How We Have Virtually On-Boarded New Employees During the Lockdown

Business changed overnight when lockdowns were announced to curb the spread of Covid-19. As of 12th March, our entire workforce was advised to work from home and shortly thereafter this became mandatory.

As a talent acquisition team we are fortunate enough to work at a financially sound and growing company that is still hiring for new roles. However, nearly all aspects from interviewing all the way through to hiring and onboarding have changed in some way.

Chances are, any company that has had employees start during lockdown has wondered how they will make the onboarding seamless and still deliver a great experience. As we are continually hiring new employees around the globe, we have had to adapt our normal approach to onboarding. We swiftly adapted our processes in order to onboard employees 100% virtually.

Some changes have been very straightforward such as shipping equipment directly to employee’s homes, whereas other changes have been more subtle but nevertheless have made a huge difference. One of them is expanding informal ways of staying in contact such as…..

• Virtual coffee mornings over Zoom
• Virtual Happy Hours on a Friday

Even just simply ensuring that we all say good morning to each other over Hangouts as a way of staying in touch.

In terms of the on-boarding itself we made the decision to condense our ‘’normal’’ 3-day on-site on-boarding sessions into smaller, virtual sessions of 2 hours per day over 5 days so as not to overwhelm employees with 3 full days of slides and videos!

We have taken the time to show even more compassion, patience, understanding and flexibility during this time as many people have personal worries they are dealing with.

Here are some kind words from new employees who have experienced first hand what being on-boarded during the lockdown has been like for them…

“I was on-boarded at Ivalua remotely from the other side of the world due to the lockdown. This has not prevented me from having a great onboarding experience and I have found even given the circumstances my onboarding has been extremely structured. Ivalua has ensured that I was assigned an on-boarding buddy, that I was included in as many calls as possible whether it is a weekly sales call or weekly solutions consulting virtual meetings or general conference calls, all of which have helped a lot during my on-boarding experience” 

– Christian Becker – Solution Consultant Middle East

“I was very happy with the virtual onboarding. I felt that people were putting in a lot of effort to get us up to speed and help us be productive. What really stood out to me was the entire onboarding process. I started on the first day of WFH and I received my laptop via courier at home. I have never met any of the people I work with in person. But still, I feel like I am part of the team and well integrated. We have daily team meetings via Zoom for 15 – 30 minutes, not to discuss work, just to talk and feel connected. This has helped me immensely to feel like a part of it all – that to me is the real indicator of how well the onboarding went.” 

– Philipp Setz – Senior Legal Counsel EMEA

“I am really excited to share about my experience on being remotely on-boarded at Ivalua. I got my offer letter in the first week of March with a joining date of 6th Apr. I was very excited about the new job and then, COVID-19 happened, a complete lock-down was imposed and the whole world came to a standstill. News about companies laying off their employees, pay cuts, halt in hiring process, etc started coming up. I was saddened by the news and was scared about my job. I got an update from Ivalua about the extension of my joining date by a week. What a relief it was to hear that! Remote on-boarding can be very challenging to implement considering there are different policies that the company has to adhere to. It’s a pleasure to be a part of such a great team!” 

–    Varun Mahajan – Implementation Specialist

“I’ve had a great onboarding process at Ivalua.   It’s still strange that I’m working here and have not physically met any of my co-workers yet!   However,  I’ve had countless video calls from the interview process all the way till now during my first week at Ivalua with the training process.   My computer supplies were shipped out to me the Friday before my start date and my IT contact (John) was great at walking me through the IT systems process etc.. Leading up to my start date Ivalua HR have been great at communicating with me and making sure the process went smoothly.   I don’t think it could have gone any smoother so I was impressed.” 

–   John Fritch – Senior Accounts Receivable

“Ivalua is unlike any other company I have worked for during my career. Gab P. and the team have been extremely welcoming and supportive during my short time here. And I am very thankful for that. There were some minor “bumps in the road” during my first few days (laptop being lost in transit) but other than that, the entire process has been very smooth during these uncertain times. This has been a new challenge for everyone involved, but I don’t think it could have been an easier transition into this new role. Again, I would like to thank everyone for being incredibly welcoming and patient. And a special shoutout to Nancy H. for making the entire hiring process easy and always making me laugh during our chats. Ivalua is AWESOME!” 

– Brad Perry – Graphic Designer

As a company, Ivalua has adapted and adjusted in any way necessary to make our onboarding just as seamless as it was in the past.  We are so fortunate to be part of a successful, growing business and therefore still be hiring. Please check out our Careers page.