Welcoming new employees makes them feel at home in the company right from the start. And when your new hires feel welcome, valued, and appreciated, they’ll be confident and engaged from day one. This helps to establish a thriving company culture that attracts even more top talent. 

Can this be achieved virtually? Yes! Face-to-face welcomes are always great, but you can achieve the same results virtually. That’s good news because it’s as important to feel welcomed in a hybrid environment as it is in a traditional office set-up. 

We’ll show you how to welcome a new employee virtually in our complete guide to virtual welcomes. You’ll discover that a welcoming strategy benefits both the employee and the company. You’ll also learn the steps to follow for a successful new employee welcome in the virtual space, every time. 

Why should you welcome a new employee virtually?

Virtual welcomes are often confused with onboarding, but they are not the same thing. Although onboarding can, and usually is, a part of the welcoming process, the welcoming phase is so much more than that. It makes new employees feel like a part of the team, even before onboarding truly begins.

So, why should you welcome your new employee virtually? Whether at work or in a social setting, being welcomed by your peers contributes to a sense of belonging. Incorporating virtual tools into this process allows you to engage all types of employees quickly,  efficiently, and cost-effectively.

This is even more important in the workplace than you might think. A successful welcome benefits both the new employees and their employers. And the results from many years of workplace-related research clearly prove it. 

Here are just a few of the benefits of extending a warm virtual welcome.

Benefits for the employer

• When an employer makes a new employee feel welcome, even with a virtual welcome, they will start to feel that they truly belong in the company. And that feeling of belonging drives better job performance. This is why leading companies focus on creating successful welcoming strategies.

• Every business owner knows how crucial it is to attract the right applicants for the top job openings. Want to be seen as a good place to work? Your company image will benefit from a good welcoming strategy, including virtual welcomes.

• A feeling of belonging can even reduce employee turnover by up to 50%. By increasing job performance and employee retention, you will spend less money on continuous recruitment. And you’ll keep the top talent that you put so much effort into attracting.

Benefits for the employee

• When an employee feels welcomed into the team, they’ll like their work environment more. This will lead to increased job satisfaction. According to decades of research data analyzed by the  World Economic Forum (WEF), liking their boss and coworkers increases employees’ job satisfaction. In fact, employee satisfaction increases by almost  50% when a worker develops a close friendship at work.

• Feeling welcome is just as important, if not more so, for your remote workers. Their geographical distance from their colleagues and isolation from company activities can negatively affect their engagement. However, this is easily solved with a virtual welcome and other collaborative activities. 

• Feeling welcome makes everyone happy. A happy worker will not only get along well with their coworkers but also feel more confident about doing their job well. This happy and confident outlook will improve their mental and emotional well-being and even their physical health. 

9 steps for successfully welcoming a new employee virtually

There are many ways to make a new addition to the team feel welcome, and most of these can easily be achieved virtually. But if you’re still wondering what you need to include in your virtual welcoming strategy, don’t worry. We can help. 

First, get all the necessary contact information from the new employee, and then go through the steps below. These 9 steps can be customized to your specific needs but will provide you with a reliable framework for your virtual employee welcome formula.

1. Send out a new employee welcome kit

New employees who are welcomed warmly will perceive the company more favorably than those who aren’t. This makes them much more likely to stick around. There’s no better way to welcome them than with a new employee welcome kit, delivered to their door, after sending that initial welcome email. 

But what do you put in your new employee welcome gift box? If your business manufactures products, you could include samples of these products. However, try to personalize the new employee welcome gift and tailor the contents to the specific situation. This will show that you put some time and thought into it.

Edible treats and company-branded swag are a reliable go-to for welcome gifts. If it’s a remote work position, office supplies, or tech items that will make the new job easier are the perfect items to bear the company name. Or stay virtual and surprise them with a digital gift card aligned with their interests. (They may have alluded to these interests in their job application interview).

2. Include pertinent onboarding information 

A virtual welcome is so much more than just a ‘hello’. It’s also a means to provide essential information about the new job. Get it right from the start, with crucial onboarding info embedded in the virtual welcome message.

Onboarding is vital to every job role, and its success or failure can have far-reaching consequences. So keep it as professional as you need to, but try to keep it light in the initial message. You can do this in two ways, or a combination of both. 

Outline the basics in the message itself, near the end of the message. Or include a link to click on that will take them to your onboarding tutorials. It’s usually best to do a bit of both. 

In this way, new employees have the basic information they need right away but can look at more in-depth onboarding information later. This prevents them from feeling bombarded by it too soon. 

Related: 8 Employee Onboarding Best Practices

3. Create a virtual tour

If you have a hybrid work model of both in-office and remote workers, a virtual tour helps solidify the team. Even though your new employees will not be working in your offices, It will familiarize them with how things are structured at your organization, and give them a taste of the company culture. 

