​An apprentice’s first weeks with a company are often their most formative. The quicker they build trusted relationships with colleagues and feel part of the team, the quicker they are able to contribute and progress.
 
Where onboarding is taking place remotely, it is even more important that apprentices feel involved.

Here’s our top tips on onboarding your new apprentice:​

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In advance

✓  Technology set up: ensure your apprentice has access to a computer (where needed) and that they have been set up with an email address and added to any relevant email groups prior to their arrival. Put in place an electronic signature system to ensure speedy return of relevant documents. ✓  Add all relevant catch ups as scheduled events in their email calendars.  ✓  Make sure the apprentice’s training plan is job specific. Learning about areas of the business that have little day-to-day relevance for your new recruit will seem pointless, and may well demotivate. ✓  ​Ensure each day, at least for the first two weeks, includes a scheduled morning and afternoon contact with at least one colleague. ✓  Involve the team. Thinking back to their first weeks in the job, what would have made things easier for them? ✓  Prepare a Welcome email to send to your apprentice on their first day.  ✓  Ask the new starter to supply a photo and some fun facts about themselves for their Welcome email.  ✓  Assign a mentor who your apprentice can use as a point of contact; perhaps a former apprentice who has completed their programme and who is now an employee at your company.  ✓  Send a hard copy welcome pack, including your company handbook and any branded material such as a notepad, pen, folder or confectionery. ​​

Day One

✓  Carry out a workplace assessment to ensure your new starter has an appropriate space to work. If they don’t have a dedicated working space or desk, you might wish to consider a lap desk which allows them to work from a chair or sofa whilst at the same time maintaining good posture. ✓  Send an introductory email to all staff ‘XX joins the company today’, accompanied by their photo and fun facts to use as ice breakers in the 1-2-1s.  ✓  ​Share expectations on remote working, e.g. work attire, background to video calls (virtual or otherwise), and level of formality expected in email communications.

Effective learning and working​

✓  Factor in downtime for self learning and give guidance on useful learning tools. ✓  Invite the apprentice to shadow their colleagues, e.g. involving a Customer Services apprentice in a customer call.  ✓  Consider free software services like Loom which allow you to record videos of your screen or your camera, offering your apprentice a useful walk-through of software or processes.  ✓  ​Use the recording function on Zoom, Microsoft Teams or other video calls so that your apprentice has learning they can refer back to.  ✓  Where there are lots of staff on one particular video call, make use of breakout rooms to provide your apprentice with 1-2-1 time with different colleagues to help consolidate what has been learnt. ✓  Make use of instant messaging systems like WhatsApp for more immediate engagement than email. ✓  Consider how you might put any time saved from commuting to best effect. Could it be an opportunity for an informal team catch up on how they’re feeling, what they are working on, and what’s working well for them?

Building bonds with colleagues​

✓  Before you move to wider team calls/ meetings, schedule in virtual coffees with each colleague with whom your apprentice will work closely with. Less extrovert colleagues could be given a steer on what to talk about, e.g. where they live, hobbies, favourite football team, favourite foods and TV programmes. This ‘informal getting to know you’ could be used to test the apprentice on a ‘Who am I’? exercise. ✓  Consider the things you would normally do to integrate a new member of staff. Team lunch on the first day? Get the team together virtually to share a bite together at the end of Week 1. ✓  Motivate through connection. We all know that mental wellbeing breeds success in work. To help your apprentice take appropriate breaks from work, encourage team challenges like taking photos whilst out and about at lunchtime or number of steps achieved in one week.  ✓  ​Wherever possible, use video rather than phone calls. Seeing facial expressions and body language really helps build rapport between colleagues.

Ongoing​

✓  Wherever possible, use video rather than phone calls. Seeing facial expressions and body language really helps build rapport between colleagues.  ✓  Where staff are working remotely, their diaries tend to be better planned than when working together in an office or on site. Take advantage of this by using structured diaries as evidence of on-the-job training.