(BigStock Photo)

Remote work can be challenging enough for the workers who are already established at a particular company. Onboarding new employees, and ensuring those workers connect with teammates and the culture of a workplace can be especially difficult.

New analysis using data from Seattle-based startup TINYpulse examines some of the hurdles facing new employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. TINYpulse helps organizations including Microsoft, Providence and King County determine how happy, frustrated or burned out their people are so they can use the insights to improve retention, recognition and results.

Dr. Brooks Holtom and Dr. Elora Voyles led the research, which looked at more than 100 organizations which onboarded more than 500 new hires between April and September 2019 and compared that data with the same organizations that onboarded nearly 500 new hires between April and September 2020 to see how attitudes and behaviors differed.

Among the findings, new hires onboarded during the pandemic are actually self reporting that they’re doing just as well as those hired the previous year. But their behavior betrays those results.

Using an online recognition platform from TINYpulse called “Cheers for Peers,” the data shows a 34% drop in peer recognition for new hires onboarded in 2020 versus 2019. Isolation is blamed, as those onboarded after COVID-19 are not as connected with their teammates as they seemingly say, and the “casual collisions” of a physical workplace are missing.

The research also found that fewer employees hired after the pandemic and remote work were connecting with company values, which can be a sign of lower engagement and commitment, according to TINYpulse. This was measured again in Cheers for Peers, where employees are encouraged to tag company values when calling out good work by colleagues. Those hired after the pandemic were doing less of this.

(TINYpulse graphic)

TINYpulse said the lack of connection with colleagues and disengagement from company values can be mitigated through corrective action, even as remote work continues into the foreseeable future.

Some simple methods to reinforce company values include:

  • Reiterating values during all-hands meetings and emphasizing the real-life experiences of people who have demonstrated those values.
  • Citing examples of values in action in company communications.
  • Including values as tags that can be added to recognition.
  • Providing rewards to individuals who live out company values externally to customers and internally to colleagues.

Creating a mentoring program could also have positive effects on performance, interpersonal relations and career success. TINYpulse contends that employees who feel mentored and coached in their organization send more recognition to their colleagues, and a mentoring program helps new hires ramp up to speed not only on the productivity front but also on the interpersonal teammate front.

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