In a follow-up to their presentation at PICPA’s Technology for Public Accounting Conference, James Ruffin, manager, IS assurance and advisory services, at RKL, and Stephane Smith, human capital management consulting practice leader at RKL, discuss best practices for remote onboarding. The two highlight setting expectations for new employees and keeping them engaged once they settle in.

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By: Bill Hayes, Pennsylvania CPA Journal Managing Editor

Podcast Transcript

The reality of our current work environment is that, for many firms, while the act of congregating together in one workplace has been put on hold, the hiring of new personnel has not. Therefore, processes have had to be put together for onboarding new employees while they work from their homes. At the PICPA Technology for Public Accounting Conference, which took place on January 7 of this year, our guests spoke about this very topic. Today, James Ruffin, manager, IS assurance and advisory services at RKL, and Stephane Smith, human capital management consulting practice leader at RKL, will explore the positives of onboarding remotely, ways to keep remote employees engaged, and much more.

When we take a look at onboarding remotely, what are the benefits of it?

[Ruffin] When we look at the benefits of onboarding remotely, we like to start by thinking on the employee side. Through our presentation, we had the chance to interview a few individuals who experienced this firsthand and the largest benefit they cited was that it was, for them, logistically effortless. They opened their door one day, there was a box holding a laptop. They didn't have to drive to a new office, set up. They didn't have to work in an unfamiliar environment. They were in the comfort of their own home. For them, they found it was a much, not stressless or stress free but, lower stress experience than they had experienced previously.

On the employer side, it's not as much effortless on the logistics side. Somebody has to organize all of that and put it together. But at the same time, the expense is reduced as opposed to setting up for someone for the day, scheduling lunch, having guest speakers come in. A lot of schedules need to be aligned to have people in one place so being able to decentralize that and distribute that has made it significantly easier to manage that onboarding process.

[Smith] One of the neat benefits that we have found is that new hires can often get to meet and know colleagues that are in many geographic areas, which previously when it was that onboarding in person, that wasn't necessarily the case. So, when you have this virtual environment, it really does open up opportunities to get to know other business lines within an organization, as well as other people in different geographies and sometimes even countries. That's a really cool benefit of that remote onboarding as well.

Could you walk us through that orientation process, as it's done remotely?

[Smith] For orientation, typically it's a one- to three-day event. First and foremost, you obviously want to start with providing that new hire with their onboarding schedule. Being remote, as James had said previously, they open their door and there's their laptop and all of their stuff that they need for that first day, but they also need a schedule that goes along with that. A good best practice with remote employees is to begin that practice by sending them that welcome packet. How do you want to greet them? What is that feeling you want them to have as they get their equipment and that list and that orientation schedule that you have prepared for them?

Typically, when you're in person, HR often begins that process. However, when you have remote employees, it's not unusual that IT would actually begin that process. Obviously, they need to get their computer set up and all of their equipment ready in order to have a virtual onboarding experience with whomever they're going to be meeting with. In this situation, now that we're in a virtual environment, IT is taking that first step and kicking off the orientation, getting them set up, and then following that, it shifts to the HR group for that remote orientation, which typically includes all of that policy review and the completion of the onboarding documents and getting them set up in any system. Usually, an HRIS or a payroll system is ideal in these remote situations because everything is in a system and it's streamlined and it really helps with that onboarding, and reduces that paperwork and sending things back and forth.

Also, making sure that you have dynamic presenters who are engaging to keep the employees engaged as they go through, especially HR. HR is not the most fun part of someone's onboarding process. They want to get to the meat and the nitty gritty of what they're doing, but there's this necessary hurdle of just doing all of those checks and signing on policies and things like that. But when you have someone who's engaging and really entertaining, that will really help that process.

Then following that, typically it transitions to their supervisor or their manager where they're going to Zoom with the new hire and they will begin to acclimate them to their role, their department, their colleagues. This can include even a remote office tour, meeting with an assigned buddy, as well as virtual team introductions. Sometimes using breakout room features as well as maybe a virtual lunch.

[Ruffin] The only item that I would add to this is, and it may be a little counterintuitive to our discussion, but where possible, if you can incorporate some small piece of in-person element, this pays exponential dividends in getting buy-in from these new employees. I think it can be difficult at times when we're talking to cameras all day, talking on the phone all day, on a Zoom meeting all day. At the end of that day, you're like, "Well, I just looked at the screen for the entire time." You don't feel that interaction, even though you probably had more than you normally would in an in-person environment. Adding in that little touch of an in-person discussion, whether it's tailgating for lunch, whether it's meeting up somehow, just to make that human connection, it adds a layer to things that it makes it very purposeful. The idea is we're meeting so we can meet. I'm not meeting to give you all of these presentations and give you everything you need. This is a meeting so one person to another can connect.

What are some best practices to set expectations with a new employee in this environment?

