Top tips for onboarding new recruits remotely

You’ve found the perfect procurement and supply chain candidate, all the contracts are signed and you can’t wait to welcome them to your firm. But, if like many of us your team are still working remotely how do you go about onboarding your new recruit digitally? How can you make sure they get to know their new colleagues when they can’t be there in person? And how do you make sure they get the training and support they need in their new role? 

This short guide will give you some useful pointers to help you and your team make a great first impression, get your new team member up to speed, and ensure you keep the top talent you’ve worked hard to find. From making their first day special to building internal connections, read on to discover some top tips for onboarding new recruits remotely. 

Give them a great first day

Even experienced procurement and supply chain professionals are likely to be nervous on their first day. Making their first day as welcoming and special as possible will help them ease into their new role, and it gives you the opportunity to show off your great company culture. Arrange some sort of company-wide introduction such as a team video call if there aren’t too many of you or a video message from a key person in the business that everyone tunes into at the same time. Include a message board for people to add a note to in real-time. If the new recruit is willing, you could even broadcast a message from them, too. 

Ideally, the rest of the recruit’s first day will be spent getting to know their colleagues and acclimatizing themselves will the tech and tools they will be using. It’s important, however, not to overload them with back-to-back meetings and introductions. Give them time to settle in and take a breath, too. 

Create an onboarding plan

Creating a comprehensive plan that can be followed and shared around your business is an important step in remote onboarding. It’s a good idea to get input from relevant co-workers such as the new candidate’s line manager or the team members they will be working with to make sure you have covered all bases. Your onboarding plan could include the following:

1. An employee matrix including photos and contact details. If appropriate, highlight the people they will be working with on a regular basis and other need-to-knows. You could even include a personal message from each colleague to boost that welcoming spirit!  
2. A breakdown of each stage of the induction process, indicating who will be involved at what stage and why. This should cover a minimum of 90 days. 
3. A training pack full of information about their role, tasks, clients or suppliers they will be working with, their KPIs and objectives, how their performance is reviewed and any other material they will need to do their job. The onboarding process must include plenty of one-on-one training but your new colleague will benefit greatly if they have guides and other collateral to refer to. 
4. Information about the company tools, platforms and IT with plenty of guidance about how to use them and who to contact if they need help or support. 

Send a welcome pack

A welcome pack arriving by courier or mail will make your new starter feel like a valued part of the company from day one. You could include a card or messages from their teammates, some nice food or beverages, branded items like a coffee cup or t-shirt - whatever you think your new teammate will appreciate.  

Keep in touch

Maintaining a good amount of contact with your new starter is vital. The first few weeks in a new role can be very disorientating and this is likely to be exacerbated if you aren’t getting to know the team and business in person. Naturally, you don’t want to appear to be micro-managing but make sure you arrange for plenty of catch up time with either yourself or other team members and include opportunities to simply bond and get to know one another. 

Encourage and facilitate collaboration

One of the best ways to make your new recruit feel welcome - and encourage them to stay at your firm - is to make sure they feel connected with their teammates. Alongside inductions with staff members, you could facilitate collaborative projects, workshops and discussions between different people and departments. This builds cohesion, creates bonds and alliances, and improves business knowledge. It also means the new recruit feels valued and improves their understanding of the company structure. Finally, it gives them the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and experience, which will help them build credibility and respect within the business. 

We hope these tips for onboarding new recruits remotely have given you some useful ideas for welcoming your new staff member, or members. If you are thinking about upskilling or growing your team in the future, give our friendly team a call. We’re experts in procurement and supply chain recruitment and we can help.