Remote Employee - Onboarding Checklist

Structured onboarding is equally important to remote workers so this HR checklist is the perfect way to get them ready for their first day on the job.

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How to onboard remote employees

Ship/hand out IT hardware, computers, phones, and manuals. Confirm they have received all the necessary equipment for their work and ask your IT department to assist them with setup. Some essentials may include:

Laptop
Mouse
Keyboard
Phone
External hard drive

Gift new hires company swag. You can include:

Branded merchandise, like a coffee mug or T-shirt
A welcome letter or note from their team or your CEO
Personalized gifts a book or gift cards to local cafes

Help new remote employees complete HR paperwork. Use an e-signature tool, like HelloSign or DocuSign, when possible.

Get them up to speed on your company culture, including:

Employee handbook
Any presentations or literature on your company values
Pictures and videos from training, meetings, or company events

Run through communication tools. Also, help them set up:

Company email
Group messaging tool
Video conference software

Have hiring managers go over specific goals and expectations. They should also:

Develop and share a task calendar to get started after onboarding
Define short-term and long-term goals
Schedule weekly one-on-one meetings to discuss upcoming projects, progress and resolve potential issues

Set up meetings with their team members and other key employees, so remote employees meet:

Coworkers
Manager and direct reports
Employees from other departments they’ll work closely with

Arrange role-specific training:

Use interactive training courses that are user-friendly
Record product demos to better explain features through video
Follow up after each training session to answer questions

Have your IT department set up training. Remote workers should get familiar with:

File-sharing applications and cloud backup software (like Google Drive, Dropbox)
Computer security (anti-virus software, intranet)
Password management and data encryption tools

Schedule calls after their first week, month and quarter to review goals and performance.

Invite new hires to the office the first week if they are nearby. If you have distributed teams and all employees work from home, try to schedule quarterly or annual events or retreats.