Before the pandemic, onboarding at Limeade was a two-day, in-person extravaganza.
New employees would be shuttled from one enthusiastic group to the next, celebrating these first encounters with food, drinks and plenty of small talk. The ultimate goal was to plant the seeds for relationships with teammates across the organization, and to make new employees feel welcomed.
Circumstances have changed. The pandemic forced companies to augment their onboarding process and think outside the box to recreate a similar experience remotely. At Limeade, it’s no different — and ultimately, it’s been a boon for expanding the talent pool.
“Honestly, it was difficult at first,” Angelica Sanchez, an employee experience inside specialist at Limeade, said. “We weren’t sure how to replicate that same positive energy, virtually.”
The solution? Today, new employees at the HR tech company are greeted with a personalized welcome message from their manager and the people team, plus video calls with team members and a welcome box of Limeade swag.
Navigating the remote hiring process has been a tricky, but fruitful, process for many companies during the pandemic. Built In Seattle caught up with Sanchez to learn more about how Limeade reimagined its hiring process to better accommodate remote applicants, and which teams they’re currently hiring for.
Which teams are expanding the most at your company? What proportion of your open positions are available to remote workers?
At Limeade, we have continued the expansion of our company through a recent acquisition of TINYpulse, giving us the opportunity to grow all teams. We have many open roles across departments that we are actively trying to fill. In fact, almost all of our positions are currently available for remote workers as we adopted a distributed-first work model. Our growing global workforce has allowed us to tap into a more diverse talent pool and take advantage of all perspectives that come with it.
What did you change about the hiring process to better accommodate remote applicants?
Our team has embraced remote hiring and have made the necessary changes to our onboarding process to accommodate remote applicants. When hiring for a remote position, it’s important to consider how remote workers will fit into the company culture. As such, we include a clear description of our workplace culture in every job description.
We also emphasize the importance of continual communication with our candidates. For us, it’s necessary to respect a candidate’s time. That’s why we provide convenient interview times and make sure the hiring team is ready for any interviews.
The interview process is completely virtual regardless of if the candidate is local to Bellevue or not. During a typical interview process, a candidate can expect a recruiter phone call, a hiring manager phone call, and depending on the position, a series of individual video conversations with members of the greater team. Some roles also require a panel presentation, writing sample or technical assessment. All in all, we like to meet the candidate halfway and make sure they feel comfortable interviewing with us.
The interview process is completely virtual regardless of if the candidate is local to Bellevue or not.’’
How has the onboarding process shifted to ensure offsite employees feel welcomed and engaged?
Since adopting our distributed-first work model, we have shifted to a fully remote onboarding. Now, we build excitement into the pre-start date by incorporating a personalized welcome message from the new hire’s manager and the people team. It’s followed with the arrival of their computer, desk supplies and a welcome box of Limeade swag.
Another change we made was around the start date. While we still have paperwork and training to complete, we wanted to focus on building relationships. The new employee receives a video call from their manager to focus on getting to know the employee. Their second experience is a fun welcome with their team!
