How to Create an Effective100-day Remote Onboarding Process
Smooth remote onboarding relies on leveraging technology and providing ongoing support for new hires.
A 100-day onboarding process allows organizations to provide greater support to their new hires more effectively and seamlessly. This, in turn, prevents new employees from feeling overwhelmed during their onboarding process, says Theresa Coo, vice president of Cybercare at Cyberbacker.
Not long ago, “remote work” was a term seldom uttered. What was once reserved for the CEO or the occasional senior employee has become the standard in many businesses for post-pandemic work, which is now not only a perk but an expectation.
Subsequently, the role of onboarding new employees has changed in recent years as much as our work culture. Where new workers were previously onboarded in person and could learn on the go in the heart of a bustling office, there now exists an expectation for the process to be tighter and more efficient than ever.
We know that ineffective onboarding is a major cause of employee turnover, with numerous studies finding that premature departures often happen in the early weeks or months of a new employee’s time with a company. For that reason, 100-day onboarding processes are growing in popularity. But how exactly does this work for remote onboarding, and what technology can business owners utilize to make this as smooth as possible?
What Is 100-day Onboarding?
Many of us likely remember the rather bumpy onboarding experiences at our previous jobs, where we spent a few days walking through various processes before feeling slightly clueless for the next few weeks. However, after this period, many of us were still left with questions about how to do our job, feeling burdened by unrealistic performance expectations before we were ready. The 100-day onboarding process is important for employee satisfaction and retention.
The purpose of a 100-day onboarding process is to support new hires over a longer period, whereby employees can digest new information in smaller chunks rather than in one go. It’s intended to help newer company members feel less like they’ve been thrown in at the deep end without adequate, ongoing support.
Onboarding Remotely Versus In-person
During the initial stages of in-person onboarding, you would first show someone around the office’s physical space, such as departments, entrances and exits, the kitchen, and bathrooms. They would also meet with individual teams, be shown how to use the company software and technology, then receive regular assistance from their manager or colleagues.
When a person is onboarded remotely, however, their training will mostly revolve around how to do their job, what technologies are used to streamline the process, and how those technologies are integrated into their daily workflow. With this in mind, it’s important to hold dedicated training sessions for company software and tools such as Slack, which can send reminders for scheduled one-on-one meetings or create channels for company-wide announcements. These tools allow remote or hybrid work to run more smoothly.
Pre-boarding Remotely
Companies often overlook the crucial step before the onboarding process even starts — pre-boarding. This refers to the period between a new employee accepting their job offer and starting work; in other words, all the admin.
Rather than bogging down a brand-new employee on their first day with information, this is the time to set them up with any logins, calendars, company chats, software, and databases your organization uses. You can do this in the days before they officially start so that when they sit down at their desk on day one, it won’t consist of technical difficulties and repeated calls to IT support.
See More: Your 6-Step Guide To Virtual Onboarding
Leveraging Technology and Automation
Remote 100-day onboarding involves far more than an introductory call and a PowerPoint presentation. The best way to leverage technology when remotely onboarding an employee is to integrate as much of their job into the company software as possible.
For the new employee’s daily or weekly responsibilities, task management software is crucial to keep everyone on the same page. Google Workspace, for example, can be used during the 100-day onboarding process to streamline sending reminders, emails, and internal information to new employees. This transparency, such as dashboards and interfaces that show exactly what colleagues are working on in real-time helps remote employees remain in the loop, which helps to boost their confidence regarding their responsibilities.
Time management tools also help keep everyone on the same page, whether creating a schedule, writing a repeat to-do list, or breaking down tasks. These tools should be as efficient and automated as possible to keep new employees on top of their responsibilities and aware of expectations throughout their first 100 days with the company.
When it comes to continuing to support and uplift employees, it’s important to utilize scheduling and tracking software to reserve blocked schedules and plan ongoing one-on-one sessions with new hires so they don’t feel forgotten about after their first few weeks. For example, I tend to pencil in five 20-minute one-on-one sessions spread across the first 100 days, including meeting with new team members in their first and second week and their 30th, 60th, and 90th days. These allow me to touch base and figure out how to continue to support them in a simple but effective way to ensure more face time.
See More: 4 Reasons to Automate Employee Onboarding
Integrating Company Culture Remotely
One of the most challenging aspects to nurture in a remote business is the company culture since it can be more difficult to express gratitude and reward new remote workers for their hard work, but there are ways around this. For example, gamification strategies can be effective during training, wherein employees can aim for milestones to receive points in exchange for real-life rewards. Goal-setting strategy sessions are also important, which can be integrated into tracking software or supported with AI and automation, making milestones actionable and achievable.
Companies should also ensure that onboarding goes beyond the initial training so that newer employees can feel confident that they will be supported in their professional growth. Where in-person employees might attend a workshop or seminar, remote employees can receive virtual training or allocated time for professional development courses. It’s also important to schedule time for new hires to socialize with colleagues online. While we might all be tired of the Zoom quizzes, plenty of other fun ideas are out there.
New technology has never made it easier for remote onboarding to be smooth, effective, and seamless. It’s about time we start seeing onboarding as a long-term process and not a short-term sprint, one that can be achieved alongside a strategy that integrates efficient technology and real-life support.
What steps have you taken to enhance your remote onboarding process and create a seamless and effective experience for new hires? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We’d love to hear from you!
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