Set clear expectations
With remote work, you need to clearly write out what you want them to achieve in their first week, month and by the end of probation.
Highlight the importance of their wellbeing and a good work-life balance including hours of work in-line with your organisation’s policies.
Raise OHS and the employee assistance program (EAP)
Get your new employee to do an OHS self-assessment of their remote workstation. Or if your organisation offers it, a virtual assessment.
Act on anything you need to do right away.
Give them the contact details for EAP and what support they can access, such as in areas of mental health and family violence.
Confirm they understand the public sector values
We need to live by the Victorian public sector values even when we’re working remotely.
By the end of your new employee’s first week, confirm they’ve read and understood what the values are and mean.
Confirm they’ve read the code of conduct
We all need to abide by the relevant code of conduct for their role even when we’re working remotely.
Confirm with your new employee they’ve read and understand how the code of conduct is relevant to their role.
Find out their learning and development needs
Starting a new role will require your new employee to take on new information, learn new tasks and understand different policies and procedures.
Without traditional face-to-face learning, it is important to consider how you can support the learning required for your new employee to perform their role.
Think about things like:
- 1-on-1 learning with a peer
- online induction modules
- training they can book into
Set up a regular check-in
As you can’t casually check in with your new employee at their desk, schedule in a regular time to see how they’re going.
Check with your new employee how frequent they want them.
Show them the big picture
It may be hard for your new employee to connect with your organisation’s strategy if they work remotely.
Send them the strategic plan and any other important documents.
Set up a time to explain how their role and team’s role work towards achieving the strategy.
Talk with them about any projects they may have coming up that are part of the big picture.
Introduce them to the organisation
Remote work means your new employee may not feel like they’re part of the organisation right away.
Think of the ways you can introduce them to the organisation and teach them what each area does, such as:
- induction sessions
- internal e-news
- virtual team tour of each area of your organisation
Checklist for the end of their first week
- I’ve set clear expectations around their work, hours and work-life balance
- I’ve discussed probation and set up formal meetings to discuss performance
- I’ve assessed their OHS and told them about the EAP
- I’ve confirmed they’ve read and understood the public sector values and code of conduct
- I’ve discussed their learning and development need and have set up a regular check-in with them
- I’ve introduced them to the whole organisation and what each area does
- I’ve sent them my organisation’s strategic plan and set up a time to talk them through how their work relates to it
- I’ve booked them into my organisation’s induction program
- I’ve checked with my HR team my induction process complies with the enterprise agreement