Working from Home During the COVID-19? Here’s How You Can On-Board New Hires
With the shift to remote working due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Singapore companies have had to adjust and accommodate on-board new hires while they work from home.
Making the Virtual Shift
Remote working has forced many businesses and employees to adapt to a new way of doing this. This includes being hired to work remotely. On-boarding new employees can be very challenging. We’re so used to the old way of doing face-to-face interviews and watching new employees come in for their first day of work.
What is needed is sound strategy for on-board new hires as they work from home. The on-boarding process implement should help employees quickly learn the ropes and understand the company culture. They need to quickly learn about the tools and system they’ll be using. They need to get to know their new colleagues too.
There must be a formal on-boarding strategy in place to help the new hires and the employer cope. This will help the new hires fit in easily and feel comfortable in their new role. It’s not going to be the same as working on premise, but it can work with the following strategies in place:
- A Welcome Package – Nothing says welcome to the team quite like a care package. Add a personal touch by including a handwritten welcome note. Deliver your package to your employees and make them feel welcomed from day one.
- Clear Goals and Expectations – Employers need to set clear goals and expectations with new hires right from the start. Let them know what you expect from them during this period. It’s a good idea to encourage them to reach out to you frequently for anything they’re not sure of.
- Mentoring – If you can arrange for it, having a mentor for your new hire is going to help them adjust much quicker. They’ll feel less awkward about fitting in if there is a go-to person they can count on for the first few weeks to show them the ropes.
- Paperwork Services – Utilise services like HelloSign and DocuSign for legally binding documentation.
- Cloud-Based Services – Google Drive and Dropbox are a safe and secure way to share and store documents that can be readily accessed by all employees in the company.
- Constant Communication – It’s important to always stay in touch with your new hires. Check in on them to see how they are doing via one-on-one meetings. Regular team meetings should be in place for catch-up sessions to see how everyone is doing.
- Practice Transparency – Be approachable and transparent with all employees always. Your new hires need to know that they can trust you and feel comfortable working with you.
- Encourage Managers to Stay in Touch – On-board new hires who work from home need to feel as connected to the company as possible. Encourage all responsible managers to stay in touch regularly with their team.
It’s important to make your new employee feel as welcomed as possible. Understandably, it’s a different dynamic, but we’re all in this together. Working together is the best way to make these adjustments as easy as possible for everyone involved.
