Employer essentials: Training, equipment and setting up new staff - from home
When the financial crisis shook the business world in 2007, CEOs turned to the finance professionals. The Covid-19 pandemic presents a different challenge to businesses and has highlighted the importance of good people and HR management.
Nobody knows how long these “new norms” are going to last. We do know that we all need to become more creative, imaginative and innovative when it comes to getting new staff ramped up from home in order to keep our operations flowing and projects going so that we capture new opportunities when they reveal themselves.
On the back of daily conversations with our clients, we have outlined common recurring people management challenges being faced by those that are hiring or planning their exit strategies from Covid-19. In this article, we have compiled some simple solutions to these challenges which include:
All of this should be designed to help you stay ahead of your rivals when it comes to onboarding and ramping up new staff as the world of working enters a new era. There will be a huge shift in how companies deploy work now and we want to make sure you are prepared in a cost-efficient way that can be scaled.
Many of us still fortunate to continue filling important jobs will also know how different it is to onboard new staff from home. The onboarding process now needs to be tighter, faster and more virtual(!) than ever before while also ensuring our culture, values, training and security stay intact. To help with this, we have prepared an infographic on how to virtually onboard new employees.
How employers onboard new staff remotely during the Covid-19 crisis will be vital to retaining new talent in the future and will ensure productivity is optimised from day one.
Many employers have also been faced with the challenge of signing contracts digitally. Hiring Managers are still attaching PDF copies of contracts to new starters via email. You expect them to sign the contract but how do you expect them to send it back ASAP. Candidate experience is still so important at this point and you don't want candidates feeling stressed or confused about how to do this.
Now may not the time for you to be splashing out on new e-signature software such as
DocuSign. So instead, employers can advise new remote staff to use this great (free!)
e-signature solution that allows candidates to create a digital signature and attach it straight on to a PDF. Very simple, very quick and a very cheap solution to a big problem right now!
This has been a significant challenge to employers and hiring managers when it comes to getting new staff ramped up from home. The challenge is two-fold:
- Due to COVID-19 related supply chain issues, I can’t source, or buy, work equipment (such as a laptop) for new employees.
- Can I trust this new employee with access to company-wide information?
The first thing to recognise is that you’re not alone when it comes to these two issues. Fortunately, new staff have never been more patient and understanding. Teams are formed through individual moments of personal openness and honesty so don’t be afraid to communicate these issues with new staff upfront.
That being said, not having the right tools and technology for a new employee to do their job will make them feel isolated, undervalued and ultimately unwanted. Therefore, if you can’t provide a work laptop immediately, be sure to communicate this fact and explain everything you are trying to do to get your hands on one.
Ask new employees to use their personal computers in the meantime. There are a number of cost-effective software solutions that turn personal PC’s into work PCs. At RECRUITERS, we use
AnyDesk remote desktop software that allows us to connect to our office computer and network from our personal computers securely and reliably no matter where we are in the world.
One of our clients,
Thinscale Technology, has an incredible solution that provides access to virtual office desktops and other remotely delivered environments from anywhere in the word to ensure increased access and productivity of new employees, quickly.
Unfortunately hiring new team members always comes with inherent trust risks regardless of the external environment factors. Working remotely also requires letting go of a measure of control. If you find yourself anxious about the idea of granting new employees access to company information, remember that you hired this person for a reason and now it’s time to empower them to succeed. There are ways that you can reduce the risks, however:
- Set the ‘rules of engagement’: For new remote workers, having clear rules around access to information and what can be done with that information helps reduce your anxiety and actually increase efficiency for everyone. The more clarity you provide, the less exposed you will be.
- Ensure accountability: Now is not a time for micromanaging, but new team members must be held accountable. Put in formalised tracking documents and passwords to allow everyone to be clear on what important folders have been accessed and when. A great tool that we use at RECRUITERS to password protect folders and documents is Adobe Acrobat. Certain users will also be notified when certain documents are opened and by who.
Successful training of new staff is based on quality content, communication and coordination. However, employers are facing the challenge of doing so from home because they don’t have training content that can be delivered digitally nor the time to prepare it with so many other things to do.
We all know and understand the importance of training new team members. However, to compile segmented training materials and coordinate various training modules with different teams and managers can be difficult at the best of times.
Towards the middle of 2019, RECRUITERS began extracting key knowledge and presentations from each of the managers with the aim of consolidating the information online. We did this for a number of reasons:
- New staff could access the training material and complete the modules in their own time.
- It freed up a significant amount of time for our managers.
- It meant that the knowledge of key individuals within the company stayed within the company.
- To provide more consistency in our messaging and training to new starters.
- We could track the progress of new starters, access online exam results and track the correlation between training and in-life job performance.
To do all of this, we used an excellent online training software called
ProProfs. Using ProProfs our traditional training methods became e-learning methods overnight and is a great tool to onboard and train new starters from home. It meant that we could create beautifully designed courses with our own content, our teams could train anytime and anywhere and it also provides Management with user-friendly reports and analytics. They also provide a freemium model.
It’s been a lifesaver for us in terms of training and upskilling our existing teams since we have all been working from home. Particularly since we’ve had to pivot our strategies in order to stay relevant to our clients and job seekers during this unprecedented time.
While many aspects of remote work have become easier, maintaining company culture, values and motivation without the benefits of real-life communication and observations remain a challenge.
Similarly, the importance of strong leadership at the top remains a key ingredient in maintaining team productivity and company values. In fact,
our MD Gerard Doyle, is now creating weekly productivity videos that also instill our company values of honesty, openness, drive, creativity and fun – with particular emphasis on that latter two values as you will see in his short video below:
Making business more personal is at the heart of all
we do at RECRUITERS. That means standing up with you and providing help through these challenging times. If you have any questions or if you need any assistance with getting new staff ramped up for work at home,
please contact us today for a free, no-obligation consultation.
If you need support or assistance with finding key talent for your team, please check out
our multi-award-winning hiring solutions. Invest in your peace of mind and know that by working with us, you are working with Ireland’s most trusted recruitment partner in IT, Finance, Sales, Marketing, HR, Project Management and Operations recruitment for your permanent and/or contracted staffing needs.
Andrew is the Marketing Manager at RECRUITERS
