Overcoming overseas onboarding and offboarding challenges to build more engaged teams

Employee experience is arguably one of the most important aspects of any business – but it can feel like one of the hardest to get right.

But as more companies move toward a global workforce, how do HR teams ensure smooth onboarding and offboarding, and maintain a robust employee engagement programme when  staff members aren’t even in the same time zone?

Dissecting the challenges associated with remote onboarding

Onboarding is important to set the tone for a new employee’s journey. But when done remotely, it has its own special challenges.

When it comes to onboarding new employees remotely, the challenges are rife, and often include difficulty in making company connections, demonstrating culture, keeping new hires engaged, and effectively managing their technical environment and equipment. Communication and technical issues can have a frustrating effect on the remote onboarding experience, and an ineffective or sluggish process may seriously impact a new recruit’s engagement with the company they are joining.

But new hires aren’t the only people affected by onboarding. An easy onboarding process also helps reduce the administrative burden for human resources and hiring managers. 

Some best practices to create a positive and engaging onboarding experience include tailoring the onboarding timeline to the respective new employee, involving multiple team members, personalizing the experience and using onboarding software to streamline the process.

At Deel, we’ve found success by adopting the 4 Cs of onboarding—Compliance, Clarification, Culture, and Connection. This structured methodology not only creates a seamless onboarding experience but also sets the stage for long-term success.

1. Compliance: Ensuring that new hires complete the necessary paperwork and understands company policies. Onboarding software can help streamline this process.

2. Clarification: Clearly communicate job expectations, roles, and responsibilities. Provide resources and training sessions tailored to the employee’s position to set them up for success.

3. Culture: Introduce new hires to the company’s values and work environment. Share initiatives that showcase your organization’s identity.

4. Connection: Facilitate introductions with team members, mentors, and stakeholders to build relationships and create a sense of belonging.

Business leaders need to pay particular attention to connection and culture, which are particularly vulnerable in a virtual environment.

Tackling the tools of the trade for remote onboarding

We’ve likely all had an onboarding experience best described as an overwhelming avalanche of forms and tools that required lots of bookmarking and feeling as if it might be impossible to keep track of everything, let alone get up to speed. It’s not the greatest start to a new position, and today, keeping things simple is vital.

With advancements in technology – and especially cloud-based solutions – it’s now easier to offer streamlined onboarding experiences. Using an onboarding platform that is integrated with your existing software can provide a better new-employee experience. For example, a cloud-based onboarding platform can automatically sync with HR systems to update employee records, assign training modules, and schedule meetings with team members. This not only reduces the time spent on administrative tasks, but also ensures that employees have a seamless experience from day one.

There’s also the question of physical tools for new hires. Businesses with a global workforce need to effectively and efficiently provision and manage IT devices across international borders, which can be a complex process. But today, solutions like Deel IT help streamline the provisioning and management of digital equipment for companies with global teams. With support across over 127 countries, it simplifies tasks such as device delivery, collection, repair, and replacement, while also addressing security, pre-configuration, and data erasure, ensuring a smooth and efficient onboarding experience.

Overcoming the complexities of offboarding

While onboarding gets plenty of attention, offboarding often gets left by the wayside. It is easy to focus solely on the employee joining or leaving the organization, but HR teams must also consider the broader impact on the existing team. Clear communication and thoughtful planning ensure that transitions don’t disrupt team processes or dynamics. A poorly managed departure can result in disrupted workflows, lost institutional knowledge, and even damage to team morale.

To mitigate these risks, best practices like clear communication, knowledge transfer, and a structured handover process can help ensure that transitions are smooth. This includes planning ahead for role coverage and ensuring that the departing employee leaves behind detailed notes on ongoing projects or responsibilities.

Unsurprisingly, departing employees are often likely to give the most honest feedback. This is why exit interviews are critical to every company’s success – candid insights shared in exit interviews can be invaluable, providing HR managers with useful insights and diverse perspectives, helping them identify the best way to realign how the company moves forward and evolves.

One of the most useful ways to do this is collating all feedback from carefully crafted exit interview questions and using it to cross-reference with employee engagement surveys or performance data. Then, HR teams can draw up a broader picture from all inputs to advise the business with feedback and courses of action, if needed.

But exit interviews aren’t the only way to ensure companies learn as much as possible from departing employees. HR managers and senior leaders can also take the following steps to maintain positive relations with existing employees without disrupting the company.

1. Structured workflow management: When an employee decides to leave, start planning for their transition immediately. Assign tasks to other team members or hire a replacement well before the departure date to minimize disruptions. A clear workflow ensures that existing employees aren’t overburdened during the transition.

2. Clear communication of departures: When an employee is leaving, it is essential to have a clear communication plan to inform relevant stakeholders and collaborators.  Once this announcement has been shared with those impacted, you can focus on planning the transition, ensuring the departing employee connects with their replacement or other team members to facilitate continuity and minimize disruptions.

3. Knowledge transfer: Departing employees often hold valuable insights about their roles. Arrange comprehensive handover meetings, document key processes, and ensure that all relevant files and contacts are shared with their successors.

Managing employee departures effectively is crucial for maintaining a positive employee experience and ensuring seamless business operations. Ultimately, you don’t just need to think about the employee leaving or joining; you also need to think about the team surrounding them. A thoughtful offboarding process can help maintain morale, reinforce engagement, and ensure that remaining team members feel supported, valued, and connected to the organization’s goals.

By facilitating exit interviews, implementing structured workflows, informing impacted team members in advance, and facilitating thorough knowledge transfer, companies can preserve productivity and gather valuable insights from departing employees to better themselves for future workers.

The secret to success

HR teams play a vital role in overseeing everything from onboarding to offboarding, and ensuring that employee engagement remains strong throughout the employee lifecycle. A well-executed employee journey not only enhances retention but also boosts morale and aligns individual goals with the company’s mission, driving long-term success for both employees and the organization.