What Is Virtual Onboarding? Benefits and Best Practices

Virtual onboarding answers the call for global, remote talent

After the interview process, a new hire’s first impression of a company—its values, mission, vision, people, and workflow processes—comes during the onboarding process. The rising trend of hybrid and remote work, hiring global talent, and the need for an enhanced employee experience has organizations scrambling to find a scalable solution.

For many, virtual onboarding—with a market value of $2B in 2025 and climbing—has answered the call to connect, engage, and retain new hires, regardless of their location. Virtual onboarding replaces or supplements the in-person orientation experience through online onboarding platforms, video conferencing, and content distributed through learning management systems (LMSs).

But, how do organizations build on and replace successful in-person onboarding programs with virtual onboarding programs while keeping costs down and quality high? In this post, we’ll explore exactly what virtual onboarding is, its key benefits, and actionable best practices to engage remote hires and ensure smooth onboarding in today’s digital-at-work world.

What is virtual onboarding?

Definition and core components

Virtual onboarding eliminates many of the needs—and costs—of in-person interaction by moving the process of integrating new hires online, using digital tools to facilitate their introduction and training. Virtual onboarding processes vary by industry, but there are several core components vital to a seamless experience, including:

• Preboarding activities. Preboarding—the phase between offer acceptance and a new hire’s first day—is increasingly used by organizations to provide welcome kits, set up login credentials, and prepare employees for onboarding.
• Digital orientation. Just as first-year college students are introduced to their new environment, digital orientation introduces new hires to the organization’s values, culture, and operational policy.
• Self-paced learning. While onboarding has a definite timeline, remote hires can complete learning modules covering role-specific training at their own pace.
• “Paperless” paperwork. Necessary documentation like tax forms and contracts can be completed digitally through e-signature software to streamline the administrative process.
• Social integration. Relationship-building via virtual coffee chats, mentorship meetings, and team-building activities help new remote hires form a sense of belonging, despite the distance.
• Ongoing support. Consistent communication, support, and opportunities for feedback are crucial to consistently engaging new hires.

How it compares to in-person onboarding

While in-person onboarding has its advantages—instant feedback and support, for example—virtual onboarding provides a higher level of consistency and flexibility. Self-paced learning caters to the remote employee, allowing for on-the-go mobile learning while avoiding the costs of synchronous, instructor-led sessions.

Organizations can also tap into the benefits of microlearning, an instructional strategy that distributes learning through bite-sized, interactive e-learning modules that reduce cognitive load and increase engagement. Compared to the sometimes stale, passive experience of traditional in-person onboarding, virtual onboarding provides a consistent and engaging orientation for new employees.

Key benefits of virtual onboarding

Cost and time savings

Virtual onboarding reduces or eliminates costs associated with in-person onboarding like travel expenses, venue rental, and materials costs. Because most learning experiences are moved online and HR processes are automated, organizations and learners save massive amounts of time.

Expanded and diverse talent pool

If I sought to find the tallest palm tree in the whole world but only focused my efforts on my home state of Minnesota, my options would be extremely underwhelming, to say the least. Similarly, organizations have found that the best talent isn’t always within commuting distance of the office, or even that a physical office isn’t necessary at all.

Virtual onboarding empowers organizations to expand their search to a wider, global talent pool. And by extension, virtual onboarding empowers candidates to expand their search beyond borders, and integrate into company culture without leaving the comfort of their own home.

Consistency and scalability

Team size and location no longer act as limiting factors. Virtual onboarding delivers a consistent, high-quality, and personalized training experience for all new hires, regardless of how many there are and where they are located. Scaling up no longer necessitates hiring more instructors or creating new material.

Enhanced accessibility, sustainability, and inclusivity

Reaching a wider talent pool doesn’t just mean geographically. Virtual onboarding programs make it easier to meet accessibility standards for employees with visual, auditory, physical, or mental disabilities. This inclusive nature of virtual onboarding opens the door to underserved communities.

Removing the travel requirements and materials printing costs associated with in-person onboarding helps organizations meet their sustainability goals, and attracts a growing number of candidates that hold environmental issues high on their list when applying.

Best practices for virtual onboarding

Digital preboarding kits and welcome communications

To keep the excitement built during the interviewing process going, immediately send a preboarding welcome kit to new hires. Consider including the following:

• A personalized welcome email from their manager
• A digital employee handbook
• Administrative forms
• An interactive checklist of what to expect during preboarding and onboarding
• Company history on an interactive timeline and an organizational hierarchy chart
• A Google form “about me” questionnaire for new hires to fill out

Sending required equipment and setting up tech early

There’s nothing worse than juggling the stress of your first day on the job with tech issues. Remove this barrier by making sure new hires are properly equipped—with a laptop, tablet, smartphone, or other accessories—before their first day. Ship this equipment to them with all necessary software pre-downloaded and instructions for setting up company accounts and credentials.

To ensure a smooth setup, provide a contact number and email for IT support. You can even assign new hires to specific IT associates so they know ahead of time who they might be hearing from.

Company swag with a personal touch

Your new remote employees likely won’t find a company-branded sweatshirt at their local strip mall. Send a Google form with the preboarding welcome kit that asks their preferred shirt size and give them an option to receive other swag like a coffee mug, backpack, or notebook. Include a personalized note with quick messages from individuals on their new team.

Clear communication channels and introductions

Onboarding is a hectic time for new hires. They’re taking in more information than they can likely retain, so the very least you can provide is clear communication. Ensure they have open communication lines with IT, their manager and team, and anyone else they need to make integration easier.

