Personal Reflection: Staying engaged while being new and virtual. 

Anh Vo joined ALULA at the beginning of 2020 and was progressing through her onboarding when the whole world changed. Onboarding to a new company is challenging in itself. But onboarding during a pandemic is especially challenging.  These are Anh's thoughts on making virtual onboarding work.

January ended on an immense high note: I was joining a new company and a new team! I was really looking forward to getting to know everyone and learn about the organization, as well as my place in it. Things were progressing as planned. I got to attend the annual company meeting (in beautiful San Diego!) and meet everyone from all over the country. I traveled to the company headquarters for an onboarding session and met with colleagues. The usual onboarding activities, as expected.

As we practice social distancing, we are also practicing new ways of working together. But even as we are keeping our distance, we still need the social part! I don’t know about you, but I miss the chats during coffee breaks, going to lunch with my colleagues, or just stopping by their desk for a quick check-in. All those small interactions that we took for granted are now sorely missed.

We know that high-performing teams have two strengths: productivity (alignment, accountability, efficient decision-making), and positivity  (trust, camaraderie, clear communication). Unfortunately, when we are in a virtual environment, all we can see or measure is productivity—what we accomplish by day’s end. It is easy to overlook the positivity  part—the human connection—which is what really drives employee engagement. Our daily human connections are as vital to productivity as doing the task itself.