Yet it is these informal and spontaneous encounters in particular that newly recruited colleagues have been missing for many months, as they usually make it easier and quicker to get to grips with an initially unfamiliar culture.
Virtual onboarding requires an increased level of commitment and planning from everyone involved. The laptop has to be ready to go and handed over on time, the bouquet of flowers on the desk becomes a welcome home package. No “I’ll show you around”, but a series of faces in a clearly arranged virtual room.
We at MontuaPartner also brought a number of new colleagues on board last year who had never set foot in our office before and who had previously only seen the whole team on screen and up to their chest.
Our most important learning: The corporate philosophy or the company’s mission statement with values and purpose and the clear attitude of each individual become all the more important with distance. These are the guidelines that new colleagues can use for orientation. How do we treat each other? What goals are we pursuing? How do we act towards customers and partners? How do we distribute our tasks? How do we tackle challenges?
Forward-looking planning and good preparation are also important, as there is little room for spontaneity. Of course, many things are basically the same as in analog onboarding, but some are even more important than usual and need to be considered even earlier:
- Fill the first few weeks with tasks that are not too demanding but prevent idle time.
- Schedule regular feedback meetings right from the start, because every little, even non-verbal exchange with the manager is lost.
- Find a mentor and give this person time to fulfill the role well.
- Maintain your team routines and actively involve new team members.
- Organize unofficial team meetings to show each other your private sides.
- Keep all orientation aids such as manuals, master presentations or forms up to date.
And as a general rule: make contact more often and ask whether he or she has everything, feels well looked after and sufficiently busy. Especially at the beginning, everyone wants to make the perfect impression and may be reluctant to report problems in the home office or the stress of homeschooling.
In any case, we are excited to see what the many first “real” encounters with people we feel we have known for a long time and then get to know for the first time will be like.
Copyright lead image: Nico Smit