[Ruffin] Chief among everything else, and I think this is always highlighted in the business community as discussions, is communication, having that open, free-flowing, two-way, three-way, 10-way line of communication with the individual being onboarded into the organization. It may seem obvious – of course, we're going to be communicating with them – but it's not only the quantity, it's the quality. Setting aside specific times, aligning your schedules together in a way that, hey, I'm going to be available for you. I'm having office hours from 1:00 to 2:00 today. If there's anything you need, just tap me on the shoulder, I'm here to check in. It's really getting that sense of connecting with that individual and letting them know that they've been connected with. It's that two-way street. Beyond that, one of the thoughts that I think as far as setting expectations, but also giving them the tools to succeed, is looking at it as goal-oriented with process suggestions. Getting the sense of this is what you need to accomplish.

Now, this is how I might do it. This is how I've seen it done before. Think on that, chew on that. But if you can discover a better way to accomplish what you're trying to get to, more efficient, more effectively, empower them to do that. That's another way to gain that level of buy-in is when they feel that their ideas are what's driving towards that goal. In general, that's what we all want. We all want to feel like we're contributing to a common goal. And the remote environment, I feel, empowers us to do that. When we're not around our fellow employees with any significant frequency, it really just becomes, well we're seeing with goals of everything we're trying to accomplish, not necessarily the process. Championing that mindset aligns itself very well with the ups and downs of what it means to be working remotely.

[Smith] Yeah, I agree with everything that you said, James. But also too, providing the information of where can they find resources? And being very specific with expected hours of work. Sometimes, you just think that they're going to know what that is, but really be specific. Frequency of check-ins and response time expectations. But going again to what James said, communication is absolutely key. Along the same lines, what kinds of questions should be directed where? What questions would be directed to their buddy? What questions would be directed to a supervisor or a manager or the team or others? If there's an appropriate method: do they send a chat, an email, a phone? Is it video? Really being specific in outlining those expectations. That's something we've not had to do necessarily before. It's a little bit of uncharted territory, but you can't over communicate when it comes to onboarding a new employee.

James talked about the rote experience of staring at a screen all day and being in the same seat all day. What are your recommendations for keeping remote employees engaged and ready to work in that way?

[Smith] During that previous question, he touched on this a little bit too. First and foremost, establishing that trust in that autonomy, giving them some flexibility to figure out ways to do things, I think will certainly help keep employees engaged. Along with those regular scheduled one-on-one meetings, as well as team meetings, those are all great, but if they can have some stretch assignments or opportunities to lead so they're not just stuck at home and doing their job and feeling bored with what they're doing. How can you get creative and give them some interesting projects to work on? Also, recognizing that there's a need to prioritize that work-life integration and being flexible and understanding with that. That's certainly important, but showing gratitude. Since you're not in person, you have to be thoughtful about providing that praise. Along with that, you want to solicit feedback. What's working for your employee? What isn't? What do they need from you in order to be successful?

One thing that I do with my teams is we want to recognize the individual and team accomplishments. We have since adopted a Friday huddle, and during that time we've changed it from talking about work to talking about each other. We call it our Recognition Friday, where we spend that time together, sharing our own accomplishments that we might be proud of that week, or something that we felt really good about, as well as giving recognition to our colleagues on the team for any shared projects that we're working on or any worker, any way that they helped each other. It's being really well received with my team. It's a great way to end the week on a high note. Everyone's feeling good for their efforts because they're being recognized publicly among each other. So the efforts and the hard work and the daunting things that they struggle with each week, it's not going unrecognized. That is definitely a fun way to end our week.

[Ruffin] I think you really hit the nail on the head, Stephane, with the idea that variety is the spice of life. It's sometimes some of the only spice that we get right now. That's what we really need to champion among each other. You had touched on this before with onboarding, how it allows the interfacing of employees from all over the organization, different geographies, etc., to meet and work with team members. Regardless of where they are, they can participate. I really wanted to champion that idea: take some time with your new employee and introduce them to different parts of the firm. For the established individuals at each company, for one reason or another, you've most likely talked to somebody outside of your lane, whether it's in your marketing department, your IT department, other people you've connected with for one way or the other.

If I think about how I built those connections in a non-remote environment, it's because I ran into them at the coffee machine. It's because they happen to be in a meeting that I was going into and I was able to chat with them afterwards. The difficult part about working remotely is, yes, we can do video meetings, but as soon as you start, you're on, as soon as it's over, you're off. You don't have that blend. Taking some really thoughtful time and introducing them to individuals they may not otherwise get the chance to meet, I find that that pays a lot of dividends in not only getting some more understanding with the company and all the different facets of what's provided, but it helps them make new friends.

