{"id":25995,"date":"2021-06-09T14:00:06","date_gmt":"2021-06-09T13:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/?p=25995"},"modified":"2021-07-19T13:01:03","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T12:01:03","slug":"remote-employee-onboarding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/remote-employee-onboarding\/","title":{"rendered":"How we approach remote employee onboarding at Intercom"},"content":{"rendered":"

We want to give our employees the best possible start to their Intercom careers. That used to mean welcoming them to the company in person but, like everyone, we\u2019ve had to adapt to a new way of onboarding over the past year.<\/p>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic has completely disrupted the way we work and forced us to reinvent how we onboard new colleagues. At the start of March last year, as the scale of the threat became more apparent, we realized we had to<\/span> transition our in-person employee onboarding experience to a completely virtual program \u2013 within three days. It was also my first official week in the People Development Program Manager role, which certainly added to the challenge!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSeven new faces looked out at me from my computer screen, all experiencing this virtual welcome for the first time together\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We had a group of new hires ready and excited to join Intercom the following Monday, expecting to meet lots of folks in the office, join brainstorming sessions in a conference room, and grab a nice cup of coffee or a cold beer at a local bar with their new teammates after work. Instead, they received a last-minute email from us asking if we could drop off their laptop over the weekend, and whether they had stable internet access. We were going remote.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the first day, seven new faces looked out at me from my computer screen, all experiencing this virtual welcome for the first time together. \u201cSo, I guess we\u2019ll be back in the office in two weeks, right?\u201d We all laughed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"Masha<\/td>\n\u201cIt\u2019s really nice to start at a company where it’s clear from the start that they care about the employee experience.\u201d – Masha, Brand Producer<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Our remote onboarding program has come a long way since then<\/span><\/h2>\n

We\u2019re still remote, and guess what? Onboarding virtually can be tough for our new hires. We can\u2019t build connections by just saying hi when we bump into each other in the hallways. It\u2019s more difficult to communicate the way we work and the nuances of our culture. We can\u2019t turn to our peers to quickly ask a question \u2013 it takes longer to get things done.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With these challenges in mind \u2013 and after collecting tons of feedback and reviewing engagement scores from those initial groups of new hires \u2013 we had to take a pause to plan and iterate our experience. We needed to lean in and provide more opportunities and space for our new hires to connect, learn, and engage with each other and the business.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\u201cBy a large margin, this is the most thorough and best organized onboarding of any company I’ve worked over the span of my career\u201d – Dannel, Sales Engineer<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

When <\/span>designing company onboarding<\/span><\/a>, we lean on our four onboarding learning pillars. These same pillars have guided the development of our remote employee onboarding program. They are:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Core business learnings<\/span><\/h3>\n

These are the modules and experiences that provide a fundamental understanding of our business, covering mission, vision, strategy, product, and organizational structure. We want our new hires to understand who we are, what we do, and how we\u2019re organized.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\u201cInformation has been provided in a way that is easily digestible and easy to apply\u201d – Caijsa, Customer Support Specialist<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

2. Skills and culture\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Modules and experiences that help enrich our new colleagues’ understanding of our culture, how we work, and why we work that way. We also want to capture our new hires’ unique ways of working and fight impostor syndrome by encouraging them to bring their awesome strengths to Intercom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Support elements\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

We provide our new hires with self-serve evergreen resources and walk them through our learning management system, our communication platforms, and other company-wide tools. We also want to make sure they know who they can lean on for support. For example, if they have a question about their laptop, they know who to contact and how to contact them.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\u201cI really liked the opportunity to meet different people and introduce myself to as many people as possible, especially when working from home\u201d – Shauna, Customer Support Specialist<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

4. Social and belonging<\/span><\/h3>\n

Modules and experiences that will foster a sense of community and belonging to create a safe, trusted space for our new hires to be their authentic selves. It matters to us that our new hires feel welcome, feel comfortable being themselves, and have the opportunity to make connections. We are focusing a lot more on the social and belonging pillar now that we are remote.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur company onboarding program is now a six-month journey that new hires embark on\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We’ve developed a six-month employee onboarding program<\/h2>\n

Our company onboarding program is now a six-month journey that new hires embark on, not just a three-day in-office experience. Some new sessions we\u2019ve implemented along the way include:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n