According to Upwork’s Future Workforce Survey, 58% of businesses expect to fully transition into remote working within the next 5 years. In practice, onboarding remote workers seamlessly can be quite challenging. The common barriers revolve around communication, rapport-building, and technology. The good news, however, is that you can avoid these pitfalls and build a close-knit and productive team.

These 5 tips will help you onboard remote workers, successfully:

Prepare your team

As you onboard new remote employees, it is paramount to take the pressure off their shoulders. Therefore, prepare your team to give them a warm welcome and be supportive. It all starts with effective communication. Talk to your staff and give them details of their new colleague, including their job position and start date.

Set up tech in advance

Ensure that all pieces of tech equipment a new remote member of your staff will need are ready and available. An incoming employee should not have to deal with IT problems. IT issues can slow production and prove difficult to solve remotely. For a quick and smooth introduction process, offer the necessary IT support that the new colleague requires.

It is important to have the tech equipment delivered to the remote worker early. Familiarizing the new hire with the systems will help them adapt quickly. Provide any form of authorization they may need to access the company’s platform.

Have an onboarding plan

You need a robust but straightforward onboarding plan for your remote worker. Think of it as a road map to guide your new hire for the next few months. It should have clear milestones of what the new member should learn within the designated time. This lets your employees know what you expect from them and will act as a form of motivation and set them up for early job success.

Plan regular one-on-one meetings

Establishing and maintaining a rapport with remote team members can be daunting. Nevertheless, communicating with them regularly helps to bridge the gap and form a close-knit team. It contributes to the success of the onboarding process immensely. At such meetings you can discuss the everyday challenges your staff members could be facing.

Encourage your team of remote workers to interact

People who work remotely for the same company may feel like strangers if they do not meet. For that reason, consider building healthy working relationships. You can achieve this by organizing formal and informal meetings for your team. During the formal meetings, they can discuss work-related issues. Other, more informal gatherings can be over lunch or coffee to encourage a more relaxed form of interaction. These meetings will help employees to relate better with one another. When they get along, they’ll work more harmoniously and productively.

A successful remote worker’s onboarding journey starts with the right IT systems. At SingularisIT, we provide a comprehensive Remote Desktop as a Service (RDaaS) platform to help your employees work remotely with no issues. Our SingularisIT CloudStations make work easier because all tools your workers need are under one roof. With a simple log-in, they access all their files and other work-related material. The best part is that they can do this from any device and location, so long as internet connectivity is available. Contact us through our website for the best IT service solutions for your business.