Wow your new recruits with a thoughtfully structured remote onboarding program that sets them up for success. Read on to learn how to make your new hires feel welcomed, empowered, and included right from the very start – even when you can’t do it in person.

Why is remote onboarding important?

Great onboarding should be a key part of every company’s employer branding, retention, and strategic recruitment strategies. Successful remote onboarding can turbo-charge employee engagement right from the get-go, help new staff be productive more quickly, and minimize the risk of employee churn. With a growing number of Delta variant COVID-19 cases across the country, it has never been more important for employers to reimagine onboarding programs for the virtual or hybrid future.

What does great remote onboarding look like?

Remote onboarding is about making your new hire feel informed, connected, and cared for while giving them the tools and support they need to do their job. Getting it right is a team effort, with a structured strategy for HR, IT, line managers, and team members working seamlessly to deliver a great experience.

Start early

A good onboarding process starts well before the first day. This is especially true in today’s compressed labor market, where an oversupply of jobs means candidates are increasingly ghosting employers. Why not let them know you can’t wait to have them by sending a branded goodie bag before their first day? And have your CEO, department head, or your new start’s immediate team record a video message that makes them feel a part of things from the get-go. New hires starting remotely will be missing out on all those off-the-cuff interactions and in-person lunches that usually help break the ice. You’ll need to get creative and leverage technology to simulate in-person experiences if you’re to set the right tone for your distributed team to hit it off from the start.

Keep it human

All too often, onboarding programs – whether remote or in-person – focus on ramping people up to start delivering, rather than making them feel like a valued new team member. What workplace communities do you have that might interest them? Perhaps a sports club, a women’s chapter, or an ally network for LGBTQ+ employees or people of color? Make it clear that your workplace is somewhere they can be themselves. Be careful to acknowledge that some workers, like parents or people in different time zones, might face additional hurdles around remote working. Like most aspects of finding, recruiting, and retaining employees, a great onboarding program starts with getting to know America’s workers.

Make ‘Day 1’ matter

Ensure that the all-important first day is well-structured, with video conferences scheduled to get to know their manager and new team. A virtual tour of head office, introducing the people they’ll be working with, can help too. Include space for informal, more personal chat, while ensuring that expectations are clear around their job role, working hours, and managing their workload. At the same time, it’s important not to overwhelm them. New hires can quickly feel lost because they’re uncomfortable about bombarding their manager with questions while they’re trying to create a good impression. It’s a good idea to assign a ‘buddy’ who can help with the practical realities, which can be hard to grasp remotely. At the end of the first day, check in on how they’re doing.

Get the technology right

This one should be obvious, but it’s hard to overstate the importance of making sure new hires have the right tech, and are set up with all the software, access rights, and accessories they need. Send out equipment, including detailed how-to-guides, early (remember that deliveries can take longer during the pandemic). Arrange training for your employees around all the apps and systems your teams use. Pay special attention to employees who may need a bit of extra help – especially those who may have been left out of the workforce during the pandemic. As many as 25% of US workers will be using collaboration tools for the first time. Don’t let technology slow them down in contributing their unique strengths.

Up the communication ante

Don’t assume that the communication cadence you designed for in-person onboarding will work virtually. Remote new hires will miss out on so many informal conversations and observations around the office that would have helped them feel their way in those vital first few weeks. You’ll need to communicate more regularly, at carefully planned out milestones, and on a spontaneous, ongoing basis. This way, your new hire will have the interaction they need to keep from blowing off course. Encourage distributed communication by asking other team members to include your new hire in virtual coffee breaks, lunches, or even after-work drinks.

Remote onboarding can be tricky, but with the right strategy and great teamwork you can create an outstanding experience for your new recruits.

Learn more about managing your remote workforce, from keeping your employees engaged to supporting younger employees who may be struggling to start their careers remotely. And you can find more top tips on retaining top talent with our 6 Retention Strategies.

temporary staffing agencies in phoenix, az

The post Remote onboarding: How to make it work for everyone appeared first on Paragon Strategic Staffing.

COVID-19 has upended many of the barriers to remote work. A recent Gallup survey found that seven in 10 US white-collar workers are still working remotely over a year into the pandemic. Most of them say they would like to stay remote, or adopt a hybrid working model, and would consider switching jobs if they were forced to come back to the office full-time.

Delivering an outstanding employee experience that keeps your distributed workforce engaged has never been more crucial. And that means establishing the right guardrails and supports for every employee.

