How to preboard your remote employees
It’s been over a year since the majority of employees were asked to work from home and it looks like remote working is here to stay. Employers are noticing how much money they can save and employees have realised just how much better it is to work from the comfort of their own home. In fact, 96% of employees in a workplace trends report stated that they preferred remote work to office work. Whilst 68% of employees expressed their preference for a hybrid working environment.
Linkedin recently published a Workforce Report which found that remote job listings have risen in the past year across all industries. What may surprise you even more, is the fact that industries such as retail, transport and logistics have increased the number of remote employees that they are hiring. The Linkedin report noticed a significant rise in the number of remote roles across those usually deskless industries and it also highlighted the sharp increase in hiring which is up 92.6% on last year across the UK.
So with hiring on the rise and remote roles saturating the job market, it poses a serious question.
How can you stay ahead of the competition and ensure your new talent commits to their first day with you?
Preboard your remote employees
Preboading is a fairly new concept to most industries and managing a remote team is another modern obstacle. When you pair the two challenges together, the idea can seem a little overwhelming. In actual fact, preboarding is one of the simplest strategies to master and the rewards are certainly worth the effort. Before we dive into telling you how to preboard your remote employees, let’s discuss why preboarding is so crucial to recruitment success.
Why is preboarding so important (especially when employees are remote)?
Hiring a new employee is expensive business. Did you know it costs on average $4,129 to hire a single employee and the time it takes to fill the position is approximately 42 days? That is a whole lot of time and money to waste if a new employee decides not to show up on their first day of work, don’t you think?
If you’ve ever been faced with the frustrating experience of a new hire not starting on their first day of work then you’re not alone. A whopping 83% of employers have experienced ‘ghosting’ from their applicants and 22% of applicants accept job offers and don’t show up on their first day.
What’s even worse is the fact that your new hire could not show up because they have been poached by one of your competitors whilst they were waiting to start.
So what are the main reasons for remote employees not checking in on their first day of work?
Top reasons for remote employees not ‘showing up’
#1 No clear idea of what your company culture is like
When you hire an employee in a normal face-to-face setting, it can be easy for them to get an idea of what your company culture is like. They can look at the working environment, see how colleagues interact with one another and just get a general feel for the place. When you interview employees online via a computer, it’s a very different scenario.
They have a limited view of your culture, colleagues and atmosphere which can lead them to question their decision. The unknown may cause them to make assumptions about your company culture or working style which aren’t always positive. When left to ponder, they make the decision to bail on their first day.
#2 They have lots of unanswered questions
You had your round of interviews, offered the candidate the job, they accepted and now its radio silence until their first day…. Have you ever thought that your new hire may have lots of unanswered questions which they never got the chance to ask you? Now they’ve accepted the job and you’ve gone quiet on them, they may feel like the time isn’t right to ask all the questions they need to. Because they don’t feel like they have all the information they need, they may decide to reject the position.
#3 They’ve never worked remotely before
Remote working has its pros but it also has a long list of cons too. According to Buffer’s 2019 State of Remote Work report, the most common challenges for employees are:
22% unplugging after work
19% loneliness
17% poor communication and collaboration
10% distractions at home
8% staying motivated
If a new employee has never worked remotely before there is a high chance that they are going to be worrying about those issues. If you do not put their mind at ease in the weeks or days before their first day, they may not show up altogether.
#4 They’ve got more time to attend other interviews
The rise of remote job roles has made it incredibly easy for people to attend interviews from anywhere at any time. All they’ve got to do is open their laptop as opposed to commuting back and forth to various job locations.
With increased access to new job roles, it means competition is rife and the opportunity to attend more interviews increases. This means in the spare time your employee has between the job offer and their start date, they’re much more likely to attend interviews when they may not have been bothered before.
How to preboard your remote employees
Ensure you have an easy way to communicate with them
The point of preboarding is to keep a good line of communication open during the period of time between when a new hire accepts the job offer and their first day.
If you don’t have a preboarding app that allows you to send messages and alerts to your employee’s mobile device, make sure you get their mobile number. Ask them if they mind you sending them timely messages and reminders to preboard them. If you don’t ask for their consent you could end up annoying them.
If they are not ok with you sending messages to their mobile then an email will have to do.
Set up timely communications
To eliminate that dreaded silent period, it’s paramount that you stage timely communications to engage with your new starter. We recommend 1-2 per week because you want to engage and excite your new starter not bombard and overwhelm them.
Here is a list of the types of communications you should be sending to your new remote employees
A welcome message
Don’t wait for their first day to send them a welcome message. Send them one a few days after they accept the job offer. This does two things;
1). Makes them feel valued and welcomed as a new member of the team.
2). Cements the fact that they are now part of the business making them less likely to ‘jump ship’.
