The future is digital – we have known that for a long time. But since the corona pandemic, the global job market has become unrecognizable. Nobody would have expected that a virus would ultimately decouple work from physical presence at the workplace and accelerate new work structures by about a decade.
While many workers will return to open-plan offices post-pandemic, in many cases remote work will be the new standard, or at least an essential part, instead. This not only has many advantages for employees, who but also thanks to more flexible work situations, spend less time commuting or no longer have to move to expensive big cities. Companies also save costs by reducing office space and the associated electricity consumption.
However, the introduction of the home office will only be a small cog in the new world of work (keyword “New Work”) – the change will go much deeper: Experts expect an increasingly global labor market that can do without migration.
It is all the more important for companies to jump on this train in good time and integrate digital options into their structures now. The onboarding of new employees is essential here, which presents companies with major challenges, because: How can new employees be trained remotely quickly, effectively, sustainably, and comprehensively and integrated into the company?
In order to answer this question, it is first necessary to take a closer look at the onboarding process in the classic sense – the basis for digital solutions.
Classic onboarding phases
The classic ‘on-site’ onboarding process is divided into three main phases: preboarding, onboarding as the orientation phase, and finally onboarding as the integration phase.
preboarding
Preboarding is considered a phase of preparation that spans the period between signing the employment contract and the first day of work. Especially in this phase, companies can score points with a commitment by providing structured support and helping the future onboard right from the start.
The aim of preboarding is to familiarize the new employee with the company and its structures before their first day at work. A permanent contact minimizes the inhibition threshold for open questions and can inform him in good time about the upcoming induction plan, corporate culture, or the exact job description.
Onboarding orientation: The first days in the company
The actual onboarding begins on the first working day: the phase of orientation in the company. It usually lasts up to the third month of the onboard at the new workplace. The focus of this phase is to introduce the employee to his or her role and tasks and to get to know and understand the company, colleagues, tasks, and processes. The first working day is used to greet the onboard, introduce them to colleagues, get to know the workplace on-site, and have the first work processes and activities explained.
Of course, hardware and software and other work materials should also be prepared and handed out on the first day at the company at the latest. In the first few weeks, goals, expectations, and tasks can be defined together, which the new employee can use as a guide in the coming months at the new workplace.
Onboarding integration: integration into the company
As soon as the first few months in the company have been completed and the new employee is familiar with their tasks and the structures in the company, onboarding should be used primarily to integrate the employee into the company. This phase of integration can last from the third to the sixth month after starting work – sometimes even the entire remaining, the first year in the company is part of the integrative part of the onboarding. The onboard should not only continue to be integrated socially but also gradually in important work processes. He can soon take the initiative and implement his own ideas independently.
The aim of the entire onboarding process is to train every new employee as quickly and efficiently as possible in order to benefit immediately from all their work. In addition, thanks to successful onboarding, the expensive initial fluctuation of new employees are reduced.
A study by Haufe from 2020 also shows how important structured, comprehensive onboarding is: 93% of the companies surveyed stated that new employees integrate faster and better socially through onboarding. 92% confirm that the structured onboarding process has a significant impact on more economical (and faster!) professional integration. Even more than 60% believe that a thoughtful onboarding can reduce the typical initial turnover. The onboarding is therefore the basis for long and good cooperation between the new employee and the company.
How does digital onboarding work? 7 tips for training remotely
Digital onboarding works without the help of offline components and is particularly useful in IT recruiting. It is therefore all the more important to rethink the individual stations and the onboarding process in general in order to do justice to the unfamiliar situation and still integrate new employees quickly and efficiently into everyday work and the team. What remains the same are the three phases of onboarding (preboarding, orientation, integration) and their goals.
Nevertheless, one – usually essential – component is omitted in digital onboarding: direct, personal contact in the office. In the following seven tips you will find out how you can optimize your onboarding process in the company and adapt it to digital solutions, which priorities you should set, and whether it is worth investing in an app or software for remote onboarding.
#1 Adjust your schedule for digital onboarding
The classic onboarding process often runs not only in the same structures, but usually also in the same time frame: the first working day, the first week in the new company, phases two and three of the onboarding up to the end of the probationary period. Digital onboarding requires a rethink because remote structures such as working from home due to corona complicate the usual processes and make onboarding a long-term task. So be sure to plan more time for the digital familiarization of your onboard!
Ideally, you calculate up to twelve months for the entire digital onboarding process in order to straighten out the ‘roadmap’ of your new employee and take the pressure off the first few weeks – not only for the onboard but also for their mentors and supervisors. Finding your way into a company via digital channels takes significantly more time than growing offline day by day with the company and your colleagues almost casually. While in classic onboarding a lot is observed casually, recorded when looking over one’s shoulder, or snapped up during the lunch break together, the communication effort in the digital area increases enormously: For every little thing that needs to be discussed, appointments have to be made, Messages are sent or notes are written. Communicating spontaneously with one another has thus become considerably more difficult. At the same time, this also means additional effort in terms of coordination. In addition to a generously planned timetable, additional communication options are therefore essential in order to create ‘short distances’ in digital onboarding as well.
