How to onboard new virtual team members
This 5-step guide shows you how assigning a "virtual buddy" to virtual team members will help virtual employees to communicate and function effectively as a high-performing team.
by Chris Gay, CEO, Bridge Consulting
To help solidify a positive relationship between the manager and employee, ideally, their first meeting will be a face-to-face visit at the manager's location.
This will introduce the employee to their corporate base environment, helping him or her better understand how the company functions and its culture.
1. Have a first face-to-face employee/manager meeting
The following should take place in the new employee's first face-to-face meeting with the manager:
- Welcome the employee to the team.
- Provide a tour of the home office, regional or corporate facility.
- Review the team mission, purpose, charter and objectives.
- Review the roles and accountabilities for the new team member.
- Introduce the new employee to other team members.
- Introduce and provide profiles of customers and partners – on and off the team.
- Review communication protocols and meeting schedules.
- Ensure that the employee has the appropriate technology and understands its use.
- Discuss best practices and lessons learned on the team.
- Review formats, processes and tools that are unique to the team.
- Assign a virtual buddy or partner.
- Take the new employee to lunch, or arrange for some informal time when any team members is in the manager's location.
If you take the right steps to form, build and manage the group, virtual employees can function as high-performing teams.
2. Assign the new employee a virtual buddy
A new employee's first meeting with the virtual buddy, which should be held within the first week, should include the following:
- Introductions and some time spent getting to know each other.
- Overview of each team member's background and role on the team.
- Additional information on internal and external customers.
- Overview of the team norms and culture.
- Review of technology, including training as needed.
- Clarification of how the new employee will be introduced to the entire team.
- Overview of knowledge sharing, document-management protocols, etc.
- Opportunity for the new employees to ask questions.
3. Arrange a follow-up call from the manager
A follow-up call from the manager a week after the new employee's first buddy meeting should include:
- A general check-in on how things are going.
- Conversation for the manager and team member to further get to know each other personally.
- A check-in on the employee's initial meeting with the virtual buddy and any outstanding questions the new employee may have.
- Clarification and questions on the team member's roles and accountabilities.
- Time for the employee to ask any general questions.
4. Hold a second meeting with the virtual buddy
The second meeting with the virtual buddy, which should take place 2 weeks after the new employee joins the team, should include:
- Review of the first 2 weeks and identification and resolution of general questions and issues about the work of the team.
- Feedback and questions on team norms.
- Clarification of the roles of other team members.
5. Hold regular follow-up meetings
The manager and the virtual buddy should check in with the employee at least weekly for the first 3 months to ensure that things are going well and to answer any questions or resolve any issues.
If you take the right steps to form, build and manage the group, virtual employees can function within high-performing teams as people who are very engaged in making key contributions to the organization's marketplace success.
Have your say
How you can help managers understand the importance of onboarding and get them to commit time now, so they don’t have to spend time later hiring someone new when the person leaves?
What solutions do you have for making the connection between onboarding and retention, so the manager understands the business value? What other methods could help onboard a new virtual team member successfully. Please let us know your thoughts on this below.
This article is an extract from Melcrum's short report, How to create, manage and
engage a virtual team.
Recommended resources:
New Melcrum report: How to create, manage and engage a virtual team
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