clunky manuals and info dumping, in interactive hangouts bridging interpersonal gaps before they emerge.

Get ready to have a ball while uniting far-flung superstars under the values making your culture so very special. Our user-friendly tools help every unique employee feel seen, heard, and supported through modernized remote onboarding they’ll remember—and want their peers to experience too! So what do you say, shall we get rolling connecting your teams across cities (and even continents)?

Get New Hires Ready for Connection Pre-Day 1

Want your incoming crew feeling prepped for a warm virtual welcome? Use the pre-boarding stage to set the foundation for social connections. Share videos and FAQ docs over Slack to get new hires up to speed on company vision, norms, lingo and logistics. Open channels for them to ask questions and interact with teammates ahead of their start date. Schedule video calls where they can put faces to the names they’ll soon collaborate with. The more digitally networked they feel upfront, the faster real relationships can form once onboarding activities commence. With social infrastructure primed in advance, newbies can dive into human-centered bonding bright and early.

Onboarding That Says “We’re Thrilled You’re Here!”

Okay, so it’s now the first day for a new hire. Time for welcoming faces from across the company to shine bright. Let the bonding commence! Get the ball rolling with an informal virtual hangout sparkling with smiles and excitement all around.

Bring on those grinning colleague cameos to put names to faces over some chill chat before digging into details. Then it’s time for the HR download to align on roles and responsibilities with crystal clarity from the start. Use a slack tool (like CultureBot) to prompt managers to schedule timely 1-on-1s going over goals and getting questions answered too.

Don’t let new recruits stall without logins. Our Slack tool can fast-track IT intros to hand off system access with training for any platform they’ll need to hit the ground running. Consider it done.

With equipment prepped and introductions made, new hires can dive into building bonds with assuredness that questions big or small have a place to be answered. There’s no fumbling allowed in this onboarding experience. This helps lower first-day anxiety, replacing it with excitement to start collaborating across the company.

Structure 30/60/90 Days Thoughtfully

Get new hires actively learning about company history and norms by gamifying quizzes. Sprinkling in some lighthearted elements makes digesting a lot of new information engaging.

Assign mentor buddies to provide tailored guidance as questions arise while getting acclimated. Match experienced guides who can offer insights relevant to new hire roles and interests to foster connections.

Highlight successes met at key milestones, whether completing onboarding projects or presentations. Have managers acknowledge wins to motivate momentum. Marking achievements together builds bonds.

Blending personalized support, social interactions, and celebratory moments enables new talent to feel integrated into company culture. Quality onboarding really makes the difference.

Make Training Interactive

Swap dull training manuals for active demonstrations of real-world workflows. Let new hires observe sales pitches or support ticket handling to gain clarity on day-to-day responsibilities. Provide access to interactive sandboxes of key internal systems to explore first-hand alongside managers who can promptly address questions.

Accelerating expertise happens through digestible microlearning modules focused on role-critical skills like presentations, analytics, etc. Organized e-libraries make locating need-to-know knowledge quick and convenient.

Vibrant and engaging training aligned tightly with the priorities of each function gets new talent contributing faster. Rather than passive information overload, take an hands-on approach featuring multimedia formats, shareable examples, and manager guidance to embed skills rapidly. Set new hires up for success through modern performance support.

Stay Tuned In with Two-Way Feedback

Onboarding should facilitate two-way conversations. Send pulse surveys to get input on how well new hires are acclimating to teams, targets, and tools. Brief polls gathered through accessible channels like Slack enable sharing authentic sentiments.

Regular check-ins allow HR to monitor integration milestones and pivot support strategies in real time when needed. Syncing up across the onboarding journey helps communicate needs so programs can be fine-tuned to facilitate success.

Additionally, collect feedback from mentor buddies and managers assessing alignment with responsibilities and cultural norms. Gather insights on relationship-building, system proficiencies, and role clarity.

Customizable support comes from listening to progress reports at multiple junctures. Cross-functional stakeholders can provide well-rounded perspectives on open needs. Responding to individual challenges and motivations ensures thoughtful, tailored onboarding.

Because Belonging Shouldn’t Be a Luxury

Bridging human gaps separating distributed teams takes more than technology—it takes intention and empathy. Without thoughtful onboarding facilitating genuine connections, isolation can creep in quickly.

Keep loneliness from hurting talent by welcoming newbies with warmth that crosses miles. Onboarding kicks off bonds blossoming into trusted relationships across locations to securely embed superstars in the fabric of the team for the long haul.

When new hires feel seen, heard, and supported through customized onboarding, get ready for an 82% retention rate roar. And with clarity on how their work ladders up to company priorities fast, productivity can hit up to 70% too! Now that’s what we call good company culture.

How to keep wins growing? Prioritizing continual development so rising rockstars refine must-have skills while discovering new superpowers! With investing in their growth, the business grows—and so does sustainable culture cultivation.

Onboarding online has extra humanity hurdles. But for the distributed workforce whisperers (that’s you!), we equip teams to clear them in a single bound. Who says you can’t have it all cultivating cohesion and high performance remotely? With the right mindset and great tools at your disposal, you can.