Successfully Onboarding Remote Designers Across Time Zones

Challenge
Onboarding new team members across vastly different time zones can be a significant challenge, particularly when there’s little overlap in working hours. Our team needed an effective way to onboard designers in Athens and Poland while ensuring they felt connected, well-prepared, and ready to contribute, despite the time zone differences.

Solution
To tackle this challenge, I envisioned a space-themed Miro board that guided new designers through four onboarding phases, each structured to keep them engaged and productive during our off-hours. The interactive board was not only visually appealing but also made the onboarding process more enjoyable and intuitive. The board was designed (including the team caricatures) by senior visual and ux designer, Jenn Paracuelles.

  • The journey began with designers collecting their "boarding pass" and sharing results from three personality tests: CliftonStrengths, Four Tendencies, and 16 Personalities. They also answered Ice Breaker questions like “What is your favorite food?” and “What show are you currently watching?” to help build rapport, alongside a fun “Two Truths and a Lie” game to break the ice.

  • Designers were provided with links to download our tech stack, ensuring their workstations were set up efficiently. This module also encouraged them to send test emails and introduce themselves on Slack and Teams, creating early engagement with the team. Additionally, learning resources were included so they could start taking UX courses and get up to speed with industry best practices.

  • Links to key projects were provided so the new designers could familiarize themselves with the design work they would be contributing to. This helped them hit the ground running by giving them a contextual understanding of ongoing projects.

  • Finally, once acclimated, designers were given access to our Jira board, where they could assign themselves their first project. This gave them a sense of ownership and responsibility right from the start.

Results

The space-themed Miro board facilitated a smooth and engaging onboarding process, leading to successful integration of the new designers from Athens and Poland into the team.

The structured yet flexible approach kept them productive and connected even before our Chicago group came online. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with new team members expressing appreciation for the creative and thoughtful onboarding experience.