All the key management challenges that typified 2020 have carried over into 2021. And with job moves set to pick up in the early part of the year, group treasurers will be eager to optimise the process of onboarding recruits in a virtual environment.
In this month’s first piece on online onboarding, Michael Page Treasury consultant Helen Jones talks about how the pandemic has changed the face of hiring. She also highlights points of etiquette that companies and candidates must be aware of as recruitment efforts in the professional sphere look set to remain in a video-based format for the foreseeable future.
First of all, how has the pandemic forced recruiters and their clients to reinvent the hiring and onboarding process?
It’s changed how we approach everything, whether we’re looking at how we do things virtually, or how we speak to candidates. The most important step has been for everyone to realise that there has to be a change. We’re faced with this pandemic for the moment, so how can we make the most of the assets we have to keep the hiring process moving?
For many clients, the pandemic has highlighted skills gaps they are now looking to recruit for. They are also trying to understand the challenges of the blended workforce and how to manage them – whether from the perspective of people management, training or shadowing at home, plus issues around physical and mental health.
From the candidates’ side, everyone has shifted in terms of what they are looking for. One thing we have told our clients is that learning and development is key. Candidates want to know which skills they will be able to pick up at their next employer that will help accentuate their profiles – particularly in treasury.
We’re also having more conversations with candidates about what employers stand for than about salary requirements. As a result of those considerations, we’ve had candidates accept the pay they are already on to move, compared to pre-pandemic, where they’d expect a rise each time. So, development and culture are becoming really important.
What about differences in etiquette between in-person and online recruitment? Should everyone assume it will be more relaxed and less formal, or is it best to maintain a formal approach?
We’re accepting at this time that there’s a more relaxed approach. Candidates are eager to know more about what businesses are about – for example, how have they treated their staff during the pandemic? What’s their approach to sustainability? What are the development and flexible working opportunities?
It’s a case of assessing the employer in a wider scope. In the absence of the natural rapport and body language you get face to face, there’s a need to break down the barriers and talk about the things you wouldn’t normally discuss until you’re actually in the business.
On the reverse side of that, clients are trying to find out more about what candidates are like as people – what they enjoy doing in their spare time, and so on – and get more of a big-picture sense of who they are. Again, that stems from the absence of in-person body language, and the sort of small-talk rapport that may happen during the trip in the lift up from reception to the interview room.
That challenge of overcoming distance is on everyone’s mind. We all accept that the blended workforce is here to stay – but once we return to some normality, there has to be a level of actually meeting people, even if just briefly over coffee. It does wonders for a candidate to buy into a client and vice versa.
The current conditions are also affecting us as recruiters – we’re having quite lengthy calls with candidates to find out standard, personality-based things about them that we’d normally be able to pick up in a 20- or 30-minute coffee meeting.
Have we seen an emergence of virtual inductions during the pandemic? And what’s best practice for managing them?
Yes, definitely. We had a couple of instances in September where new joiners were allowed in their respective offices, but initial inductions have now moved online.
For a start, employers must ensure that they don’t have just one collaborative technology platform in the business. Workers are obviously quite clued up with Zoom and Teams, but it’s important to explore a range of options to accommodate what works for both parties.
For new joiners and managers alike, eye contact is a big plus – even more so than during an in-person meeting, as it is really obvious when people aren’t looking at the camera or computer screen. So, whichever side of the conversation you are on, that’s something that the person you are speaking to will really pick up on. Also, make sure that you’re framed in a way that enables you to use your hands, too, to make the conversation feel more normal.
Rather than going straight to business on a video call, a manager should break the ice with some informal conversation about what the new joiner did at the weekend or the previous evening – small questions that can put people at ease. Another thing that’s quite important is to ask the new joiner how they feel about remote working, because not everybody enjoys it. It’s about managing the new joiner’s situation; understand what doesn’t work for them and look at ways to help them work the best they can.
Come up with an itinerary for the new joiner’s first couple of weeks. Explain to them what their mornings and afternoons may look like – treasurers tend to have routines for those parts of the day, so they will appreciate that sort of information. Help them understand what their deadlines are likely to be. Provide any necessary training around technology platforms. Ensure they have all the hardware they need in terms of phones and laptops. Would they like to sort the equipment out themselves, or should you send it out?
How should employers introduce a recruit to their new colleagues in a way that doesn’t leave said joiner feeling ‘Zoomed out’?
Interestingly – and I hadn’t seen this before the pandemic – candidates serving out their notice periods have been asking me, “What can I do in the meantime to connect with my new team?”
They want to be able to contact their new line manager and even take part in team meetings – not every day, but perhaps once a week – so they can feel more involved. And everybody gets behind it because it signals that everyone is positive about the transition.
Ensuring that new joiners don’t get Zoomed out is about understanding what works for them and what sort of level of contact they like. But I’d definitely recommend breaking it down and introducing them to colleagues in small groups, rather than giving them a screen of 20 or more faces, which could be quite intimidating.
Further information
Read Part 2 of our guide to online onboarding, by teambuilding expert Jo Owen, here.
Matt Packer is a freelance business, finance and leadership journalist