The social part is…I don't want to call it a responsibility, but it is. It's our responsibility for these remotely onboarded employees to basically facilitate what was normal and natural for us before. Now that we look back on it, we took it for granted. Those were things that we didn't think were going to go away. For the next generation of employees coming in, we have to replicate that for them.

What communication tips would you offer to managers of remote employees? Whether it be, frequency, how you go about communicating, what are the tips you would offer there?

[Ruffin] I think the first place to start is something that Stephane said previously about understanding how your new employee works. What works for them? What doesn't? It's going to be a bit of a fumble in the beginning as you just get to know each other, but every friendship and every relationship is. As you build an understand of what they need, how do they thrive? How do you continue that feedback loop, where they're giving you meaningful information, you're improving on the communication and connection with them? From there, I like to put it into two different buckets. I put it into active and passive communication.

When it comes to active, the first thing I think about is scheduled and unscheduled check-ins. Setting points on the calendar, again, for availability, as I said before, but just to say a half-an-hour, once every couple days to say, "Hey, how are things going for you? Is there anything standing out to you that I can help with? Anything I can clarify for you?" Outside of that is unscheduled check-ins. It's that tap on the shoulder of, "Hey, how are things going?" Just to let them know that they're not just sitting in a bubble all day and waiting for that time to come up, where they can actively meet with you.

From a passive perspective. I think this is actually more important. I know from a CPA perspective, back in the day, when we would travel to clients with more frequency and the team would be together, we would have a lot of different interactions amongst the team, but amongst the client as well. You might have, the partner may be out for the day, as a new team member, talking to the partner. There's a very vast knowledge gap there, but the amount that can be filled in a short time is great. Beyond that, you might have the client, the CFO, the controller, whomever, come in to talk to the partner, other managers and team members, which will start to give these new employees ideas of priority. Like, “Oh, they're really talking about this one topic. I'm going to read into that because if they're spending their time on it, this is a big deal.”

To accomplish this in a remote environment, the owning on the managers becomes, “Okay, what experiences can I give my new employees in a way they may not otherwise have that I have taken for granted in the past?” If you're just having a one-on-one client meeting for an update on how processes are going, invite them in. Say, "Hey, can I just borrow you for 30 minutes? I'd like to introduce you to this client, to this team member, just to get a sense on, how do we conduct business with each other?" Whether it is internally or externally.

I think, again, we've taken for granted our role models and people that we have created our work personas off of. Most likely we were sitting next to them, watching them work, getting the chance to see how do they connect? What is appropriate? What isn't appropriate? What is my expectation? It's a case of, we can't assume that people are going to pick up on that without creating this active bridge.

[Smith] I think one thing I would add is listen. It is really listening and understanding your employees and, oftentimes, it's more challenging because we're not in the same room with people and we can't feel their energy or pick up on their mood in external ways that, if we were in person, we would be able to. Make sure you stay connected and really listen. Also find some ways to stay connected. Sometimes it's just as simple as a good morning on a chat feature. I know, with my team, we have a group chat and we use that to communicate not only important information regarding work, but also it's a funny meme in the morning or a Friday meme or just some way to just stay engaged or it's a joke. We kind of joke back and forth and we know when we need to be serious, but then we know when we just need to have a little bit of fun. I think finding some of those creative ways to do that is important too.

We've talked about a lot of topics here, but as we look back at what we've discussed and trying to maintain firm productivity during this time of remote work, is there anything else that we haven't discussed that jumps to your mind as far as ways to bolster firm productivity right now?

[Smith] My advice is to have grace. It takes time to find this balance between that work and home life and to really help your team and new hires navigate that. And it's a stressful situation when it's a planned event. When you toss in a global pandemic and how things can shift literally any moment, it adds a whole other layer. Then on top of that, there's families involved. Sometimes there's children involved and there's home-school and things, there's a lot that's going on. Really have grace and understanding and just be flexible with your employees. Again, circle back around to that communication. It truly is key, really need to understand and listen and hear what your employees are dealing with so you can help them navigate the change.

[Ruffin] I feel exactly the same. That grace is so important. I think the importance goes even further when we take a look at the firm level and the leadership level. I think that remote working, remote success, it lives or dies at the top. It's the tone at the top that is going to influence everything else. Now more than ever, we're looking to our firm leadership to say, "Well, what are we doing? How are we handling this? How should we be handling this? How should we be reacting?"

While we need to maintain that grace and it adds twice the amount of pressure, it is the most important thing to have leadership adopting the perspective of owning the situation, of thriving and surviving in the situation and not passing it off as a fad or something that's going to go away. Because we know for many companies that this has become a reality, a realization, maybe long coming or otherwise, that, “Oh, we can succeed this way.” There's plenty of evidence that shows that you can succeed remotely. The most important thing at this time is owning it. Understand that everybody is looking to you in your firm for that guidance. Yes, that's a lot of pressure, but at the same time, that's the driving force. You're the tip of the spear. That's what we need at this time.