Include this ‘tour’ with the virtual welcome message. Delegate an HR team member to walk through the various departments and film an average work day. Focus on the department that the new hire will be working with. It doesn’t have to be a feature-length film, just a short video introducing the company

Allow a few employees to say hi, using the new employee’s name. This will instantly make them feel welcome, even though they may not set foot inside the work premises. Before you proceed with filming for this virtual tour, be sure to have the permission of everyone who will be featured in it. 

4. Set up essential training

Schedule all the training sessions a couple of days ahead and include the dates and times in the virtual welcome. Keep training tutorials concise, to the point, and above all, interesting. This prevents boredom and makes training fun rather than a chore.

It’s important to be able to answer any questions they may have, so live training via video call is a must. This allows face-to-face interaction, as well as the opportunity for Q&A. 

However, pre-recorded training videos also have a unique advantage. The benefit of including pre-recorded training videos in virtual welcomes is that new employees can revisit them whenever they need to.

Ideally, you should aim for a mix of both these approaches. The pre-recorded videos will be a valuable ongoing resource after the initial live training.

5. Assign a mentor or work buddy

Every new situation is easier when you have a buddy at your side. It’s the same with work. The buddy system is just one of the fun ways to welcome new employees virtually. It’s also highly effective at acclimatizing new employees to their new workspace, even when they work from home. 

Assign a work buddy or mentor to your new employee, and they will help to ease the transition. A more senior employee is usually best for this purpose. They will know all the ins and outs of your company and will be able to advise and reassure new hires. 

They should invite the new employees to contact them whenever they need guidance or support. Get the work buddy or mentor to conduct regular virtual check-ins with them, too, on whichever communications platform your business uses. 

6. Host a virtual team ‘meet and greet’ 

Not sure how to welcome new employees virtually when they’re part of a large group of new hires? Email or message each member of the team an invitation link to a virtual team meeting on a video conferencing platform. This can be as formal or as casual as you see fit but should reflect your unique business environment.

Remember to set up the necessary account for the new employee and ensure all the technology is up and running ahead of time. This gives you time to iron out any kinks or resolve any tech issues. Then send the new hire their login info in their virtual welcome message.

The team meeting can serve several functions. It solves the problem of how to welcome a new employee virtually. It gives team members a chance to get to know one another. And, of course, it also allows you to introduce them to the company culture and explain their new job role.

Related: 9 Fun Ways To Welcome New Employees Virtually

7. Create opportunities for the new employee to connect with others

One of the most important parts of welcoming a new employee virtually is creating opportunities for the new employee to connect with others in the company. You can do this by suggesting they say ‘hi’ to their new coworkers on your company’s communications platform. 

Invite them to upload a pic, a meme, or even share a joke. This will depend on how formal or casual your workspace is.

Send them the link to your employees’ general chat forums in your initial welcoming message. Of course, this may be more effective with some new employees than others. People have different personalities, and not everyone is keen on taking the first step to interaction. So in the case of new employees who are a bit shy, we highly recommend the next step. 

8. Encourage team members to reach out to the new employee

Social connections are what make our days a bit brighter, and this is no less true in the workplace. Indeed, the average employee spends no less than a third of their life at work. So make these moments memorable and they’ll feel more positive about their work-life balance.

Peer-to-peer recognition is a winning form of interaction that you may want to encourage early on in the virtual welcome strategy. Encourage other team members to reach out to your new employees, and show them appreciation and validation.

One of the most effective virtual icebreakers though is to include funny welcome messages from their coworkers. They can also be added to gift cards with a welcome gift from the team. Humor puts anyone new to the team at ease and reduces the stress often felt the first few days in a new job. 

9. Organize a virtual game or activity

A bit of fun is a sure way to foster camaraderie among coworkers. Make your new employee part of the team, with enjoyable virtual games. This is easy to set up with video conferencing software. The possibilities are endless and you may find the perfect addition to your workplace team-building programs. 

To create a stronger connection to your company, devise puzzles or games that center around your organization. You don’t have to stick to group activities though. Solo games or puzzles are just as effective at making a new hire feel welcome in a virtual space.

Examples are a short quiz about your business or a ‘spot the difference’ picture game featuring your company logo. Once again, the only limit is your imagination. 

Don’t turn it into a test they feel they must pass. Keep it fun and you’ll easily discover how to welcome a new employee virtually at no expense. 

Key takeaways

When new employees feel welcome, they feel a sense of belonging that makes them engaged with the company and ultimately, more productive. Therefore, it’s in every company's best interest to learn the art of welcoming a new employee. 

Your welcome strategy should also mirror your workplace culture, and echo the sentiments behind your employer brand. A clever mix of vital information, essential training, and moments of levity is a winning recipe for a warm welcome for a new employee. 

A virtual welcome makes this possible in every type of work environment and any industry. But you don’t have to stress about how to welcome new employees virtually.

At PerkUp, we have a user-friendly online platform that makes it easy to welcome all your new hires, including remote workers, with gifts and company swag so that your employees feel appreciated right from the start.