Virtual Onboarding 101 - Definition, Best Practices, Examples

Guides to virtual onboarding cover the human side well: a buddy, a welcome call, regular check-ins. They rarely cover the software side. In an office, a new hire who can't find the expense form asks the person at the next desk; at home, they search, guess or wait. In-app guidance and recorded tutorials fill that gap, and this guide covers them alongside the people practices.

What is virtual onboarding?

Virtual onboarding is the process of introducing, training and integrating new employees remotely, using video calls, digital handbooks, online courses and collaboration tools instead of an office. New hires learn the company's culture, values, mission and job expectations without meeting anyone in person.

Virtual onboarding mixes two modes. Synchronous onboarding happens live: one-on-one training over video, team introductions, Q&A sessions. Asynchronous onboarding is self-paced: modules, pre-recorded videos and documents new hires work through when it suits them.

The process usually runs in three overlapping phases:

1. Orientation: the organisation, its structure, policies and procedures.
2. Job training: the skills, tools and systems the role needs, through live sessions, self-paced courses and practice tasks.
3. Connection: relationships with the manager, the team and a mentor or buddy, through team activities and informal meetups.

This guide is about employees. If you're onboarding the users of a product, our post on user onboarding vs employee onboarding explains how the two differ.

How do you onboard remote employees to the software they'll use?

Put the guidance inside the tools, so help appears where the new hire is working instead of in a separate document. Two kinds of tools do this, and the ones we review, as of October 2026, include:

• Recorded tutorials. Someone clicks through a task once; new hires replay it step by step. iorad records the steps you click through in a browser or desktop app and turns them into interactive tutorials. Its free plan covers public tutorials; paid plans start at $200 a month for one creator, with unlimited learners.
• Digital adoption platforms. Walkthroughs, tooltips and checklists laid over the applications staff use. Apty adds walkthroughs, tooltips, field validations and usage analytics to enterprise applications, while WalkMe and Whatfix cover web, desktop and mobile apps for staff or customers. All three sell by quote.

Reviewers of these tools value exactly this. In the G2 reviews we read (October 2026), employee and internal-software adoption was the joint-most praised theme for Apty (78 of 147 reviews), and it came up in 16 of the 52 iorad reviews we read. Our list of digital adoption platforms covers more options; for customer-facing products, see our roundup of user onboarding software.

What are the benefits of virtual onboarding?

Virtual onboarding brings five main benefits for employers and new hires:

• Flexibility. New hires complete much of their orientation at their own pace and from anywhere, without travel or scheduling conflicts.
• Lower costs. No travel, accommodation, printed materials or dedicated training rooms.
• Global reach. You can hire and onboard people wherever they live, which widens your talent pool.
• Consistency and speed. Recorded material gives every hire the same experience, and self-paced modules let fast learners move ahead.
• Sustainability. Less travel means lower emissions.

How do you onboard a new employee virtually?

Plan the first 90 days before the hire starts, then mix live contact with self-paced work. A typical sequence:

1. Before day one: ship the laptop and equipment, create accounts and access, and send the first week's schedule.
2. Day one: hold a live welcome call with the manager and team, and introduce the new hire's buddy.
3. Week one: run orientation sessions on culture and policies, alongside self-paced material and a written onboarding checklist.
4. Weeks two to four: start role-specific training and a first small task, with regular check-ins.
5. Days 30, 60 and 90: review progress against the plan in a video one-on-one.

What is the 30-60-90 onboarding rule?

A 30-60-90 day plan sets goals for a new hire's first 30, 60 and 90 days, usually learning in the first month, contributing in the second and owning work in the third. In virtual onboarding, the plan replaces much of what a new hire would pick up by watching colleagues, so write it down, share it on day one and review it at each checkpoint.

What are the best practices for virtual onboarding?

Six practices make the biggest difference when there's no office to absorb things from.

1. Establish your company culture

Culture shapes engagement and retention, and remotely it has to be built on purpose. Encourage communication and collaboration with regular virtual team activities, virtual coffee breaks and shared channels in tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams.

2. Create an employee handbook

An employee handbook sets out the organisation's policies, procedures and expectations. In virtual onboarding it becomes the central source new hires can check at any time, so keep it digital and searchable. Cover company values, the code of conduct, benefits and remote work policies.

3. Develop a structured onboarding programme

The principles that make user onboarding work apply to employees too: clear objectives, milestones and a timeline. Include virtual orientation sessions, introductions to key colleagues, role-specific training and self-paced resources, and give new hires a roadmap of the whole programme.

4. Build personal connections

Assign a mentor or buddy who guides the new employee and answers their questions. Add regular check-ins, virtual lunches or informal meetups, so new hires get social time as well as training.

5. Use training videos and video calls

Training videos deliver the same content to every hire: company history, products, software tutorials and ways of working. Our guide to onboarding videos covers how to keep them short and useful. Use live video calls for interactive training, Q&A sessions and presentations.

6. Schedule one-on-one meetings

Regular one-on-ones between new hires and their managers or teammates allow personal discussion, clarification, goal setting and feedback. They build the rapport that hallway conversations would build in an office.

How does GitLab onboard new team members remotely?

GitLab is a fully remote company that runs onboarding as a checklist in its own product. According to GitLab's handbook, as of October 2026:

• An onboarding issue is opened at least four days before the start date. Its main section holds tasks for everyone, with a 30-day due date, followed by department and role-specific tasks.
• Two weeks first. GitLab recommends at least two full weeks of general onboarding, starting team-specific onboarding and training only in week three.
• Self-driven and asynchronous. The handbook describes the process as "self-driven and self-learning", asynchronous where possible.
• A buddy. New hires can turn to their onboarding buddy or other team members for help with any task.
• Coffee chats. A Slack channel helps new hires set up informal coffee chats with colleagues.

In summary

Virtual onboarding works when the people side and the software side are both planned. Give new hires a buddy, a written 30-60-90 day plan and regular one-on-ones, and put guidance inside the tools they'll use, so a question about a button doesn't have to wait for a meeting.