Benefits of Remote Onboarding with a Recruitment Agency
Employee onboarding is an essential process to set new hires up for success. The onboarding phase gives new hires the tools they need. This process typically includes meeting other critical players in the company they will report to or work alongside. Whether your company is taking the hybrid approach or fully remote, some employers need help to provide a practical onboarding experience for their remote hires.
Since the mid-2010s, the percentage of Canadians working from home has tripled, and while transitioning current employees to remote work is one thing, onboarding fresh hires is another. With 88% of employees in disbelief that their employers have a robust onboarding system, only a mere 12% are satisfied.
Luckily, IT recruitment agencies like Live Assets are pros at this. They don’t call us Toronto’s Best Recruitment Agency for nothing.
Onboard your next remote hire with a Recruitment Agency
Pre-onboarding
CNBC reports that 83% of employers are “ghosted” by new hires not showing up on the first day. With our IT recruiters on your side, you don’t have to worry about being that 83%. We will pre-board your hires to ensure they are well-prepared and won’t flake on you. Not only do we help with onboarding but pre-onboarding as well. Once you’ve hired one or more of our phenomenal candidates, we can follow up the weeks or days ahead of their first day. A recruitment agency can help you equip your hires with everything they need in advance during this time. Any other necessary documentation, such as employee handbooks, can be forwarded on your behalf.
Act as liaisons
If you work in office, managing both your on-site and remote staff can be a handful. But as we all know, communication is key. Recruitment agencies can step in as liaisons between you and your remote staff throughout onboarding and beyond.
Employees need to feel supported for their success and employee wellbeing. Remote employees might find it challenging to connect with colleagues and employers. Working from a home office, you miss out on the water cooler talk, lunch breaks, and the other social interactions you get from the office. It’s isolating, and it can have a significant downfall on your employees’ performance. Through onboarding and beyond, a recruitment agency can follow up with candidates and help communicate their concerns to their employer.
It’s essential to set goals and expectations from the get-go. What should your new hire know by the end of week one? How about the first month? Or how about within the first quarter? Leaving expectations in the air is a disaster waiting to happen. As the employer and new hire meet to set expectations, a recruitment agency can step in to ensure accountability on both ends.
Once the employer and employee are on the same page, the agency can continue to enforce these expectations, holding both parties accountable.
Offer a structured plan
The first few days for a new hire are critical. The reality is that 30% of new hires question accepting their offer so much that they quit within the first three months. As a result, this costs you more time and money to hire and train all over again. Recruitment agencies, we like to get it right the first time around. IT recruiters are experts in onboarding. They know what works, and they understand what doesn’t. By offering a structured plan, we can ensure your hires feel prepared and equipped as they embark on their new role.
Create a personable onboarding experience
Although we understand a structured onboarding plan is crucial, that doesn’t mean it can’t be personable. At Live Assets, we believe in a human-centric approach. Everyone is different, and not all onboarding plans will work for all employees. However, it can be overwhelming to personalize onboarding plans when you are responsible for hiring and many other daily tasks. This is also difficult when you’ve only briefly met your new hire.
As IT recruiters, we take the time to know and understand our candidates and their needs before onboarding. With our sole focus on recruiting and hiring, we can take over the legwork and provide each candidate with a personalized plan while meeting our client’s expectations.
Additional onboarding tips to set your remote hires up for success
Send a warm welcome package
A welcome package doesn’t have to be anything elaborate or tangible. Your welcome package can all be sent off in an email and should include all the resources needed, such as an itinerary and all training material needed. Additionally, you can get staff members to make introduction videos to include in this package. These should be quick videos with staff introducing themselves and their role and how their jobs will intertwine with the new hires.
Check your tech
For those who work on-site, technology and workspace are already readily available to them. Not all remote workers have an at-home office and will need technology sent to them. Arrange for new hires to receive any equipment, such as laptops, before their first day. As well as provide any resources and support to walk hires through how to use equipment and get feedback that it is in working condition.
Virtual luncheon
Lunch is a time when employees can socialize and get to know one another. Unfortunately, remote workers don’t get this socialization. As a result, new hires might feel disconnected from their colleagues. A virtual lunch over Zoom or Skype can help new hires meet co-workers they will be working closely with and understand the company culture.
Provide remote workplace policies
Remote work can sometimes feel like you are in limbo. The typical 9-5 is almost non-existent when your workplace is always just a few steps away. Remote employees might be more inclined to work irregular and more flexible hours. If you don’t already have one, your company should write up a remote work policy to give during onboarding. This policy should include days and times they must be available, work expectations and other information, such as completing expense reports for office expenses such as wifi.
Gather employee feedback
Hiring and onboarding remote employees is a learning curve for many. And the only way we can improve is to get feedback. Create a survey for new hires to complete and return at the end of the onboarding and training process. While the above tips are great suggestions, it is still a trial and error to see what works and what doesn’t for your company’s dynamics.
The Best IT Recruitment Agency in Toronto | About Live Assets | IT Staffing Solutions
Live Assets is a boutique IT Staffing/Recruiting firm specializing exclusively in building IT teams of excellence for the Information Technology sector.
We are a small, but productive team that works closely together and has had a 96% success rate for the past number of years!
We have a diverse number of clients and industries and focus on both full-time and contract I.T. opportunities.
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