Remote Onboarding:
8 Essential Skills for HR Professionals

See also: Selecting and Recruiting Skills

The rise of remote work has brought about significant changes in how companies run their operation, but it has particularly impacted the process of onboarding new employees.

Increasingly, remote onboarding is becoming much more widely adopted as a way to welcome new staff into the fold. However, it does present the human resources function with a series of unique challenges.

These challenges range from ensuring new hires feel connected to the company, to providing them with the tools and knowledge to succeed in their role - which, if not managed properly, can set them off on the wrong foot.

To successfully integrate a new employee into the business then, it is important to help them quickly get a handle on how things work across the organisation, familiarise themselves with the company culture, and generally make them feel valued and welcome.

Here are eight essential skills human resources professionals need to ensure this happens.

What is Remote Onboarding?

Remote onboarding is a process whereby new employees are inducted into a company.

It has become an increasingly popular activity since COVID-19 and involves familiarising new staff members with company policies, practices, and culture while they remain in a remote location (as opposed to in the office).

The purpose of remote onboarding, just like physical inductions in workplace environments, is to ensure that the employee becomes an effective and contributing team member.

What Skills Do HR Professionals Need to Manage Remote Onboarding?

1. Effective Communicator

Communication is integral to successful remote onboarding because, without it, the new hire won’t know what is expected of them.

It is vital that HR professionals clearly articulate the onboarding plans by providing a structured roadmap of what will happen during the first few weeks of their new employee’s tenure.

This should typically be done through video and phone calls, emails, and instant messaging.

2. Technologically Adept

Remote onboarding heavily relies on technology, with platforms like Altora enabling companies to run a complete online induction system.

These systems can streamline and enhance the overall onboarding experience for new staff members. They also have wide-ranging capabilities, which include everything from storing training documentation to requesting workers sign e-documents.

In order to work with them, HR professionals require a degree of technological savviness. However, if they do not have this, then the onboarding experience might not run as effectively as it was designed to.

3. Empathy and Emotional Intelligence

If you have worked in a company for a long time, it can be easy to forget how challenging joining a new organisation can be. That is why it is crucial for HR professionals to possess empathy and emotional intelligence in spades.

Remote onboarding can be a nerve-wracking and isolating experience for new hires who are keen to impress and establish a foothold in the business for personal reasons (such as being able to pay their mortgage and bills) as well as professional ones.

For this reason, HR professionals must be able to recognise stressors and offer support as and when required. They should also always maintain a positive tone that reassures and motivates employees and build personal connections, which can ease the transition for new hires and help to build trust and rapport.



4. Cultural Awareness and Inclusive Nature

When conducting remote onboarding programmes, it is very important for the new staff member to feel like they belong in the organisation and that they have made the right choice to join it.

This can be a challenge, particularly if they are from a diverse background. However, it is important to run inclusivity practices from day one that incorporate inclusive languages and virtual team-building activities that highlight these company values in every onboarding session.

5. Organisational Skills

Onboarding a new employee can be a very involved process, particularly if they are joining a large-sized business. Therefore, it is vital to have a structured onboarding process in place to provide new employees with as smooth an induction as possible.

To run it properly, HR professionals must have excellent organisational skills because they are required to develop a detailed plan which outlines tasks, goals, and timelines for both the new hire and their manager.

Additionally, they will need to create checklists that include aspects like account setups, policy reviews, and training sessions and ensure that all parts of the onboarding process are completed consistently and without delays.

6. Time Management

In addition to possessing good organisational skills to run a remote onboarding process, HR professionals will also need to excel at time management.

Balancing the onboarding needs of multiple employees across different departments requires the ability to prioritise tasks and focus on the most critical aspects of onboarding, which directly impact employee performance.

Additionally, you will need to be able to delegate responsibilities and follow up on whether they have been fulfilled and ensure that all necessary steps are completed within the onboarding period without overwhelming or putting too much strain on new hires.

7. Adaptability

As a practice, remote onboarding is still a very much work in progress, so it will occasionally involve HR professionals having to think on their feet more regularly than they would during physical on-site inductions.

Being adaptable enough to adjust to and embrace changes in technology or processes is also a big plus. At the same time, you should also have the flexibility to manage unforeseen challenges, such as technical glitches or scheduling conflicts.

8. Strong Relationship-Building Skills

Above and beyond anything else, perhaps the most essential skill for Human Resources professionals to possess when conducting the remote onboarding process is the ability to build strong relationships with new employees.

Building trust and rapport is hard at the best of times, but when you do it remotely, it is even more challenging. Thankfully, there are some strategies HR managers can adopt.

They include facilitating introductions through virtual meet-and-greets with team members and stakeholders and providing new staff members with the support and guidance they may need by pairing them with more experienced colleagues.


TOP