Onboarding and Managing Remote Employees: An Employment Lawyer’s Perspective

When you onboard correctly, it dramatically improves employee retention and performance. But it’s not easy in a remote environment. Your employee has to complete paperwork, get basic training, learn new technology, and become familiar with a new culture and people. It can be overwhelming. That’s why, even though I advocate for remote and hybrid work, I encourage in-person onboarding whenever possible.

Whether you handle most of the onboarding process in person or online, it must be repeatable and teachable. If you anticipate growth, you need a streamlined process because with growth comes turnover. Change is rarely linear. Employees come and go. If you’re lucky, the good ones will return. 

Here are some of my recommended steps for onboarding remote employees.

Step # 1 - Confirm in Writing the Employment Terms, Employee Location, and Internet Speed

Once the remote applicant has accepted employment, send the employee a letter confirming the title, pay, and start date. This letter is an excellent opportunity to state a few simple caveats. For example, if you’re hiring from a competitor, use the letter (or the application) to remind the employee not to bring over any trade secrets, customer lists, or proprietary information. You want the employee - not a lawsuit. If the offer is contingent on a background check, clarify this in the letter. 

Use the letter to confirm where the employee lives and works. Sometimes when an employee gets a remote position, they’ll take it as the excuse needed to finally move to be closer to their parents, grandchildren, friends, or warmer climates. By confirming where your employee lives and works in writing, you can organically invite the employee to correct you if your information is inaccurate. Notify the employee that he must immediately inform human resources in writing if things change. 

You don’t want unintended compliance issues or tax liabilities because your employee works somewhere unexpected. Employers need time to look at state and city tax laws to be sure the correct taxes are withheld from the employee’s paycheck. 

You should also remind the employee to let you know in writing if they plan to travel and work somewhere else. Many states, and some cities, require employers to register for tax purposes and, if the employee is working there, to file taxes. There will likely be a credit or reciprocity agreement with the employee’s home state to avoid a double taxation issue. Some states allow for an employee to work remotely for several days or weeks without requiring withholding. 

But don’t assume what a state provides for tax purposes when your remote employee travels and continues to work. By confirming where the employee will live, travel, and work, you can be confident your remote employee will not create significant tax problems for your business.  

You’ll also want to confirm the employee’s internet speed. Nobody will get anything done on slow internet. There are plenty of free online tests for internet speed so that you can be confident your employee can do the job. 

Step # 2 - Get Required Documents E-Signed 

Your remote employees will probably be in positions of trust. They’ll have access to credit-card numbers, bank account numbers, customer lists, and social security numbers. So you’ll want to run a background check. Before you run a background check, ensure the employee has signed the proper authorizations. You can usually take care of this online. If you contract out the background check, life will be easier. 

If the background check comes back with no concerns, and the employee has signed the offer letter, there are several other documents you can have the employee e-sign as a part of the onboarding process. E-signing is almost always allowed if the program is secure and reliable. 

Here are a few documents you should consider sending out in the initial package for e-signature.  

The Signing Bonus Agreement: The signing bonus can generally be e-signed. Your signing bonus agreement should include language on repayment if the employment ends within a specific timeframe. It should also include language on how and when the signing bonus will be paid. You probably don’t want to prematurely pay a signing bonus. It’s always tricky to claw back money from departed employees. If you’re extra cautious, you might consider signing bonus terms where payment occurs in quarterly increments.

The Employment Agreement: If you plan to have a written and signed employment agreement, you should provide it to your employee for e-signature before the start date. This is especially true if you require restrictive covenants, like a nonsolicitation agreement. An employment agreement is a great place to reach important terms on pay, bonuses, and conflict resolution. Even if you don’t have a formal signed agreement with the employee, you should, at minimum, have a written description you provide to the employee on the basic employment terms. 

The Employment Handbook: Reasonable minds may disagree with me on this point. But in my opinion, it usually makes sense to provide your employee with a copy of the employee handbook before hire. That’s the most transparent way to interact with new employees. Employees should not be blindsided by an unexpected policy. Employees should sign an acknowledgement that they received the handbook. This might also be a natural place to include agreements on dispute resolution terms. Make sure you keep the acknowledgment in a secure location. 

Tax and Pay Documentation: It also makes sense to get tax related documents e-signed before the start date. You must be extra careful to comply with privacy laws for this type of documentation. But tax documentation and direct deposit information can usually be filled out and submitted well before employment begins in a secure, encrypted format. The types of payroll deductions can vary by state. Getting the proper tax documentation early is helpful. Just be careful not to compromise your employees' privacy or account information. 

Step # 3 - Get Equipment to Your Remote Employee with Time to Spare

Now that you have most of the documents e-signed and can be confident the employee will not back out, you must get your new employee the necessary equipment with a few days to spare. This includes a laptop, printer, scanner, paper shredder, and anything else you want to provide your employee. Sending equipment early will give you some needed wiggle room if its arrival is delayed. Consider giving your remote employee a stipend for a chair and desk. In some states, doing so is arguably required.

Step # 4 - Take Care of Your I-9 Requirements

You must ensure your employees are legally authorized to work in the United States. Unless COVID-related rules are made permanent, employers must resume checking I-9 documents in person. The I-9 must be complete by the first day of employment. The documentation to support a new employee’s legal status must be provided by the third day of employment. 

Ideally, the employee will have already sent you digital copies of the government-issued photo ID and completed the I-9 with an e-signature program. That way, you can be confident that the employee is set and will not encounter work authorization issues. But inspecting and confirming documents in person is still needed. If getting the new remote employee to corporate headquarters is not possible, consider whether anyone who works near the employee could handle the in-person inspection or if you can get a notary to act as your authorized representative. 

On a similar note, don’t forget about E-Verify, which is an internet-based system operated by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). E-Verify helps employers electronically verify employment eligibility for new employees. If you’re an employer with federal contracts or subcontracts that contains the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), you likely must participate in E-Verify. But there are also states, like Arizona and Mississippi, where employers are generally required to use E-Verify. Failing to use E-Verify can result in serious penalties. Even if you determine that E-Verify is not required for your company, you should consider using it as a free means to show your company’s good faith compliance with employment eligibility laws. 

Conclusion 

These steps will fail if you don’t have the right people managing the onboarding process. If your company has more than 500 employees, I recommend you have one employee purely dedicated to getting employees set up on the first day. You can only streamline the process so much. There will be issues with any new hire. The best thing you can do is have someone dedicated to onboarding employees with a personal touch.