Tech businesses are increasingly adopting more comprehensive, personalised onboarding processes to ensure that their new hire transitions smoothly into their role and work environment.

But what happens when you are faced with a pandemic requiring all employees, including new hires, to be onboarded and enabled to work from home from day one?

Starting a new job can be met with anxiety at the best of times, and for those starting a new role during a pandemic, their first weeks, possibly months, on the job mean s working remotely from home with no in-person contact, limited opportunity to establish new work relationships, no office orientation, and a completely remote onboarding and induction experience.

So how are tech businesses and tech teams adapting their onboarding processes to engage new hires and remotely transition them into their new job?

We reached out to Barbara, a professional contractor recently appointed by Torii Consulting. Barbara commenced a new role as Senior Technical Writer within the Cybersecurity DevOps team of a high profile, iconic Australian tech brand, based in Melbourne. The objective was to gain insights on the remote onboarding candidate experience of a new starter.

Here’s what she had to say:

A remote onboarding experience with an iconic Aussie tech brand.

I have had the great fortune of having Torii Consulting put me forward for a role within the the Cyber Security team of a high-profile tech business in Australia. The process, all which took place during the initial Covid-19 lockdown period, was extremely positive right from the outset with all interviews being conducted by phone. 4 weeks later I was employed. Wow!

During the process, many thoughts crossed my mind…

• How would remote onboarding work?

• How would I access the collateral required for me to do my job delivering training?

• Who were team members and customer stakeholders and how would they know I’m working?

• How would I communicate questions/ concerns with my new employer?

• How? What? When? So many unknowns.

Turns out, there was nothing to worry about.

Here’s how it worked…

Right from day one, I was invited to all meetings via Webex and MicrosoftTeams. A shared Google Drive was set up for our team to collaborate and post our documents in.

Each day there is a minimum of two meetings; a stand-up for our team, and a Stand-up for the wider DevOps and Code Security team. During the meeting everyone is asked what they are working on, how they are doing, and if there are any problems, questions or blockers. Every person has a chance to speak and is listened to.

There are days when we have scheduled brainstorming meetings, and there are regular ‘Lunch and Learn’ meetings to communicate on what different areas of the business are doing and how we can operate in sync.

My leadership team is super inclusive, collaborative and focussed on delivering a quality product for the wider organisation to consume. My Torii Consultant also regularly checks in to see how I’m going.

Upfront investment in your new recruit will pay dividends in the long run! My advice to employers looking to onboard staff remotely—keep up regular communication!

Ensure you virtually “meet” with your employees at least once every two days; daily is better, even if for 15 minutes, just so you and your employee are both on the same page and both have an understanding of expectations and outcomes. The more you invest in your new recruit at the start, the quicker your new employee will be off delivering quality requirements. You will have a valued employee who is happy to deliver and will go the extra mile for you, and you will be happy because your customers have received a quality output within financial and timely scope.

So there you have it—one great example of a successful onboarding employee experience. A testimony that it works if staff are supported and businesses are committed to it.

As the working world is shaped by global events, we are likely to see remote onboarding become a more regular process. Considering the demand for tech talent will only increase over time, how you onboard your new recruits will play a role in employee advocacy, performance and retention, not to mention customer satisfaction.

So, take the time to ask your new staff about their remote onboarding experience for some vital clues on how you can improve your processes.

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