How we successfully onboard team members remotely

Onboarding has always been an important part of greeting new team members at Neufund. For us it’s not just about clarifying expectations and tasks — it’s part of our culture. We believe in a “human first” approach and know that support and empathy helps us be better designers, product managers, developers, business developers and creators in general.

In addition to dealing with the pandemic, our team has become even more international, with colleagues now in Germany, the UK, the US, Slovakia, South Africa, Poland, Tenerife, Martinique — among other countries. So how do we help our new teammates feel comfortable and engaged from the first day, even if they live in a different country and can’t come to our cool office? In this article I share some of the secrets of our success.

Don’t be afraid to over-communicate

Before new teammates start, we keep them updated almost every day and make sure they understand every step and why we do it. For example, we exchanged more than 50 emails in total with a colleague who joined us in April — not to mention the calls!

Make sure the tech part is ready

Besides common HR tasks such as setting up interviews and sending the contract, we now also have to handle the tech part remotely, too — and this includes sending any required hardware from Berlin. Our tech team assists our new colleague and, in addition to organizing remote access, attends a short meeting on the first day to ensure everything is properly set up and go over the main security rules.

Meetings, meetings, meetings

As usual, we send an introduction email to the whole team on a new teammate’s first day, and also give them a big welcome during our weekly team meeting. In addition, the first week is usually full of online meetings with different people from our various departments — from tech and legal to marketing, product and even the CEO. We share details about each department and how they work, and use it as a way to get to know each other. Our new teammate also has weekly meetings with a hiring manager and HR specialist to check that the onboarding is going well, ensure they are settling in at Neufund and have all the support they need.

Meet your online-buddy

Before the pandemic, our buddy program was easy to run. What’s easier than meeting on the sunny terrace for a coffee and a chat? Now, as we work from home and are located in different countries, our buddies have regular online chats to help new team members feel welcome and share experiences. Adding a buddy to the hiring manager and HR specialist means that our new colleagues are in regular touch with at least three team members, which, we hope, helps them feel even more engaged.

Taken together, these approaches have helped us nurture a growing team of highly engaged and productive people who support and value each other.

Have you joined a team or welcomed a new colleague online recently? How was it? Let us know your experiences and learnings in the comments!

By Dawid Binkiewicz, Human Resources Generalist at Neufund

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