A Startup’s Guide to Remote-First Onboarding

Key Takeaways

Remote-first onboarding requires deliberate structure to replace informal, in-office learning.
Clear tools, paced live-sessions, and early relationship-building improve retention and productivity.
Strong onboarding reinforces company culture by showing how teams work, not just stating values.

The onboarding experience can make or break a new hire’s trajectory. Onboarding a new employee should be a full introduction to how your company communicates and functions.

Now that the world is turning into a remote-first workforce, remote onboarding tools are becoming more and more essential. Without in-person interaction or the opportunities for new hires to physically observe and immerse themselves in your business, it is vital to get your remote onboarding right.

On top of this, your onboarding process can impact recruitment. Top talent will naturally gravitate towards leading remote-first teams.

SafeGraph is an entirely remote company, with employees spread across North America.

5 Reasons Why a Strong Onboarding Process is Essential

A good remote onboarding process is crucial for a variety of reasons, including:

Employee morale – No new hire wants to feel like they are alone or without guidance in their new position. In a remote-first environment, it is even more important to go above and beyond by personalizing each new employee’s experience.
Camaraderie – Trust is critical to the success of any team. Remote-first companies can find it hard to build relationships, especially in a new hire’s early days. The right onboarding tools can facilitate camaraderie by building trust.
Employee retention – A study by The Wynhurst Group showed that 22% of staff turnover happens in the first 45 days of signing an offer letter. Fail your employees with a poor onboarding process and you risk losing them. Employees who had a positive onboarding experience were 58% more likely to stay with the company after 3 years.
Maximizing productivity – Onboarding new hires effectively will allow them to be better at their jobs, sooner.
Company culture – Growing a culture within a remote-first team is difficult, but crucial. A standout remote onboarding process will not only tell new hires what the company’s values are, but also show them by leading examples.

4 Tools for Successful Remote Onboarding

There are a ton of tools out there that are worth considering once you hit 50-100 employees, but many of these tools require a lot of time to build out and an internal IT admin to assist.

Below are tools that will help you optimize your remote-first onboarding process, especially for companies under 100 employees. They take little-to-no-time to set up and require no IT admin or knowledge.

Fleetsmith – Remote Computer Management – Most companies do not hire an internal IT admin until they have reached around 300 employees. IT support is really expensive and in a nimble startup, there often aren’t enough IT tickets to help justify paying for a full-time employee. Finding tools that require no IT background to set-up is hard; however, for remote-first startups, it is worth it. Fleetsmith is one of the diamonds in the rough. The tool took only one hour to set up and distribute across our entire company. We now can manage all computers and remotely delete computers when needed. No IT background or IT knowledge is needed to set-up, manage, distribute, or use Fleetsmith.
Notion – Internal Company Wiki – Notion is a user friendly tool to use as a company wiki (amongst many other uses). A company wiki holds all internal information and processes that help new employees learn how their team and company function. It also helps them to stay up-to-date on new processes as they form. In a future post, we will dive into how to create and maintain transparent communication through a company wiki or intranet. Notion requires no training to find, access, and input data.
SafeGraph’s wiki scavenger hunt. A week before the new hire starts, we send out a fun interactive wiki scavenger hunt.
Donut Onboarding – Automate Onboarding Introductions – Donut allows you to automate onboarding intros and send reminders directly through Slack. On a new hire’s first day, you can sit back and relax knowing the new hire is connected to the right people.
Asana – Tracking Tool for Admins and New Hires – Asana can be utilized quickly and easily as a pre-onboarding tracking tool for both admins and new hires. When onboarding remotely, it is important to stay organized and create a straightforward process for your new hires.

3 Tips for Live Onboarding Sessions

In the age of remote work, new hires expect some form of back-to-back virtual onboarding sessions to learn about the company, team processes, and meet their coworkers. Here are our guidelines for onboarding meetings:

Limit to a maximum of 5 hours of onboarding meetings per day – This prevents new hires from ending their day burnt out and in a bad mood.
Only one of the 5 hours per day should be spent in onboarding meetings outside of the new hire’s department – This leaves room for the new hire to connect with their direct department by leaving space for team members to add spontaneous calls or social events to their calendar.
No more than 1.5 hours of back-to-back meetings before a meeting break – This allows all new hires to process what they just learned in their meetings and prep for the next round.

4 Golden Rules of Onboarding

Don’t overload new hires – There’s a lot to learn, so break it down into bite-sized chunks.
Team up – A “buddy program” can help convey aspects of company culture that are hard to write down.
Set up regular one-to-one meetings with anyone required.
Get feedback on your onboarding process – Always ask for feedback from people once they’ve completed their onboarding.

For some companies, becoming remote-first has been a huge transition. We hope that sharing this knowledge helps startups that are transitioning into becoming a remote-first workforce.

The good news is that remote onboarding doesn’t have to be too painful or complex.