With more and more businesses turning towards remote working, technology supporting virtual onboarding and training has become more important than ever.
New hires are already faced with navigating an unfamiliar corporate culture, meeting teammates and getting a handle on workflow – but now, they need to do it all online, without the benefits of a physical office to enhance personal connections or streamline training. Paired with Vancouver-born brands like Slack and Hootsuite that improve online communication and productivity, these five platforms can help businesses structure virtual onboarding so new employees feel welcome, supported and eager to contribute to their new company’s success.
Blissbook
Many workplaces still hand new employees a physical handbook as an introduction to the company. If you haven’t already created an online handbook, now is the time! Blissbook is a great option for step-by-step guidance to design an interactive and intuitive handbook that’s effective, impactful and aesthetic. Features allow for personalized content tailored to specific departments or people; on-brand design that can be incorporated in-house or by the Blissbook team; the ability to update the handbook at any time, with employees only seeing the final result; and a responsive template that works across all devices.
Eloomi
Specifically designed for medium-sized businesses, Eloomi offers an onboarding, compliance, learning content and communications solution for online workplaces. The platform enables businesses to choose from pre-built programs, or create customized onboarding courses whose modules span topics like corporate culture, co-worker meet-and-greets and workflow. Creating modules is fairly straightforward, and users have the option of adding images or video, outlining steps for module completion, and assigning specific modules to new hires so they know what to complete and when. Eloomi also generates reports that allow HR or managers to track new hires’ progress, determine how much time is spent on each module, and garner feedback. Start with the platform’s free onboarding e-book, which includes 10 tips on training employees more quickly and efficiently.
Trainual
Training lies at the core of most onboarding, which makes Trainual an essential for remote workforces. The platform’s onboarding support streamlines the process for new hires, with the ability to assign tasks to specific individuals or everyone in the company. Videos and checklists help HR or managers capture basic yet important policies, procedures and information, while the built-in stock image library and GIPHY integration can make content sparkle. Plenty of templates are available to build onboarding manuals quickly, and the company is currently offering a free resource library to support the transition to a remote working environment.
Asana
Founded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and former Google and Facebook engineer Julian Rosenstein, Asana is designed to help teams collaborate effectively, whether organizing projects, managing priorities, coordinating work or tracking progress. The popular SaaS can be integrated with platforms like Slack, Google Drive, Outlook and Zoom, so emails, calendars and other applications are consolidated and easier to access. Managers can assign specific tasks to new hires, giving them clearly defined responsibilities along with completion deadlines to keep them on-track. Real-time updates allow users to track each other’s tasks and priorities, facilitating strategic and proactive workflow. Asana also enables users to design reoccurring templates, such as new hire training, as well as track the onboarding process from start to finish.
Sococo
Every employee can benefit from platforms like Sococo that ease the transition from office to online with a social awareness model that overcomes many of the challenges of working online. The virtual workspace connects distributed teams in a visually descriptive office complete with meeting rooms, offices, coffee machines and a lunchroom. Users can easily keep track of their colleagues’ whereabouts, and with a few simple clicks can organize meetings, share presentations, or schedule an all-staff gathering. New hires will instantly feel connected with the ability to chat with teammates over the “water cooler”, knock on their manager’s “door” to ask a quick question, or approach each day with the confidence of knowing where their colleagues are and what they’re doing.
