Onboarding new hires in the new virtual world of work will take more time. Getting to know an organization’s culture virtually will take longer for new hires, the beliefs and behaviors exhibited by employees in an organization without physical presence presents challenges when it comes to “getting” the organizational culture. Onboarding is beyond enrolling in compliance training and benefit programs. New hires must feel welcomed and valued. The cost of a new hire goes well beyond salary and benefits, the pre-costs to get the new hire onboard, from finalizing and advertising the job opportunity, talent acquisition professionals’ time whether in recruiting, reviewing resumes, coordination of interviews, background and reference checks and the time to take assessments which are increasingly on the rise. A robust onboarding program of between 6 to 12 months will help keep new hires:

FOR MANAGER/SUPERVISOR 

· Welcome and announce new hire on first day - picture and short bio and virtual face to face welcome to the team.

· Discuss ground rules to work/communicate together (frequency/ways) in new virtual space.

· Create support network:

o Assign a peer buddy, the person who you ask all those questions like who is  WK? Only to learn that is your new manager,  because the person does not use their formal name inhouse!

o Assign a mentor to help new hire learn the new job and have a go to person.

o Identify the network/people in and beyond business area who will play a role in helping new hire deliver work program. 

· Agree on what success will look like and performance expectations.

FOR NEW HIRE 

· On New Hire announcement share something personal in your bio, for example you are an avid gardener, hiker, gamer, cinephile this will help you connect with like-minded co-workers or at the minimum let them know who you are beyond work.

· Review the job content and how it relates to business and corporate objectives.

· Identify key deliverables and work objectives for the next 6-12 months.

· Agree on what success will look like and performance expectations.

· Listen, look, learn and if and when possible volunteer on projects.

When it comes to onboarding new people to quote from the late Maya Angelou “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

The human touch is the most important part of onboarding new hires