{"id":8079,"date":"2020-07-13T07:19:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T07:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=8079"},"modified":"2023-07-05T01:44:45","modified_gmt":"2023-07-05T01:44:45","slug":"8-tips-to-build-an-effective-virtual-onboarding-programme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/in\/blog\/8-tips-to-build-an-effective-virtual-onboarding-programme\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Tips to Build an Effective Virtual Onboarding Programme"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In these times of social distancing, human resources departments have moved to virtual onboarding. But to provide a superb onboarding experience, you need a structured plan that addresses specific challenges, such as the inability to meet and greet new employees physically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Salesforce, where the employee experience is central to the company culture, virtual onboarding has long been a part of our employee success practices. For many years now, we have had teams who work from home from day one. Of course, the current health crisis meant that wehad to scale our virtual onboarding programme to include all new joinees across four locations in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We spoke with Kashika Bhola, Senior Specialist, Global Onboarding <\/b>at Salesforce to curate some tips on how to successfully plan virtual onboarding programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Create pre-onboarding training material<\/b>: You don\u2019t need to wait until the employee is on board to initiate the onboarding process. Why not provide pre-onboarding training material and get them work-ready? We use Trailhead<\/a>, a free online learning platform, to train and upskill our new employees before they join the workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Design an employee journey map<\/b>: The excitement of being a new employee can quickly fizzle out or get confusing if the onboarding programme isn\u2019t structured with clear milestones and expected outcomes. Bhola says, \u201cWe are able to provide visibility into the onboarding milestones using a Task Tracker app, our personalised, digital checklist built on the Salesforce platform.\u201d This keeps onboarding teams, hiring managers and new hires on track with must-do tasks such as mandatory training, administrative processes, key 1:1 meetings, reviewing leadership goals and finally, charting personal goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>3<\/b>. Use technology to streamline your virtual onboarding:<\/b> You can still welcome your new hires by having virtual meet-and-greets using tools such as Google Meet. Also look at building an online portal with resources for new joinees. This can help people collaborate securely at work, establish networks, share files and status updates. We use Chatter<\/a> to create onboarding groups that help new employees ask questions and share ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Establish a strong support system: <\/b>Even at the best of times, the onboarding experience can get intense for new employees, especially for those straight out of college. Remote induction only increases this intensity. And in the ongoing crisis, managing a remote workforce presents a new set of challenges. We use Chatter to introduce new joinees, making them feel more welcome in our Ohana<\/i> (meaning family in Hawaiian). We rely heavily on our hiring managers and other stakeholders, like our Trail Guides (onboarding buddies) to help us be successful. We also use Marketing Cloud<\/a> to send personalised email communications. Periodic communication helps reassure our new employees, especially in the current times.<\/p>\n\n\n

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At Salesforce, \u2018Trust\u2019 is our #1 value. Now more than ever, our employees are trusting us to go the extra mile for them. And we know that when our employees are taken care of, they\u2019re better positioned to take great care of our customers.<\/p>\nKashika Bhola<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n