Small-biz tip: How to onboard a remote employee

November 13, 2024

By Kim Komando

If you’re a small business owner, onboarding a new employee virtually can be a huge undertaking. Taking a new hire out to lunch, giving them a tour of the office and introducing them to coworkers is often an integral part of the experience, but that might not be possible if you hire remote employees.

We went to the experts on hiring for answers, our sponsor LinkedIn. Read on to learn about hiring virtually and leaving your new team member with a great first impression.

1. Before they start

The pros at LinkedIn split successful onboarding into six phases. The first isn’t after your new hire has already come on board but about two weeks before they begin. Here’s what you should do before your new employee’s first day:

• Share a schedule for the employee’s first day with them.
• Explain everything they need to know about your business’s guidelines for virtual meetings, such as whether video is required and how many to expect.
• Be sure they have access to whatever hardware and software are required for their role.

2. First day

Two weeks later, the paperwork is signed and your new employee is ready. Here’s what you should do on their actual first day of work:

• Don’t overload your new employee! Treat the first day as an overview of what’s to come.
• Your employee’s first day isn’t a workday. It’s a learning experience.
• By the end of the first day, they should be ready to get to work for the rest of the week.

3. Second day

Here’s what you should do on your new employee’s second day of work:

• Let your employee get to know you, or their direct superior, as a manager and boss. Schedule one-on-one time to get to know each other and outline key expectations.
• This is also an excellent time to check in and see if they have questions about the onboarding or training processes.

4. First week

Two days down. Now what? Here’s how the rest of the first week should play out:

• Don’t start a new hire off with an easy assignment.
• Give them a challenging first assignment that represents the average workload. This will help make the first week feel like work, not a prolonged introduction.

5. First month

After a week, your new hire will have a good feel for the job. Here’s what you should focus on during the first month:

• Once they understand what’s expected and how to achieve it, it’s important to provide regular feedback on their job performance.
• Make sure to establish concrete performance goals that will be later covered during employee reviews.
• Consider assigning your new employee a formal mentor, usually a more senior member of the team who can help guide and instruct them.

6. Month two and beyond

And what happens after that first month? Onboarding doesn’t have a firm endpoint, and everyone is different regarding how long it takes to acclimate to a new environment. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind:

• Experts generally agree getting up to speed at a new company can take anywhere from 6 months to a whole year.
• Talk to your new employee and get feedback on the onboarding process you can use to improve it further.

Even in the office onboarding can feel stressful, but we hope this quick guide helps you get started. Starting with hiring, bringing on a new employee can be time-consuming and expensive.

It doesn’t have to be, though! We’re not talking about free job boards. You’ll end up with an inbox full of resumes that don’t fit the role you’re hiring for. That’s why we use LinkedIn at Komando HQ.

Right now, visit LinkedIn.com/Kim and get $50 off your first job post.