How to quickly adapt and avoid mistakes if you are a new employee at a distance

The first day at the workplace is always a little nervous. Especially when new colleagues - 20 unknown nicknames in corporate chats.

To avoid any misses, check out this beginner's guide. By the way, it can be used as a guide for newly hired employees.

What should be done

1. Learn all about organizing a working day

What time do you need to connect? Do I need to be in touch always? Is there a lunch break? Are there any planning meetings or meetings during the day? Can you write to colleagues outside of working hours and expect emails from them in the evenings?

These are the questions you should ask your manager or HR specialist on your first day. So you will save yourself from embarrassment. A video call from your boss while you're still in bed is one potential nuisance. Another is a missed email with important changes to the project.

2. Introduce yourself

You will be communicating with colleagues on a daily basis, so it would be nice to

tell them about yourself. A couple of sentences are enough, you can mention your previous experience and your hobbies. To help your colleagues remember you, enter your real name and surname in the messenger profile description and set one photo in all working services in an acceptable quality. It is better if your face is clearly visible there. And of course, you should refrain from too personal photos: a picture from a wild party will not work.

3. Understand how to keep in touch

Surely they will add you to all work chats and set up corporate mail for you. Ask your colleagues how it is more convenient for them to receive updates from you. Someone basically uses only emails for work, leaving messengers for personal communication. And someone will write to you through all channels.

4. Understand the structure of the company

A clear understanding of who is responsible for what will greatly save you time: with a specific question, you can contact the right person. Ask a colleague in your spare time to tell you about the responsibilities of those employees with whom you will most often come across.

5. Capture the tone of communication

Jokes and memes or restrained messages without smiles - each team has its own communication style. To catch it and stick to it, it is usually enough to look at the correspondence in work chats over the past few days.

6. Listen attentively

In general discussions, absorb like a sponge: you can learn a lot about corporate ethics, about the division of responsibilities and how the company deals with problems. Write down all the insights so that you can use them later in your work.

7. To ask questions

This is generally the golden rule for any employee. If you do not understand the TOR, something seems illogical, or you do not know who to contact with a problem, ask. Do not be afraid to provoke irritation, not to know something. This is normal. Staying silent in chats and meetings, and then making a bunch of mistakes - that's bad.

8. Reread your messages

Make sure your thought is clearly structured, questions are articulated clearly, and sentences are unambiguous. Spend a little more time composing the letter so that later you can save it for yourself and the responder. Also, give up the habit of writing one word in each message.

it
highly
annoying.

The fewer notifications your colleagues receive from you, the better. The same applies to the habit of writing "Hello", "Are you busy?", Or "Can you help?" and shut up, waiting for an answer, without explaining what the matter is. Respect other people's time.

9. Ask for feedback

At a remote location, the manager often forgets to give feedback, because the new employee does not catch the eye, but is lost in the general flow of correspondence. So remind yourself at the end of your first work week. Ask if you are doing well and what needs to be improved in your work. Just do not be intrusive and do not jerk your boss every day, otherwise you will look inexperienced and insecure.

What not to do

1. To disappear without a trace

Don't be the kind of employee who "disappeared from the radar" and does not answer calls for hours. Even if you carried away by work and spent this time usefully, colleagues will think that you were messing around or even sleeping. If you want to dive headlong into the project or get away, warn me. Find out if the company has a standard response time for messages and adhere to those guidelines.

2. Call colleagues without warning

The phrase "Can I call you?" Is a new social norm. There is nothing worse than being a colleague who interrupted your lunch, playing with your child, or driving with a call. If the situation is not urgent - notify about the call. If we are talking about video communication, then it is generally worth agreeing in advance on the time of the call, because this is literally an invasion of a person's personal space.

3. Deal With Everything Alone

Even though you are alone at home in front of your computer, you do not have to solve all the problems yourself. Colleagues are as interested in the outcome as you are, so don't be afraid to ask for help or advice.

4. Turn communication into a booth

Sense of humor - excellent quality, and it can help build relationships in a new team. But if you overdo it, you can turn into a jester who annoys everyone. In addition, in written communication, it is often difficult to convey the meaning of a joke and intonation. Even a harmless phrase can offend someone. Be careful with stickers and memes at first. And some companies don't even use emojis (we don't know how they survive, but that's a fact).

5. Subscribe to colleagues on social networks

At least wait a little with this. Get to know your colleagues and their communication style first. Perhaps they will see interest in their Instagram as an invasion of privacy.

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Distance is a lot of freedom, but at the same time a big responsibility. An employee who knows how to organize his time and effectively handles tasks from home will be appreciated in the company.