Our firm recently added a terrific new member to our client services team. She’s totally remote, but hit the ground running because we put a lot of thought into our onboarding process for new employees. More on that in a minute.
Until a few years ago, we never would have been able to recruit a staff person of her caliber because she lives on the other side of the country and would not have been willing to relocate for this job. But, thanks to advances in remote work, our talent pool is nationwide instead of within five miles of the office. Instead of having six good candidates to choose from, we had 60! Even better, we didn’t have to pay local Dallas wages or relocation expenses for this position, which are very high now since Dallas has a high cost of living.
Of course, when bringing fully remote people into your company, the onboarding process is a little different. One of the things we include in our onboarding packages is a virtual work-from-home allowance. This includes money for a new computer and all the accessories our remote staff needs to present a first-class work-from-home presence to our clients — high-quality cameras, high-quality microphones/headsets, and professional backdrops that are consistent with our firm’s branding.
Clients are trusting you to be their trusted advisors. They expect a certain level of professionalism. You don’t want to look like you’re operating your business from a basement boiler room or spare bedroom.
Another important lesson we’ve learned over time is that most of your new remote team members are not technology specialists. They’ll need help getting all their devices and connections to sync with yours. One of the best ways to streamline that process is to have a standardized technology stack for all of your remote team members. It should be clear in their onboarding package: “This is the camera we use. This is the microphone we use. This is the laptop we use. This is the standard backdrop we use (i.e., no beach scenes or rodeo bars in the background)."
For example, we all use the Yeti Blue microphone. (Note: Products and services mentioned in this article are for illustrative purposes only. They should not imply an endorsement.) I can tell new team members exactly what the different settings are and how to use them. But if everyone had a different microphone, our IT support team would be spending all day customizing the technology setup for each virtual employee
You also want to be clear about having the right camera angle for your virtual team members. For instance, you don’t want the camera pointed at a corner of your ceiling because you’re essentially having the camera looking up your nose. I’ve also seen people with cameras pointed at an awkward angle so they’re not even making eye contact with the person speaking to them. Sounds crazy, but this is what I see 60% of the time on Zoom calls and it’s just plain silly. New team members need coaching around things like how to operate in a Zoom environment and how to make it consistent.
I’ve found tools such as Loom very helpful for creating brief video tutorials for new employees that walk them through the basics. (For more, see my article
I know it’s easier to train and manage new employees when they’re just down the hall from you, but if technology allows you to draw from a nationwide talent pool instead of a five-mile radius around your office — and not have to pay the high cost of living in your area — isn’t it worth investing in a virtual onboarding process?
By the way, the talented remote service person I mentioned at the beginning of this article came to us from a huge firm that was offering more money. She was attracted to our firm’s culture and the work flexibility we offer. If you think about it, having a well-defined virtual onboarding process gives you a competitive advantage in today’s tight labor market.
When you're talking about onboarding new people, the best thing to do is to keep it simple. Make sure they have consistent tools to deliver a great experience to your clients. Again, a good microphone, a good camera, and company-approved backdrop. But, if you’re not clear about those things upfront, you’re just leaving it to interpretation. So, there’s no way to get it right if somebody doesn’t know what the goal is.
If you think about how many interactions a virtual staff person has with your clients, paying attention to how they look and how they sound is incredibly important. I’d say that 90% of our client communication is over the phone or over Zoom. I bet your firm’s ratio is similar. I know CPAs can be pretty thrifty, but investing a few hundred dollars in your virtual staff’s cameras, microphones, backdrops, etc. will pay huge dividends down the road.
