How to Onboard Your Offshore Teammate

| May 3, 2020

Hiring a new remote teammate doesn’t mean your onboarding process has to suffer. In fact, it can be equally successful (or even better!). It’s important when hiring offshore to go into it with an open mind and understanding that it will be different from your onshore team. There are a number of things you can do to streamline your offshore onboarding. 

 

1. Assign the main point of contact for your offshore team member

Joining a team from a remote working environment has its challenges. For example, it’s much harder to form connections with your colleagues when you aren’t face-to-face. To ease this process we recommend assigning an internal employee as their ‘onboarding buddy’. Much like your HR department handles onboarding for new employees, your offshore team requires this too. 

Assign your offshore team member an internal buddy and have them work through all the necessary onboarding steps. Additionally, setting up a group video call to introduce the whole team so your new teammate can begin forming connections as per normal. 

 

2. Organise an opportunity for social interaction 

Workplaces often have Friday afternoon drinks, new employee gatherings, and lunchtime antics. It’s important when onboarding a new offshore colleague to include them in all of these social interactions. Your new team member needs to feel included and there is no better way to do this than these types of events. 

Next time you’re at afternoon drinks with your colleagues, place a laptop on a counter and dial in your offshore teammate for some necessary bonding time with your team. 

 

3. Set up various communication technologies to stay up-to-date

In these days of strong technology, digital communication has never been easier. It’s all about forming a strong communication plan and installing technologies to foster this. Some apps such as Slack, Zoom, or Basecamp can be great examples in keeping the conversation going. 

 

4. Create and establish strong feedback loops 

Once you have established your communication tech stack, it’s now time to put this into practice. Schedule a weekly catch up with your offshore colleague and include relevant team members to this call. Additionally, setting up regular one-on-ones with their direct manager is important to keep feedback strong. 

Feedback is an easy step to forget because internally it can be a casual conversation. Within your weekly meetings make sure you mention your teammates wins and also areas of improvement so they can continue to meet your expectations. 

 

5. Ensure your team has emotional support while working remotely

An important (and often neglected) part with remote working is ensuring your colleague feels emotionally supported. Emotional support ensures your offshore team feels part of your onshore team. Additionally, they feel comfortable raising issues with you. To provide emotional support, have daily check-ins with your team and see where they are at with project progress and general wellbeing. You’ll be surprised at the difference this can make. 

MVP Asia Pacific prides itself on providing the best working conditions for our offshore team. We have a dedicated HR department to ensure team happiness and wellbeing at any given time. If you’re interested in working with our team of experts, get in touch today. 

 

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