Bringing new hires together in person at a fully remote company

Fully remote companies have built highly structured remote welcome paths. GitLab, for example, publicly documents an asynchronous onboarding: all tasks live in a GitLab issue with a 30-day deadline, the first two weeks at least go on general onboarding, and the third on team-specific training. Each newcomer has an onboarding buddy named by their manager, who reaches out from day one, ideally for a video coffee chat at the end of the day.

This setup is effective for learning tools and rules. It leaves a gap, though: you can know a colleague for months without ever having met. Automattic's Matt Mullenweg puts it this way about the Grand Meetup: seeing each other in person lets you meet the people behind the avatars and helps you read written messages.

That is where in-person comes in: not to replace remote onboarding, but to anchor it in real relationships within the first weeks.

• Zapier: in an interview published on the Stack Overflow Blog in 2017, the company describes its "AirBnOnboarding": the new hire travels to the Bay Area and spends a week in an Airbnb with the leadership and their manager. It quickly shows the company's culture, notably the idea that anyone can talk to anyone, including the CEO. This is a dated description: check with the company whether the practice has changed. Zapier also brings the whole team together at retreats.
• GitLab: the company says it recognises the value of in-person interactions and combines meetups between nearby colleagues with Contribute events for the whole company, while documenting an asynchronous onboarding with a buddy.
• Automattic: the company brings nearly all employees together each year at the Grand Meetup, and tracks new hires in cohorts through its onboarding, with a team buddy as guide, according to a Donut article about its process.

What they share: none waits for the hire to be "established" before connecting them with real people. The formats differ (a week with a few people at Zapier, a large annual event at Automattic and GitLab), but the principle is the same: in person complements the written word.

The annual event is useful but arrives late: someone hired in March may wait until autumn to meet colleagues. The onboarding cohort fixes that gap.

When: between the second and third month is a good guide. The hire already knows their tools and teams on video, has specific questions and can get the most out of it.

How many: a cohort of 10 to 30 people lets everyone spend time with each other. Beyond that you drift back into a mass event where newcomers stay in the shadows.

Mix: bring together newcomers from several teams, plus a few longer-serving colleagues acting as guides, rather than an isolated group of recruits. Guides can be drawn from managers and onboarding buddies.

Length: two to three days on site are enough, plus an arrival day, since the cohort does not need a full seminar. A quarterly or half-yearly cadence avoids multiplying trips.

Day 1: welcome and vision. A welcome dinner the evening before, then a morning with leadership: company history, strategy, open questions. In the afternoon, one-to-one or small-group meetings between hires and longer-serving colleagues, such as a market coffee or a neighbourhood walk.

Day 2: working with your manager and team. A morning per team (or function) to define the 90-day goals, introduce key contacts and clarify how things work. In the afternoon, a collective activity where nobody is an expert: a cooking class, a guided visit, a tasting. In the evening, dinner on your own or in small groups.

Day 3: anchor and depart. A circle debrief, a Q&A with leadership, then a farewell lunch. Each hire leaves with a list of people to contact within the week.

For the venue, a seminar hotel in a well-served city is enough: Madrid, Barcelona or Valencia, depending on where the hires come from.

In a remote onboarding like GitLab's, naming the onboarding buddy is the manager's responsibility. In person, their role widens: they are not just a guest of the cohort, but the person who gives the meetings meaning.

• Before: they explain to the hire what they will experience and who they absolutely should speak with.
• During: they attend the team workshops, introduce the hire to key people and set the 90-day goals.
• After: in the following weeks they check that the connections carry on over video, and adjust follow-ups.

To tell whether the format works, do not count smiles. Ask the hire, a month later, who they have contacted spontaneously since the meeting and whether they better understand what is expected of them. Zapier's feedback surveys after each retreat are a good model.

If you are preparing this kind of meeting in Spain: Send us your dates and we will come back to you with availability.