Having a “First Day” remotely
I want to share something different from the rest posts, my experience of doing a fully remote onboard in my new company.
The night before joining, I wasn't able to sleep (which always happens to me when I have these events), so I decided to sit down and put my thoughts in words.
At the moment of writing this paragraph, I already finished my “First Day”, and I think it's quite cool to see what I was thinking just the day before joining in contrast to what happened.
Without delaying furthermore, let's begin!
The day before
After months of waiting for this moment, I am happy to announce that today is my first day at my new company. But despite my excitement, there is something off ...
In contrast with the other “First Day”, this one is going to be at Home. Right here at my desk. In the same chair that I was using for the previous one. That's weird.
Don't get me wrong. I like working from Home. I think it provides a lot of flexibility to people, and one can be more focused because there are almost no external distractions (except you decide to turn on the TV and watch Netflix ...).
But it just feels wrong. To get to know the people with whom I am going to work for the next months via an online video call, instead of meeting them face to face and later go for lunch all together.
I didn't face any of these doubts when moving from the office to home-office schema, but because I knew the whole team before.
Maybe it wasn't the best time to venture into a new job because of all the problems caused by the Virus. At the same time, it was something that I was seeking. And when I look at the big picture, this is just a minor problem.
Luckily I work in an industry in which I can easily co-operate with my team in a remote environment, and also there are plenty of tools that can help with that too. I hope I can develop myself as I always did and get to know my colleagues well-to-do a better job.
Wish me luck 🤞
End of the “First Day”
OMG, what a day! I don't want to join any group meeting in a very long time.
It was a full day of Onboard, from the start of the day until the end, with meetings scheduled every 45 minutes plus breaks of 5/10 minutes to grab some coffee or tea.
The good thing: it's done! Somehow they managed to fit everything: from setting up the laptop, explaining all the HR-related stuff, KPI's, legal, etc. Looking back, I have to admit it was quite impressive.
Remember that I mentioned I was worried about not meeting my team properly? Well, that happened. Because I was doing the onboarding, the only interaction I had was a simple welcome message on the team Slack. So after the first day, I still don't know the faces of my colleagues. Just their Slack profile pictures ...
Luckily tomorrow, I am going to take part in a normal day of work. Joining the first Daily with the team, which I am quite curious to know how it will be. In all the companies I've worked for, they were never the same.
Closing words
Onboards like it or not are going to be exhausting. You are going to go back home with your head spinning because of everything they showed you. Most probably not remembering half of the stuff and with a very long TO-DO list for tomorrow.
I normally don't share this kind of story, but I think a lot of people might find it interesting because of the current situation that we are all living.
Thanks for reading.
Stay safe.
Ema.