#2 Communication tools: The nuts and bolts of digital onboarding
Training new employees remotely are only possible if an optimal basis for digital communication is created. Don’t forget: The personal closeness that you normally pass on during indirect conversations should also be felt digitally. Because without personal offline contact, supposedly banal interpersonal things have to be communicated digitally. So use all the possibilities of digital communication to exchange ideas with your new Onboard.
Video conferencing software such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet is particularly suitable for remote onboarding. Not only can the direct supervisor personally greet the new employee on the first day of work, but the entire team can also be introduced. Video conferences bridge the spatial distance virtually and thus make it possible to build closeness and team spirit despite everything.
Video meetings are also ideal for familiarizing yourself with in-house tools or systems: Using the ‘Share screen’ function, the onboard can follow the individual steps and major processes click by click – so looking over your shoulder becomes digital with almost no compromises translated. The ability to record important meetings or elementary training courses is also a clear advantage of digital onboarding: If something is unclear, the onboard can click through the recorded video conference again. This minimizes the time required for the employees involved in the onboarding process.
In order to ensure clear structures right from the start, you should clearly communicate expectations, the distribution of roles and tasks, as well as the basic principles and benchmarks of the company. What is revealed incidentally in everyday onboarding in the company must be consciously conveyed in the digital version. So be sure to also note down seemingly irrelevant things in order to optimize the digital onboarding for your employee.
Clear communication creates clear conditions. Make it possible for your new protégé to always be addressed directly – without detours. In this way, you not only promote direct exchange within the team but can also intervene to clarify problems at an early stage. Professional instant messengers such as Teams, Slack, or Stackfield are particularly suitable for everyday communication in order to connect with colleagues at any time, exchange ideas, or plan projects together. Files can also be easily exchanged via these programs.
#3 Automate the digital onboarding process
If you want to digitize the onboarding process in your company, you have the unique opportunity to automate the entire process with relatively little expenditure of time and money, because: In the meantime, there is one for every company – whether it is a medium-sized company or a start-up or large corporation – the right tool to design an individual yet automated onboarding experience for each onboarded. Regardless of whether it is an app or software solution, the investment is worthwhile, because only good onboarding prevents the typical initial fluctuation and binds new employees in the long term.
The fact that it is wrong to save money in this crucial phase seems to have reached companies as well: the study by Haufefor onboarding in 2020 has shown that 22 percent of companies are already planning their own budget to train new employees – ten percent more than in 2019. A quarter of the entire budget (23 percent) goes into digital tools for the onboarding process. In 2019, only twelve percent of companies invested in digital solutions. It is becoming clear that the corona pandemic through working from home and the like is showing the need for digital strategies: While only six percent of companies used digital onboarding tools in 2018 and twelve percent in 2019, this number rose to 23 percent in 2020. Automated, digital onboarding is the future – an investment in tools and software is worth it!
The look and content of the digital tools are very flexible and can be adapted to different needs. Companies can usually adapt app and software interfaces individually to their corporate identity, and employees can also work through stations visualized on personal roadmaps and follow a schedule. Software or app solutions are ideally suited to providing the content.
Companies thus have a central location where all relevant information for the onboard can be found – for example on the subject of everyday work and corporate culture, but holiday planning or expense reports can also be organized there. Digital onboarding also has the advantage of being accessible anywhere and anytime – mobility and flexibility are a big plus.
Compared to classic onboarding, software and apps can be integrated into everyday work and offer additional fun through playful learning. The multimedia application possibilities also contribute to this – whether text, video, or quiz – everything is possible! Task packages that the new employee should work on in the first few weeks of work also make sense. In this way, supervisors, the team, and the onboard always have an overview of the onboarding process. Software or apps can also automate part of the employee onboarding process. For example, they send automated emails before the first day at work or offer chatbots for questions and knowledge tests. This reduces personnel and costs right from the start.
#4 Virtual onboarding – Communicate content step by step
You should not only structure the digital onboarding more loosely in terms of the schedule, but also in terms of content. As practical as it is to provide all content digitally, the danger can quickly arise of overloading the onboard with a vast amount of information in one fell swoop. It is better to think step by step here and plan the digital onboarding process carefully in advance.
Checklists are the basis of structured and time-saving onboarding. Only in this way can the entire process, important preparations, individual work steps be coordinated in good time and the respective tasks distributed to employees. The planning also includes processes and structures before the actual onboarding, such as the detailed development of a roadmap for the onboard, the preparation of the workplace (if the work is not only done remotely), the transmission of information to the works council or the planning of training courses and appraisals. Once this checklist has been compiled, it can be adjusted again and again.
Not only in advance but also during onboarding itself, it is important to detail individual work processes so that they can be processed step by step. If you are already working with a software or app solution, you can automatically have individual task packages or training steps activated one by one. This ensures that the onboard is not overwhelmed and can work through the digital content at his own pace.
The individual work steps should be visualized on a roadmap with the associated schedule so that the entire process can be viewed again and again and the onboard always have the goal in mind. In this way, the wrong tasks are not prioritized and the focus is always drawn to the current work step.