Here are our top tips on managing happy, productive, and successful remote teams:

Don’t let physical distance turn into emotional distance

Successful long-term remote or hybrid working requires effective leadership. Up to 70% of employee engagement can be attributed to managers, while feelings of isolation can reduce performance by up to 20%. The fix can be as simple as making sure your team meets more often. A morning stand-up might be enough when you’re all co-located, but remote workers can easily get out of sync. Incorporating a second brief stand-up in the afternoon can help.

Get creative with technology

These days, great leaders use technology to set the scene for serendipitous encounters between colleagues online. Keep spirits up with innovative new engagement hacks like virtual water coolers, camera filters for virtual party hats, or randomly selected lunch buddies. They can also help promote inclusion, especially for newer or younger team members who haven’t built strong networks yet. Digital awards and certificates and Kudos channels are great ways to celebrate wins and recognize good work virtually. Explore new video messaging and other tools that can offer a more personal method of communication for when calendars won’t line up across distributed geographies.

Share a compelling remote working vision

Most companies haven’t communicated a vision for post-pandemic work to their employees. This lack of clarity about what the future might hold can leave employees feeling stressed, anxious, and even more burnt out. Build a remote/hybrid work playbook, with troubleshooting guidance and direction around future company strategy. If you don’t know something yet, then say you don’t. But don’t leave it to chance, or your employee experience will suffer.

Humanize the remote employee experience

Days spent staring at a screen at home can be exhausting and isolating. Managers can keep up energy levels by injecting a bit of fun into the working day. How about a team stretch during the daily stand-up? Or why not kick-off meetings by introducing potential interrupters, like children, pets, and partners? And, at the end of each busy week, a Friday unplugging ritual can help employees know it’s time to switch off and focus on their away-from-work passions. You can even introduce gamification into your remote workforce.

Reframe the office as the new offsite

The past year’s great work from home experiment taught us that it doesn’t always make sense for workers to travel to the office. Forward-thinking leaders will use this time as an opportunity to strengthen employee culture. This might involve reimagining offices as spaces for increased collaboration, where workers can safely come together to collaborate, learn, socialize, and grow. Providing catering to encourage chance interactions is another proven technique. When the time is right to welcome your people back to the office, read our overview of safe working practices.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have worked with customers to navigate remote workforce solutions, including how to onboard new hires remotely.

For more insights on delivering a great remote employee experience, download the recent whitepaper on How to make remote work, work for everyone from our parent company, The Adecco Group. And join us for ‘Resetting Normal,’ an online panel discussion on how our working world is changing, on September the 2nd at 8:30 ET? Register here to attend.

temporary staffing agencies in phoenix, az

The post Unite your scattered workforce: Our tips on managing remote teams appeared first on Paragon Strategic Staffing.

It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the job market for good. Remote hiring, a shrinking labor force, and a lack of candidates are just a few of the big changes that are affecting companies all over the US.

You might be wondering how organizations are having a hard time finding candidates if unemployment is high. The causes of this are hard to understand, but by looking at Adecco partner businesses, we found some interesting answers.

Candidate Ghosting

When a candidate suddenly stops communicating at some point during the hiring process, this is called ghosting. Despite unemployment being high, candidate ghosting is a big problem for employers in 2021. This behavior among candidates has been on the rise for a few years, partly due to recruiters communicating poorly and having long hiring processes.

Since the job market started recovering at the end of 2020, ghosting appears to have become even more common. This could be due to candidates feeling reluctant to take jobs that require in-person work rather than remote roles. Government COVID-19 aid may also be impacting recruitment efforts, with a 50% increase in candidate ghosting and a 26% increase in first-day no-shows believed to be linked to the stimulus package.

With some households receiving up to $38,400 in aid, it’s easy to see why candidates aren’t in a rush to get back to work. As stimulus incentives expire, organizations may find it easier to recruit new people.

Why Wages Matter

To attract more applicants and keep candidates interested, companies will likely need to raise wages. The Adecco USA team worked with a well-known athletic apparel brand to improve their chances of finding and hiring the right people. By focusing on employee wages, they were able to get back on track with their recruitment needs.

Increasing hourly pay by $4 or $5.50 resulted in 261% more applicants, a 70% fill rate increase, and a 50% drop in early turnover.

As the pandemic continues and the future of the job market remains uncertain, employers should focus on raising wages and improving their hiring process. At Adecco, we’re experts at all of the above. To learn more about how we help businesses like yours thrive, click here!

The post The Battle for Candidates: Why Employers Are Struggling to Hire Talent In 2021 appeared first on Adecco Staffing, USA Blog.

temporary staffing agencies in phoenix, az

The post The Battle for Candidates: Why Employers Are Struggling to Hire Talent In 2021 appeared first on Paragon Strategic Staffing.