In this episode Kerry McFarlane is talking to Vicky Crichton, Director of Public Policy at The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission.
Vicky has held some really interesting posts over the years where she influences the direction of communications, and creates a strategy to deliver this to her audience.
Here we are discussing the virtual onboarding process, key learnings on how to make this a positive experience and how you ensure your values and culture are not lost.
Here are some of the key points we have taken from the conversation with Vicky:
- There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to onboarding virtually and we have learned from experience it needs to be tailored to the needs of your new hire. Everyone has a different set up working from home and what works for one person might not for another, take the time to think about what an individual needs and how you can best support them.
- Introducing people from different business areas will make your new hire feel like part of the team. As well as meeting key stakeholders they will be working closely with, why not introduce a ‘buddy’: Someone they can ask general questions about the office, who can give you an insight into the culture of the business, and it’s completely not related to their specific job role.
- Virtual interviews can be a very robust process, and be as useful in getting to know your prospective hire as a face to face meeting. Using various methods of communications, and styles of interviews, allows you to really get under the skin of a person and you can build as clear a picture online as you can face to face.
- The small things matter. Whether it be group chats keeping you connected throughout the day, or your weekly stand up office wide meeting keeping some form of consistency. It takes all forms of communication to build and maintain that virtual culture.
We loved hearing Vicky’s experiences and we hope that you have taken something away from the conversation. If you would like to work with Iconic Resourcing and for support on how to attract and retain the right people for your business please Kerry at kerry@iconicesourcing.com