New Hire Onboarding Tips

New hire onboarding tips written for an office assume incidental contact. Someone overhears a question and answers it. A person is introduced at the coffee machine. A remote starter gets none of that, and the gap has to be closed deliberately.

Four things carry most of it. Schedule the introductions individually rather than in one large call, because a grid of twenty faces teaches nobody anything. Give the person a standing invitation to a short daily check-in for the first fortnight, so asking is not an interruption. Send equipment early enough to be tested before day one, not on day one. And write down the unwritten things, since in an office people absorb them and remotely they never do.

For hybrid teams, make sure the first few days include a day when the manager is actually in the same place.

The Fair Work Ombudsman covers employment obligations. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s onboarding management system and managing remote teams course.