Onboarding checklist for remote employees

How to use the onboarding checklist

When a new person joins your team, onboarding is vital. A good first experience helps them feel they made the right choice, whereas a poor one can have the reverse effect.

For remote hires, a strong onboarding process matters even more. Lacking the chance to greet them in person and immerse them in your workplace, you must take extra care and adapt some practices.

An onboarding checklist helps here. It provides a template to deliver a consistent experience to every remote hire and makes the process scalable as the organisation expands.

Drawing on our experience onboarding staff at Remote, here are some key tasks and processes to focus on:

Set up introductory callsRemote employees can frequently feel more isolated than those in the office. As a result, you must make a greater effort to foster belonging and team cohesion. Informal gatherings aimed at building social ties tend to pay off, improving engagement, productivity, and retention. They also help new hires feel welcome and confident in seeking support.

To-dos:

• Arrange (or prompt your hire to arrange) one-to-one video calls with teammates and cross‑functional partners

• Organise informal, virtual team introductions, including coffee chats and happy hours,

  Or lunch meetings

• Assign a dedicated onboarding buddy to help your new employee settle in

• Share personality assessments or work‑style quizzes and discuss the results online as a team

• Encourage “personal shares”, where your new hire tells colleagues about their hobbies and background

Highlight key policiesDon’t simply hand over a hefty policy manual and leave it at that. Highlight policies especially relevant to remote workers, such as time off, expenses and equipment.

To-dos:

• Curate and distribute policy briefs, codes of conduct and training materials

• Run virtual sessions or record Loom videos to explain remote-specific policies, such as reimbursements for home-office expenses

• Make sure you explain relevant cybersecurity and digital-asset policies

• Set out the rules on information protection and data privacy

• Allow space for asynchronous discussion on policy interpretation for distributed teams

It’s wise to add self-service elements so the new hire can be onboarded at their own pace. If you do, consider providing a self-serve checklist for them to follow.

Explain tools and communication flowsRemote staff depend more on software and tools to collaborate and keep workflows moving. Without the chance to look over a colleague’s shoulder or ask quick questions in person, the new hire must become self-sufficient sooner.To help with that, explain the purpose of each tool they will use. Again, self-serve materials and user guides are the preferred approach.

To-dos:

• Produce guides for logging into key systems and accounts

• Demonstrate (asynchronously if necessary) how different tools integrate and function together

• Share how the new hire’s team uses project-management systems (if applicable)

Also explain how your communication channels operate, particularly if the hire has no prior remote experience.

To-dos:

• Set expectations for online hours and availability

• Give guidance on email, chat and meeting etiquette

• Explain norms around response times and the use of video

• Share best practices for calendar management

Clarify roles and personnelNew hires need to know the tasks they should be doing, who they will work with, and exactly what their duties are. Making clear the division between their responsibilities and those of colleagues will reduce confusion.Also set expectations for response times, meeting cadences and availability. For example, employees in the US typically begin their days much later than colleagues in Europe. If the hire will work closely with people in other time zones, explain how you will coordinate.To-dos:

• Outline regional versus centralised responsibilities

• Set expectations for response times and meetings and include them in the handbook and welcome emails

• Identify key regional contacts and stakeholders

Promote your company’s cultureFor remote workers, the subtleties of your company culture—unwritten rules, inside jokes and workplace rituals—are harder to pick up. Make sure the hire is brought up to speed from day one.

To-dos:

• Email new hires an employee handbook that explains the company’s culture, values and work environment

• Explain company terminology, acronyms and traditions

• Send remote workers company swag, such as shirts with slogans or statements of values

  Think beyond the first dayRemote staff have fewer environmental cues and natural touchpoints than office-based employees. For that reason, their onboarding needs a more structured approach with more frequent check-ins.For example, remote workers miss out on organic learning—overhearing conversations or impromptu peer mentoring—that happens in an office. A structured onboarding journey makes up for this.

To-dos:

• Set 30–, 60– and 90–day milestones and performance goals that enable new hires to own their development paths

• Schedule check-ins to review progress and any barriers the new hires face

• Provide training for any skills new hires need for the role, such as product knowledge

• Arrange for new employees to connect with a mentor about acclimating, strengths and development areas

• Regularly run engagement and onboarding satisfaction surveys

Use data

Without face-to-face interaction, it’s more difficult to notice nonverbal cues and sentiment. That makes it hard to judge whether onboarding materials resonate with remote staff. Remote managers may be more likely to make incorrect assumptions without data. Collecting data gives useful insight and reduces guesswork.

To-dos:

• Send weekly polls about experience, challenges and needs

• Use learning-management systems (LMSs) to track training completion rates

• Assess how long it takes new hires to become fully productive in their roles

• Gather feedback on new hires’ preferred methods of communication

Data fills the visibility gaps of remote work, helping ensure your onboarding process meets the needs of hires you do not meet face-to-face.

Why does the employment onboarding process matter so much?

A personalised and carefully planned onboarding process can help the new employee feel that they belong in several ways.

However, effective onboarding is more than a welcome pack or some branded swag. A good onboarding programme can:

• Foster meaningful working relationships that enhance engagement

• Create a strong cultural connection in new employees and help them feel more aligned with your business objectives

• Enable new employees to connect with your mission and vision, encouraging initiative rather than simply following orders.

Onboard remote hires with Remote

One way to guarantee a consistent, positive onboarding experience is to partner with an established global HR provider, such as Remote.

We handle all the administrative aspects of onboarding, and our self-serve platform lets your team access and submit what they need quickly and easily. That lets you concentrate on integrating the hire into your company culture and ensuring they hit the ground running.To find out how we can simplify onboarding — and manage and pay your team — speak to one of our friendly experts today.