Company tips and best practices
Starting at a new company always means you’re unfamiliar with common practices and insider tips. Banish this hurdle by sending your new starters a quick message which links to an article titled ‘Company tips and best practice’. This could include; What they should prepare before meetings, what Slack channels to join, what they can expense when working from home, how to report any issues, how early they should arrive to virtual meetings, how to arrange coffee breaks with colleagues, what they should expect for their work anniversaries etc.
Your message could sound a little something like this:
“Hi Sarah,
We can’t wait to have you onboard and we hope you’re just as excited. We know starting a new job can be scary and you’ll have lots of questions. To help you ease into your new role as quickly as possible, we’ve put together a handy document which tells you all of our company tips and best practices.”
First-day checklists
Checklists are a quick and easy way to tell your new starter what they need to prepare for their first day. This will make them feel confident to hit the ground running and give them a few less things to worry about. Send them a message which links to a first-day checklist.
Your message could sound something like this:
Hi Sarah,
“Only 5 days left till you join the team, we can’t wait!
To ensure you’ve got everything you need for your first day, we’ve created a super helpful checklist for you. Check it off as you go and you’ll be amazed at how prepared you’ll feel before you even started.”
Our preboarding platform offers digital checklists which your new starter can easily check off as they go and you can view their progress.
Lingo articles
Starting at a new company usually means you’re unfamiliar with the language used. Ease first-day nerves by giving your new starters a document that lists all the commonly used phrases and terms within your company. For example, Fika - Coffee and cake break, Flexi-Fridays - Finish at 12 on a Friday if you’ve done your 35 hours, Beer o clock - Beers at 5 pm on a Wednesday etc.
The message you can use:
“Hi Sarah,
There’s nothing worse than starting a new job and not having a clue what anyone is talking about. To ensure you settle in as quickly as possible we’ve put together a lingo handbook. Use it to translate some of our commonly used phrases and you’ll feel at home in no time.”
Invite them to a virtual coffee meet-up
As we mentioned earlier, starting a new remote role where you’ve never even seen, let alone met any of your new colleagues can be very daunting. Remove this barrier by setting up a virtual coffee get-together. This is where your new remote employee can meet their manager and the close colleagues that they will be working with. Try to keep the numbers fairly small because if you invite the whole team they probably won’t get a chance to talk.
Your message can sound a little something like this:
“Hi Sarah,
We’d love to learn a bit more about you before your first day and we’re sure you’ve got a few more questions for us. We thought it would be great to have a virtual coffee get together. Mike, Tom, Lisa and myself are going to have a virtual meet-up and we’d love for you to join us so we can do a little bit of socialising before we get to work together. Let me know if you’re free.”
Provide them with training
We don’t want you to force heavy training on your new starter but it is a great idea to give them a few micro quizzes to help build their confidence. If there are any tasks or responsibilities which are mandatory for all new starters it can be a good idea to train them on those before they start.
Our preboarding platform allows you to send microlearning playlists which your new remote employees can jump in and out of when they have time. You can view their progress and edit and update the quizzes in a matter of seconds.
Use a message like this:
“Hi Sarah,
Not long to go until you’re an official member of the _____ team. To boost your confidence and empower you with all the information that you need, we’ve put together a few quick quizzes for you. They only take 5 minutes to complete but they’ll help you get up to speed with all the important information you need to know.”
Give them a dedicated preboarding buddy
Introduce your remote employee to a member of the team who can answer any questions or queries that they have. This will make your new starter feel more comfortable to raise any issues and it’s also a good way for them to build rapport with another member of the team.
Here’s a template for the message you could send:
“Hi Sarah,
I’d like to introduce you to Bob, he’s going to be your dedicated question buddy in the lead up to your first day, if you have any questions at all, please just ask him. That’s what he’s there for :D
Bob wants to make sure you feel as prepared as possible before you start work, so ask away.”
Do a ‘5 minutes with’ article
Hiring a remote employee makes it hard to get to know them on a personal level. This means your new employee can feel more isolated and your current team will find it harder to get to know them.
To manage this issue, why not do a fun ‘5 minutes with’ interview where you ask them a few random questions. You can then write up a little article to share amongst your team so they can get to know your new starter before their first day. It’s a great way to break the ice and gives your team something to talk to the new employee about.
Your message can be written as follows:
“Hi Sarah,
All of the team are super excited to meet you. To help them get to know you a little better we wanted to do a fun 5 minutes quiz. I’ll ask you 5 random questions about yourself and you can give me some quick-fire answers. I’ll write up a little article and share it with the team. Are you around on Monday for 10 minutes?”
Start preboarding your remote employees today
Working remotely can be incredibly isolating, get your new employees off to the best start by using a solid preboarding strategy. If you’re looking for an even easier way to preboard your remote employees take a look at our preboarding app.
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98% engagement rates
3.75x more recognition amongst their teams
94% of all comms being read.
