What is Virtual Onboarding and How To Do It Right?

What is Virtual Onboarding?

Virtual onboarding is the practice of remotely accommodating new hires into the organization. Covid brought about a new landscape in the world of hiring. As offices closed and remote work became a norm, HR departments faced new challenges. With no viable alternative to accommodate new hires, HR departments turned to an unconventional method of virtual onboarding.

As with other professions, the developer onboarding needs to be meticulously designed. Starting a new job can be a daunting experience. New hires find it hard to fit into their new workplace, just as Vice President of HR at General Electric notes:

‘Oftentimes the lack of robust…assimilation process leaves the new employee confused and disoriented.’

So, the virtual onboarding process ensures that this transition is smooth and efficient. This helps maintain employee enthusiasm and engagement throughout the process. 

The Goal of Virtual Onboarding

The primary goal of virtual onboarding is to provide a more flexible initial experience. New hires are relieved from the obligation of being physically present. As an engineering manager, you must ensure your new hires are at ease every step of the way. Virtual onboarding ensures employee satisfaction and retention by providing the requisite training, essential guidelines, and vital resources for a smooth transition into the new dev team.

Benefits of Virtual Onboarding  

Virtual onboarding is designed to be adaptable. For this reason, it can easily accommodate issues such as inter-city travel, in-office orientations, or even different time zones. In this digital age where remote work has become increasingly prevalent, virtual onboarding emerges as a versatile solution offering a range of benefits:

1. Flexibility

2. Scalability

3. Cost Efficiency 

Flexibility 

The key benefit of virtual onboarding is the flexibility it provides new employees. By eliminating the necessity of in-person attendance, people can join the organization from anywhere in the world. Virtual onboarding facilitates the hiring of geographically dispersed new talent. 

For example, a tech start-up in Silicon Valley can hire a software engineer from Lahore without countering issues such as providing accommodation, paying for airfare, and dealing with complex visa processes. This way the start-up can further enrich the company's culture with a rich tapestry of diversity and inclusivity. 

Scalability 

Virtual onboarding paves the way for scalability within organizations. As the orientation would be held online, there is no need to arrange a separate room to accommodate the new hires. This agility allows organizations to expand exponentially without the constraint of catering to many employees within the building. 

For example: Hubspot is a global company that leveraged virtual onboarding to scale its workforce during COVID-19.  

Cost Efficiency

Virtual onboarding is cost-effective, both for the employer and employee. Given that there is no requirement to be physically present and living in an era where travel costs have skyrocketed, new employees need not surmount obstacles to join the new company. They can simply become a part of remote teams. At the same time, organizations do not need more office space to accommodate new hires.  

We have compiled a list of the key differences between onsite and virtual onboarding. 

Best Virtual Onboarding Practices 

For the virtual onboarding of the new developers, there is no strict standard. The onboarding process varies across organizations depending on factors such as company vision, values, and mission. We have assembled a list of best practices. 

• Obtain Required Documents

• Send off the Preboarding Package

• Trust Building exercises

• Routine Meetings for Effective Communication

• Define Goals and Expectations

Obtain Required Documents

One of the mandatory requirements for new developers in the process of virtual onboarding is the submission of necessary documents. The required documents may vary, the list generally covers:

1. Record of Home Address

2. State Tax Form 

3. Disability Form (if applicable)

Send off the Preboarding Package

It is crucial to make a strong impression of the organization on the new employees. For this purpose, HR departments should ensure that new hires receive a preboarding package. These packages typically cover job descriptions, training material, employment contracts, handbooks, and company merchandise. This guarantees that the new developers are fully equipped with the necessary documents and a sense of belonging to the organization.  

Trust Building Exercises

For many developers, nerves tend to be all over the place on the first day at a new company. To ease new hires into their roles and company culture, organizing sessions for trust-building exercises is a good idea. These sessions between the new hires, their managers, and other developers on the team prove fruitful in fostering a culture of team collaboration and a positive work environment.  

Routine Meetings for Effective Communication

Effective virtual onboarding extends beyond simple orientation. It requires managers to construct and follow through a set schedule of routine meetings with the new developers to promote collaboration across projects. Dr. James Stanier, Director of Engineering at Shopify, shares his virtual onboarding scale at Shopify and emphasizes ‘good mentorship’ that goes beyond the onboarding phase for the very reason of comradeship that cultivates among remote teams. 

Define Goals and Expectations

Once the employees are settled in their respective roles, they must communicate the goals and expectations they will be responsible for within the dev team. This not only allows new developers to address any concerns or queries they may have but also enables managers to assess the developers and gain a comprehensive understanding of their set skills and potential in view of the entire team.    

Conclusion

Virtual onboarding has been revolutionary in the last few years. The process that initially required full-fledged planning, time, and resources has now been shifted to an online setting. As an efficient process, virtual onboarding streamlines the process without the complications involved in onsite onboarding. A smooth virtual onboarding process sets the company up for long-term success with its new developers. 

Curious to know how Google improved developer onboarding productivity? Read on!