Across the globe, work culture has undergone a tremendous change during the last few years. Half a decade ago, working from home would have been a distant dream, but the pandemic has made it a reality. Now employees and even companies have started to prefer virtual workplacesas it’s a win-win situationfor both. The emergence of the virtual workplace has provedto be an opportunity for entrepreneurs to build a global team of employees by recruiting from global talent hub.
In the virtual workplace, providing a smooth onboarding could be a challenge for organizations. In a physical office environment, new employees communicate directly withtheircoworkers to learn about the training process and the work culture. But it could not be possible for new employees onboarded virtually. This blog discusses some of the possible ways to embrace while onboarding a globally distributed team that enables the companies to give a better onboarding experience.
Customization
Customize the onboarding process to the individuals rather than following standardized practices. Good onboarding is not a one-day process, it could extend up to weeks or months. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey report, the effective onboarding exercise improves retention rate, time to productivity, and overall customer satisfaction.
A stretched onboarding process can give the employees enough time to get settled in their job. Rather than concentrating the procedures within HR, assigning them at the team level could increase the manager’s engagement with the new employees.
Extend the onboarding to more than a document verification process. For example, Netflix initiatesits onboarding process with an orientation programthat is primarily ongoing for the first quarter of the employees’ first year.
Assign Virtual Mentors
While onboarding a globally distributed team, mentoring is a key process that eases learning and training. Assigning a virtual partner could be useful to strengthen the communication within the team and build strong bonds between team members. Maintaining regular contact between teammates is necessary for increasingwork efficiency.
When the team is been spread across the globe, the chances of direct interactions are less. Working as partners can be useful to bridge this gap and improve the team spirit among the employees. The employees can be clear with their roles and job. This could also take off the burden on the managers in handling larger teams.
Schedule Regular Check-ins
Employee satisfaction is an important factor in today’s workplace culture. With a globally distributed team,regular check-ins with the employees are necessary to create a better work environment. At the end of the new joiners’ first week, HR or the managers should have a meeting to check whether they are having any grievances. Address any grievances at the earliest and the management should check in with the employees regularly.
Regular check-ins enable organizations to boost employee performance and growth. It creates a healthy work culture and provides a positive environment to perform. Companies focusing on employee welfare could develop an efficient global team. Communication is an essential part of managing a global team that could enhance productivity.
Create a social space
Working from remote locations can be liberating but at the same time, it can also isolate a person.Communicating company values to new hires and creating a positive work culture could be challenging in remote work. Hence, it is crucial for companies to create a social space for encouraging employees.
Organizing regular team or institution-wide meeting can keep employees engaged and involved. The meetings should have a scope forcasual talks and friendly conversations.
Companies can organize virtual team celebrations oran annual gathering. Such meetups are an opportunity to have fun and relieve from usual work stress.
Get Feedback
Constructive feedback is inevitable in creating a positive work environment, increasing productivity, and achieving growth. Regular inputs from employees are essential to improve the internal process.
In a physical environment, it is easy to garner feedback from the employees. But in remote work,assign asystematic approach to gather feedback. Utilize varioustools or applications to streamline the responses.
Collect information from employees through regular polls, surveys, questionnaires, or any innovative method. Update the company policies and processes according to the feedback.
Prepare for onboarding a global team
Globally distributed teams have become essential for enterprises to achieve their goals. Hiring a global team from the global talent hub has become an easy process with the growth of enterprises supporting distributed teams.Leveraging right toolsas well as policies are essential for the smooth onboarding and management of these teams. Inremote work culture, employees expect a virtual experience of the office environment. Rising to the expectations of the employees is more challenging than ever before and the time has come for companies to raise the bars. As mentioned above customized onboarding, regular communication, working in pairs and using the feedback to improve internal processes would empower organizations to provide a great onboarding experience.