#5 Digital mentors for digital onboarding
Even if many processes run automatically in digital onboarding and content is developed yourself, direct, personal contact with a permanent contact person is an important part of successful onboarding – even remotely! A mentor is available to onboard for all questions and challenges, and the possibility of direct contact means that any ambiguities can be quickly resolved.
The 2020 Haufe study, which sees mentors as the key to successful digital onboarding, also determined the importance of a mentor in the onboarding process: 64 percent of the companies surveyed provide their new colleagues with mentors so that they can also be ideally trained remotely. A mentor should not only help the onboard with problems and teach him about everyday work in the company but also integrate him socially. With the help of the mentor, the onboard can quickly build up his own internal network, which in turn increases his identification with the company and motivates employees in the long term.
A mentor promotes not only the professional but also the personal development of his protégé. For a digital mentoring program, it is important to set the framework for communication in advance. For example, a weekly jour fixe guarantees regular exchange between mentor and mentee.
#6 Use creative possibilities of digital onboarding
Digital onboarding not only means integrating new processes and media into day-to-day business but at the same time fully exploiting their potential. So the motto is: Away from tried and tested offline scripts and static presentations towards new, creative digital solutions. If you choose a software or app to digitize your onboarding process, you will get productive suggestions there to implement content digitally. But even without prefabricated modules, you can live out your creative streak: Digital onboarding thrives on the personal closeness that is conveyed through various content – especially in the first week of work of the onboard.
In order to avoid typical uncertainties and the classic initial fluctuation in the company, you should prepare the new employee for an unforgettable onboarding week – without making any compromises compared to the traditional offline variant. On the first day of work, the onboard should already be equipped with the necessary hardware and software and familiarized with the various communication channels – whether video call, telephone, or chat program. Of course, the supervisor should personally greet the new employee via video call. In this way, the new team member feels valued and in good hands right from the start. A welcome package is also a nice idea for starting at the new remote workplace with small, branded gifts that bring corporate culture into the home office. Even a coffee cup with the company logo creates a greater sense of community within your own four walls – ‘personal branding’ remotely, in other words. This can be used directly in digital coffee breaks with individual employees, for example, while the individual team members get to know each other. A virtual tour of the company creates a connection: for example, a video tour shot in advance or exploring the premises independently using VR glasses – there are no limits to creativity.
Even after the first week in the company, digital onboarding offers numerous opportunities to integrate and train new employees. E-learning as part of the onboarding process enables the onboarded to continue their education technically, professionally, and personally – individually tailored to the respective learning goals. In this way, knowledge gaps can be closed at the beginning of the employment relationship, but personal strengths can also be discovered and developed.
Team-building measures in their digital version are not neglected either: since the beginning of the corona pandemic, there have been numerous creative suggestions for connecting employees digitally with one another. For example, virtual lunches with a randomly assigned colleague (‘mystery lunch’), virtual after-work events that create anticipation through food and drink packages sent in advance, or virtual puzzles together to escape a digital escape room are possible.
#7 Remote onboarding thrives on feedback and subsequent optimization
Digital onboarding thrives on being individually adapted and revised again and again – on the one hand, to incorporate new content, but on the other hand to integrate criticism and feedback from the onboarded into the process. It is therefore essential to offer the onboarded the opportunity to evaluate the ongoing – and completed – onboarding. This is the only way to guarantee that the digital onboarding is always up to date and works as error-free as possible. To make employee feedback comparable, you should send structured, digital questionnaires to the onboarded.
The Haufe study from 2020 shows that the feedback culture of digital onboarding in many companies can still be expanded: So far, only every second company (55 percent) uses the feedback from the onboarded to optimize remote training. In fact, 20 percent of the companies surveyed still work completely without structured feedback. So make sure you offer your employees the opportunity to evaluate the onboarding process anonymously in order to receive honest answers and fair criticism: What is going well? What’s going wrong? What could be better? Digital onboarding is not only a constantly evolving process for the new employee but also for the company itself.
Digital onboarding – conclusion
More and more, the world of life and work is shifting into the digital area – increasing globalization, asynchronous work, remote companies, and of course COVID-19 are driving the ‘digital shift’ further: New Work and Work 4.0 are the future. In the meantime, not only is the search for personnel often carried out online, but also the proportion of interviews with applicants, training, and everyday work in the home office is increasing.
With our seven tips for digital onboarding, you will succeed in training remotely without any problems. Even if you have to adapt structures and optimize processes at the beginning, you will quickly find that digital onboarding is a great opportunity – both for employees and for the company itself. It not only offers the onboarded more flexibility but also provides, thanks to automated processes and less expenditure of time and money, also represents a great advantage for the company.
Digital solutions make it possible to integrate new employees into the company quickly, effectively, and sustainably, even remotely – without sacrificing personal contact and team spirit. It is important that you always optimize your digital onboarding strategy and adapt it to the needs of your employees, because: The more professional the onboarding is, the more effectively you work and the longer you bind the new employee to the company.