With this in mind, make sure who they’ll be in contact with expects to hear from them. Encourage open lines of communication with current team members just as much as new ones.

Role integration, mentorship, and relationship-building

Sometimes, onboarding programs use a one-size-fits-all approach that ignores the complex, unique nature of an individual’s role within the organization. They may form solid relationships with other new hires, but feel like complete strangers to their actual team members after onboarding.

Help new hires build a sense of belonging and value by facilitating:

• One-on-one and group meet-and-greets with team members
• Weekly manager meetings to establish expectations, goals, and support structure
• Role-specific, personalized training modules with real-world examples to accelerate time-to-productivity
• Mentor meetings with a senior team member
• A confidence-building first project they can accomplish quickly that simulates their daily workflow

Automation, asynchronous learning, and personalized content

It’s a common myth that new hire onboarding only lasts a few weeks. Ideally, onboarding should continue for up to the first year of a new hire’s time. To keep new hires engaged beyond their first few weeks, provide professional growth opportunities and encourage continuous learning.

Asynchronous learning content, personalized to the new hire’s role and trajectory within the company, should be available to access at any time, from anywhere, and on any device. Once they’ve mastered the basics of their new role, goals for upskilling and reskilling can be discussed with their manager. With a robust LMS like Articulate’s Reach, personalized learning can be automated, giving new hires a clear pathway toward professional development.

Common virtual onboarding challenges and how to address them

Building social connection and combating isolation

Without face-to-face interaction, building genuine relationships can be difficult. You’ll want to do as much as you can to help new hires bond with their team, despite being in different time zones. To combat the isolation many remote workers feel from their team, facilitate virtual networking events to make connections. These can be held live through video conferencing or team members can send recorded video messages back and forth with guided, weekly topics.

Ask the new hire’s team members to fill out short “about me” questionnaires that include hobbies and interests outside of work. Turn them into interactive flashcards with their names, photos, and roles on the front and hobbies and interests on back. Send these to the new hire as part of a “Get to know the team” microlearning module they can access at any time.

Technical difficulties and access issues

Technical issues can slow down the onboarding process, frustrating new hires and delaying productivity due to a slower ramp time. New hires should be introduced to the IT department—and other departments they’ll cross paths with—as soon as possible to develop an understanding of their role.

Use a learning management system (LMS) that makes content and user management simple, with access controls and learner progress tracking built in.

Avoiding information overload

Assigning dense, disorganized onboarding material to your new hires all but guarantees they’ll disengage before finding and understanding key principles and concepts. The limitations of our working memory—where we store new information before committing it to long term memory—can be addressed using cognitive load theory.

When designing onboarding content, CLT provides advice on how to approach all three types of cognitive load every learner will encounter.  You’ll need to manage intrinsic load, which is the inherent complexity of any given topic, eliminate extraneous load, which is any non-essential content that only distracts the learner, and optimize germane load, which is any content that contributes directly to learning.

Tools and tech to support virtual onboarding

Onboarding software platforms

Software platforms that help facilitate and centralize virtual onboarding programs can be a major help to streamline the process. Here are three proven onboarding software platforms, trusted by training pros:

1. BambooHR. For small to mid-sized organizations looking to simplify the onboarding process, BambooHR offers new hire packet templates, e-signature software, automated workflows, and interactive onboarding checklists.
2. Deel. Ideal for mid-market and enterprise level organizations, Deel streamlines onboarding through automated task lists, facilitates relationship-building with meetup roulettes, and organizes weekly 1-on-1s within Slack.
3. Greenhouse. Greenhouse simplifies recruitment, optimizes the hiring process, and automates tedious tasks like scheduling interviews and distributing interview prep to candidates.

Communication and collaboration tools

To facilitate virtual meet-and-greets, one-on-one meetings, and day-to-day workflow operations, you’ll need the best available communication and collaboration tools. Tools like Zoom focus heavily on live video conferencing, whereas Teams and Slack are ideal for brainstorming, informal discussions via text and video, and file sharing.

Tools like Asana and Trello can help with workflow management, with Trello being ideal for smaller teams with a need for visual tracking and Asana for larger, more complex workflows involving multiple teams and multiple projects.

Course authoring tools and templates

If your goal is to create engaging onboarding content, simplify collaboration, and seamlessly distribute content to learners wherever they are and to whatever device they’re using, it’s crucial to invest in a robust e-learning platform. With Articulate 360, you can create virtual onboarding courses 9x faster with integrated AI, ensure learning for everyone with built-in accessibility features, and distribute content globally with end-to-end localization support.

Final takeaways

Virtual onboarding empowers organizations to select from an increasingly remote, global talent tool. Moving onboarding tools online reduces costs, simplifies scalability, and enhances accessibility. Despite geographic distance, remote and hybrid employees can be successfully integrated and connected to workplace culture through virtual onboarding best practices. Send new hires digital welcome kits, company swag, and the necessary tech to reach full productivity sooner.

Lastly, ensure you’re using the right tools for the job. Find the best workflow software, communication apps, and course authoring tools to streamline the onboarding process for your new hires.

Curious how other organizations have embraced a diverse talent pool with virtual training? Check out how BJC Healthcare uses e-learning to deliver scalable, flexible learning experiences to tens of thousands of employees.

Ready to start building effective virtual onboarding courses? Start your free trial of the Articulate 360 platform today.