The experience of the virtual onboarding process for knowledge workers in South Africa

Abstract

Employee onboarding is a crucial process that has served both the new employee and the organisation in ensuring that there is a seamless integration into a new working environment. The ways of work in the knowledge economy have changed post the COVID-19 pandemic with an increase in full-time remote work as well as hybrid working models. It has become imperative for organisations to be conscious of the techniques to not only attract talent in a competitive environment but also instil and maintain high employee engagement levels. This research aims to explore the emerging themes from the lived experiences of knowledge workers in South Africa who have undergone a virtual onboarding process as well as explore how this has influenced their level of engagement. The study was conducted through a qualitative methodology through phenomenology to allow for in-depth analysis of the lived experiences of the employees who have undergone virtual onboarding and consequently understanding their corresponding levels of engagement. Twelve participants were purposively sampled from the Financial Services, Engineering, Mining, Insurance, and Health sectors to participate in semi-structured interviews. The different sectors allowed for diverse experiences drawn from a wide range of knowledge workers which resulted in the collation of rich information. The thematic data analysis and the results thereof revealed that knowledge workers have a positive experience of the virtual onboarding process and this in turn increases employee engagement