5 Tips to Announce a New Remote Worker

Hiring a new member for your remote team can be an exciting time. Having a new person join your remote team can be a big deal, and you want to make sure they can fit in with the rest of the team as soon as possible. The first day at a new company would typically include some nervousness, eager introductions, and familiarization with the new office surroundings in a physical setting.

Your new employee’s office could also serve as their dining room or living room when it comes to remote working. They are alone in a room rather than surrounded by their new colleagues. While onboarding a new employee is far easier in an office setting, it is not impossible for remote employees. Team members can now stay in touch with each other from the start, no matter how far apart they are geographically.

You must ensure that your new remote employee is welcomed into the team as an employer. When your company is spread across the country or even the globe, you must consider the best ways to welcome a new team member. Seamlessly welcoming a new team member has its advantages, so make sure you have some of the most effective methods for welcoming new employees ready.

In this article, we will discuss some of the most effective ways to welcome new remote workers to your team.

1-Create a remote onboarding procedure

You should have a plan for your new remote worker’s virtual arrival and develop a process to help unite them within the organization and get them up to speed on their duties from the first day. A week or two before their first day, work with your HR and manager to develop a comprehensive onboarding plan and review it with the rest of your team to assign training tasks.

Take the time to inform team members about what is expected of them in terms of the new remote work responsibilities and how their role may impact the new hire’s overall performance.

2-Create some excitement

Clear your calendar for meetings on the date of your new remote worker’s first day. As an employer, it is your responsibility to make your new team member feel welcome. If you’ve decided to join a video call to kick off your new remote worker’s day off, make sure you arrive with a spring in your step and a warm smile.

Once you’ve completed the steps in your first-day onboarding plan, have everyone on your team greet their new team member via a group welcome on your chat app, such as Slack. Encourage your current team members to join in the fun and share some information about themselves.

You could even initiate some icebreaker activities to help the new employee become acquainted with the rest of the team. Icebreakers are great for getting past those awkward questions and allowing everyone to have a good time while learning about the new employee. Games like “Would you rather?” are particularly effective at fostering employee teamwork.

Finally, you can post a quick video welcoming the new member on your company’s social media page or use YouTube video editing software. This also gives the impression that your company is a fun, community-oriented workplace.

3-Company-wide video conference

Having people greet you via a messaging app or email is one thing. It’s an entirely different experience when you can put a face to the names that have greeted you. Consider scheduling a video call with your team to welcome the new hire. Set aside some time for a company-wide video call so that new remote workers can introduce themselves and be introduced to the rest of the team.

This allows your new remote worker to put a face and a personality behind the names they’ll be hearing, which is important as they begin to collaborate with the rest of the team.

If scheduling a company-wide video call is too difficult for any reason, or if your company is too large, schedule smaller team calls. As a result, your new employee will be introduced to all of the important people they will interact with regularly as part of their job. Such gestures can go a long way toward making your new remote worker feel welcome and a part of the team.

4-Send them a swag package

Consider sending your new remote worker a swag package to their home before they start their first day at work if you have the option. You can send them anything that will make them feel at ease and won’t cost you too much money. Consider branded self-care items or items suitable for home office life, such as slippers with the company logo and a note indicating that it is suitable for office use.

You could also send them branded items for the employees’ children or family members, which would benefit from cheering up the entire household. Encourage physical activity by including branded fitness gear or water bottles that promote health and well-being in your swag packages.

Branded tech accessories, such as power banks or portable chargers, are always useful to have on hand when doing housework. Your remote worker may decide to change their location from time to time. Having one of these on hand could allow them to have a backup set for these situations.

5-Set up icebreaker games

If you are not careful, having remote colleagues can cause a work environment to become all business and no play. Employees must take time to enjoy each other’s company to perform at their best. An icebreaker game with the rest of the team is a great way to ensure that your remote worker gets to know everyone.

There are numerous icebreaker games that your employees can participate in, ranging from simple guessing games to card games and so on. The goal is to ease your new employee into the company and make your team comfortable with the new remote worker. This should ensure that everyone can properly bond with and welcome the new employee into the company and team.

In conclusion

Welcoming new remote workers into your company does not have to be difficult. While you should plan ahead of time, all you need to do is a few basic things to make them feel welcome on the team. Ensure everyone on the team is in the process of a more seamless transition greeting. Just make sure you set everything up correctly, and you’ll have a new employee who is excited to join your team in no time. Get in touch with us here to learn more!

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