We moved our team remote. The hardest part was not the technology- it was onboarding.

I help run operations for a small company that went fully remote about two years ago. Everyone talks about the tech stuff- zoom and slack. Project management tools-that was the easy part. hard it is to onboard new people when you never see them in person.

In the office, onboarding was casual. New hire shows up- someone walks them around. Introduces them to people and they absorb the culture just by being there.but on Remote none of that happens.

Our first few remote hires were a mess. They got their laptop in the mail, a bunch of links to click. Maybe a welcome email and silence.

First thing we changed was structure. Instead of dumping everything on day one, we spread onboarding across the first two weeks. Day one is just setup and a welcome chat with their manager, dday two is meeting key teammates, day three is looking at work stuff- small pieces.

Second thing was social. We started doing virtual coffee chats- new hire gets paired with someone from a different team for fifteen minutes.

Third thing we fixed was handoffs. we started using a platform to automate some of those handoffs. When a new hire signs their offer, the system automatically notifies IT to ship equipment, sends payroll their info, and schedules their first week check ins. Nohing falls through the cracks anymore.but the tool is just part of it,the real shift was realizing that remote onboarding is not just about getting people access to systems- It is about making them feel like part of the team.

For those of you working remotely, what did your company do that helped you feel welcome? And what did they do that made you want to quit in the first week?We are still learning.thanks