Digital onboarding: welcome new employees online
As a company you want to give new colleagues a good start. Onboarding is a crucial step in the successful integration of new employees. We want the newcomers to immediately feel 'part of the team'. During this induction period, the foundation is also laid for a sustainable and motivating employer-employee relationship.
What if this onboarding has to be done remotely? How do you create a group feeling and connection with the (new) colleagues? Online onboarding is a challenge. But with a well designed digital onboarding program you can make new employees feel at home in their new job. And that not only makes the colleagues happy, but also the whole company.
Creating a sense of belonging
This is perhaps the most difficult part of the digital onboarding process. New employees can easily feel isolated and the distance makes it more difficult to really belong to a team. The company culture is effortlessly conveyed when new employees are in the office and can socialize with their colleagues. But how do you communicate the professional and social values and corporate culture from a distance?
For example, it is very important to regularly check whether everything is going well and to let the new employees know where they can go for feedback or to ask questions. It is also very important to encourage them to work together with other team members to stimulate team spirit. Promoting virtual meetings, such as online coffee breaks, are also a strong binder.
Digital networking as an icebreaker
Networking is an important onboarding tool. Therefore, digital speed dating can be the ideal icebreaker to speed up the contact and integration of newcomers. It is a perfect teambuilding session: an excellent opportunity to meet each other and to forge strong bonds with colleagues.
Even the more shy or introverted employee feels comfortable with this onboarding activity. Through breakout rooms you let participants interact for a few minutes and introduce themselves. Just long enough to make contact and discover any common interests and short enough to keep everyone comfortable.
We developed this success formula (also excellent for larger groups) for several of our clients:
- Welcome by the CEO or HR responsible
- Networking through online speed dating as an inspiring onboarding activity (supervised by an experienced facilitator)
- Integration of your branding, vision & corporate culture and inspiring video snacks for the participants.
In these times digital onboarding is an important step to give new employees a warm welcome. In addition, it allows companies to continue recruiting without having to postpone the onboarding process.
Want to know more? Contact us!
