Onboard Employees Remotely: WalkMe’s Remote Onboarding Checklist

According to Gartner, at the end of March 2020, 88% of organizations had employees working remotely. Hiring, however, has not come to standstill, so onboarding must go on.

Work norms are still up in the air right now, but one thing is for sure: companies need to be able to efficiently and effectively onboard new employees, whether it’s in the office or not. We have written extensively about different best practices for hiring, training, and onboarding while working from home, but we thought we’d break it down for you into a practical checklist.

Not surprised but impressed to see @jack continually on the frontier. I expect many tech companies will follow. For software, remote work is here to stay.

"Twitter Will Allow Employees To Work At Home Forever." https://t.co/HShCOxtBFj

— Jessica Verrilli (@jess) May 12, 2020

Our very own Head of Marketing Operations in Tel Aviv, Rocio Zapata Sasson was quick to adapt when our teams went remote. We had several new employees to onboard within the first few weeks of transitioning to a remote workforce. 

We have been focusing largely on how to make sure the employee experience when working remotely, is just as satisfying and positive as the in-office experience. Rocio wanted to make sure that our new team members were:

• Emotionally supported
• Digitally enabled
• Practically prepared for productivity 

As part of our Lead From Anywhere series, we’ve had the opp. to interview a hand full industry leaders & pick their brains about the most pressing issues we're facing today, Well, we’re spicing things up by asking each speaker to challenge the next with a hard-hitting question! pic.twitter.com/NELNY7e9xI

— WalkMe (@WalkMeInc) May 12, 2020

Here is WalkMe’s remote employee onboarding checklist for managers, and operations and HR professionals in the Next Normal.

Pre-Onboarding Checklist

• Create the onboarding itinerary for the first few days, weeks, and months.

• Prepare details of the employee’s manager, HR representative, and choose a company “buddy” in case of any questions or concerns.
• Add the new employee to the relevant communication apps (like Slack or Whatsapp groups).
• Make sure you have added the new employee to all the necessary accounts in their digital tools with usernames and passwords until they are personalized.
• Prepare a welcome email to send to the whole team welcoming the new employee.
• Create a project management board or document where the new employee will see all of their onboarding tasks.
• Make sure the IT setup is ready and arrange for the new employee to receive their computer, headphones, and any other hardware or equipment needed.

With #remote work in effect, onboarding interns might look a little different this year. Hear from TEKsystems Director of Learning Solutions Leslie Deutsch in @hrdive on how to optimize and train your new team members https://t.co/0r0PdBNO8P

— TEKsystems (@TEKsystems) May 19, 2020

Onboarding Day Checklist

• Send a welcome email to your new employee including the onboarding board or document that you prepared prior to onboarding day.
• Send the welcome email to your whole team that you prepared beforehand.
• Welcome your new employee in a team video call so that everyone can say hi and get acquainted face to face.

• Schedule a time to go over the onboarding board or document with your new employee and make sure it includes KPIs if applicable.
• Go over the roles and responsibilities and clarify expectations with the new employee and schedule a follow-up meeting to check-in within the first two weeks.

Your new employee should be ready to go! With the right digital tools, good leadership, and a strong digital remote strategy, your new employee should be able to onboard, train, and become a productive and happy part of your team.

Good luck!