4 Keys to Humanizing Onboarding in Remote Work
One of our most popular recent webinars and blog topics was focused on the concept of re-recruiting your people as a key tactic in combating the “Great Resignation.” We heard some great feedback from HR leaders that these strategies were also very relevant for remote onboarding, which is a real challenge to do right.
Onboarding is one of the most important drivers of employee success and can also be incredibly complex, especially when done virtually. Poor onboarding is a major cause of employee turnover, which can cost a company 100-300% of the employee’s salary in total. So let’s dive into how you can use those re-recruitment strategies and apply them to onboarding.
Four Keys To Humanizing Your Onboarding
To level set, the four keys to re-recruiting your people are to:
1. Uncover core motivation
2. Identify impact
3. Have ongoing conversations
4. Have Create connections with peers
1. Uncover core motivation
As you onboard new people, helping them understand their core motivation will have an exponential impact. It drives success and overall engagement by helping them connect their motivation to their work AND will help them feel like they truly are seen and belong at the company.
2. Identify Impact
Identifying the initial impact—even of the very first week—an employee is making sets the tone for their work and experience at a given company. For them to feel fulfilled and energized, employees need to see and reflect on the impact their personal work is having, from the very first day,
3. Have Ongoing Conversations
Creating an atmosphere of collaboration and flexibility is crucial, especially when onboarding and working remotely. There are so many micro and macro factors that affect your people and their work, that consistently having conversations about their motivation and their impact must happen from onboarding and continue throughout their experience at the company.
4. Create Connections with Peers
A recent Purdue study found that without strong internal networks at work, employees were 2.5X more likely to leave the company. But in a remote world (and even IRL) creating connections with peers outside of your immediate working team is difficult and frankly, can be awkward. Intentionally investing resources and time into facilitating these connections from the beginning and continuing to cultivate will have a big impact on employee satisfaction and retention.
Great, But How Do I Actually Do This?
Imperative has operationalized all four of these key strategies, and incorporated them into one seamless platform.
Based on years of research and expertise, Imperative matches peers across a company for regular guided coaching conversations to align their work with what fulfills them: their purpose.
Every two weeks, peers measure their fulfillment and are then guided through a personalized conversation that is scientifically engineered to be psychologically safe, positive, reflective, and energizing. Each peer leaves having made a specific commitment to align their work with what fulfills them before the next conversation.
In short, by using this platform during onboarding, employees are able to uncover their core motivations, identify the impact they want to make, create opportunities for ongoing conversations about what matters to them, and connect them to their peers. The best part is that they’re entered into an ongoing process so not only will they have a fantastic onboarding experience, but they’ll be able to stay successful, fulfilled and engaged.
“I am so impressed with peer coaching. Our remote environment makes it challenging to meet new people, connect on a personal level and drive for results as a team. Being new AND remote amplifies those challenges.
Through Imperative, we were able to connect on a more personal level to get to the core of our fulfillment at work. I am so thrilled that I was able to meet and connect with my partner. I’ve never had something like this before at a new company.”
Peer Coach, Sr. Manager, Retail
Does it *Actually Work?
Our trailblazing clients like Zillow, Hasbro, and Boston Scientific have seen these results across their organization by using the Imperative Platform:
- Deeper Connections—89% of connections created build a meaningful and sustained relationship
- Personal Growth—78% of employees report peer coaching made them more successful
- Holistic Wellbeing—Employees leave each conversation with 2.4X more positive emotions
Our mission at Imperative is to humanize work and make work more fulfilling for every person. After 30,000 hours of peer coaching conversations, the data is in: peer coaching is the bright spot you’re looking for. Let’s chat about how we can bring this to life for your company: hello@imperative.com
