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Onboarding is an essential part of welcoming new team members into your organization and setting them up with everything they need to get stuck into their new role. But in a virtual team, this can be tricky. After all, a video call isn't quite the same as a welcome lunch with the team. 

A successful virtual onboarding is going to take some planning. You'll need to think about what to prepare beforehand and how to help people navigate through their first week, month and beyond. 

A great place to start is pre-boarding. Be sure to reach out to your new start before their first day. This doesn't have to be anything formal. It could simply be a quick check in to ease any anxieties that they may be feeling and to let them know you are excited for their first day. Attach a welcome pack with links to useful resources and invite them to your team chat group to allow the rest of the team to say hi. 

Once you've done this, set up a plan for their first week. What can you do to ensure that they feel welcomed, informed and connected? 

Your first instinct may to fill their calendar with lots of virtual meetings but this may cause them to feel overwhelmed. Limit their time to key meetings only, such as an informal check in with you to see how they're doing, a chat with the CEO about the organization's strategy and a Friday meetup with the rest of the team so that they can start getting to know their new coworkers. Done well, onboarding can turn anxiety into excitement. 

Games, quizzes and virtual icebreaker exercises are a great way to inject a bit of fun into their first week. They can also be a great foundation from which they build effective working relationships and networks. 

Some new hires may worry that they're not the right fit or feel overwhelmed by the amount of new apps and processes they need to get up to speed with. Build their confidence by setting them some easy to hit tasks. 

Once their first week is over, don't become complacent. The likelihood is your new starter will still have lots of questions and plenty of new people there need to meet. You can support them by following these three steps. First, schedule weekly one-on-ones to chat over challenges and opportunities. Highlight any online training or digital resources that might help with their self development. 

They also need to start building their own support networks beyond you. Give them access to your online organization chart and set up meetings with key clients and coworkers. 

Make sure they've been invited to all the right team chat groups and encourage them to schedule some virtual coffee breaks with colleagues.

Finally, a sign of virtual buddy to help with the on the job issues. Buddies can catch up on video call by phone or WhatsApp, whatever works for them. Done well, virtual onboarding can help your organization to retain, engage and develop new starters. 

To learn more about virtual onboarding, see the article that a accompanies this video. © 2022 Mind Tools by Emerald Works Limited.