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Small-biz tip: How to onboard a remote employee

If you’re a small business owner, onboarding a new employee virtually can be a huge undertaking. Taking a new hire out to lunch, giving them a tour of the office and introducing them to coworkers is often an integral part of the experience, but that might not be possible if you hire remote employees.

We went to the experts on hiring for answers, our sponsor LinkedIn. Read on to learn about hiring virtually and leaving your new team member with a great first impression.

1. Before they start

The pros at LinkedIn split successful onboarding into six phases. The first isn’t after your new hire has already come on board but about two weeks before they begin. Here’s what you should do before your new employee’s first day:

Share a schedule for the employee’s first day with them.
Explain everything they need to know about your business’s guidelines for virtual meetings, such as whether video is required and how many to expect.
Be sure they have access to whatever hardware and software are required for their role.

2. First day

Two weeks later, the paperwork is signed and your new employee is ready. Here’s what you should do on their actual first day of work:

Don’t overload your new employee! Treat the first day as an overview of what’s to come.
Your employee’s first day isn’t a workday. It’s a learning experience.
By the end of the first day, they should be ready to get to work for the rest of the week.

3. Second day

Here’s what you should do on your new employee’s second day of work:

Let your employee get to know you, or their direct superior, as a manager and boss. Schedule one-on-one time to get to know each other and outline key expectations.
This is also an excellent time to check in and see if they have questions about the onboarding or training processes.

4. First week

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Area codes and numbers that are probably spam

Whew, the election’s over. The onslaught of robocalls and texts is over, too … right? Nope.

There are fewer political calls and messages, sure, but there are always scammers and spammers. It may be easier for these creeps to get a hold of us now that our phones aren’t constantly lighting up with election-related notifications.

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💰 Your go-to rideshare app may not offer the best deals, depending on your location. Type your pickup and drop-off points into RideGuru to get a comparison of rideshare options in your area, including Uber, Lyft, Curb, Ola Cabs and DiDi Rider.

Smaller or regional options (like those names above you probably don’t recognize) can be a lot cheaper than Uber. Try Wingz, too, if you’re scheduling a ride to the airport in advance.

Speaking of, many airports add an expensive rideshare fee that gets passed along to you. I know someone who takes the airport shuttle to the nearest hotel or parking area instead of directly to the airport, and they catch an Uber from there to their destination instead.

☕ Yum, a $25 latte: You can now order delivery directly through the Starbucks app. Brace yourself for fees: A $1.99 delivery charge, a $2 small-order fee if you spend under $10, a 15% service charge and sometimes an extra $4.99 for wages. Oh, and don’t forget to tip!

1 week’s worth

Amount of supplies Norway recommends its citizens have on hand in case of war with Russia. Imagine getting that in the mail. Norway isn’t alone; check Ready.gov for the U.S. government’s planning guides for everything from a flood to a snowstorm. Nothing sets my doomsday alarm ringing like 10 minutes without the internet.

🔒 Privacy, please: On Android, you can automatically lock your Incognito tabs when you switch to another app. Open Chrome, then tap More > Settings > Privacy and security. Turn on “Lock Incognito tabs when you leave Chrome.”

Patch your PC: Microsoft’s latest update fixes 89 security flaws, including four zero-day vulnerabilities. Bugs could expose your sensitive info, give hackers control of your PC or let them run malicious code remotely. Go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and hit Check for updates.

A hush-hush economy: When you agree to an app’s terms and conditions, you’re agreeing to be tracked — so says the Secret Service (great read, but it’s a paywall link). They used a data-broker company’s tool called Locate X to follow people over time through the apps they’d given GPS access to — no warrant needed or required. Now you know what you’re really doing when you agree to those permissions.

⚠️ Traveling overseas? No bueno: There’s a terrifying new trend happening all over the globe: Kidnapping tourists for ransoms. A Venezuelan man, for instance, used a dating app to lure in three American tourists over a month-long stretch in the Dominican Republic. He’d arrange a date, pick up the person in his car, and then an accomplice would hop in to help him restrain his dates. All three victims were held at knifepoint and forced to call friends and family for money. So scary.

iPhone pro tip: Apple’s Shortcuts app lets you automate actions with just one click. The sky’s the limit — for example, you can set up navigating to an event on your calendar, shrinking screenshots to save space and auto-sending happy birthday messages to your favorite people. Here’s a full guide on how to use it.

Share via email - Distractions, controlled

Share on Facebook - Distractions, controlled

Share on LinkedIn - Distractions, controlled

I’ve been using Distraction Control (circled in red above) in the latest version of Safari on my Mac. It really works! It lets you hide whatever you want on a webpage — images, headlines and videos. If it’s distracting, make it disappear with a click. ✨

🖊️ Ever write checks? Use a pen (4-pack for $10) with specially formulated ink that gets trapped in paper, helping to prevent criminal check washing and other document alteration.

We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.

ChatGPT, find me customers: Use AI to find out what people are saying online so you can better target your company’s ads. Take a lesson from Shake Shack: They used a bot to scan 80,000 Reddit threads about chicken sandwiches, narrowed it down to the 30 most active and ran ads for their new sandwich. It worked — sales were 31% higher.

Keep your intimacy wrapped up: The makers of a new app, Camdom, call it a “digital condom” against revenge porn. Camdom blocks all cameras and microphones when two phones are placed together and the app is activated. If one person tries to sneak a pic, an alarm buzzes. Better latex than never.

Out the door, dinosaur: Microsoft is ending support for its Windows Mail, Calendar and People apps. Starting Dec. 31, 2024, you’ll lose the ability to send and receive emails through Mail. Microsoft wants everyone on its new Outlook app. Here’s the official exporting guide for your Mail emails and contacts. FYI: The Outlook app is slow, so you might want to switch to a different email client altogether. Thunderbird is a good free option.

Microsoft Edge can’t take a hint: The browser is importing your Chrome browsing data and tabs without asking. Luckily, you can stop it. When you see the pop-up from Edge to Enhance your browsing experience with Copilot in Microsoft Edge, click the tiny white X in the upper right corner and close it. (It’s tiny — you might have to squint to see it.)

⏰ Don’t miss out: If you used Cash App between Aug. 23, 2018, and Aug. 20, 2024, you’ve got less than a week to claim your share of a $15 million settlement. You could get up to $2,500. Submit your claim online by Monday, Nov. 18.

When your luggage is MIA at the airport carousel: Apple now lets you share your AirTags’ location with your airline (or anyone else). Open the Find My app, tap on your lost item, then tap Share Item Location > Continue > Share Link. If your bag is found, stop sharing its location anytime; otherwise, the link will expire in seven days.

Test yours at SpeedTest.net to see. If things are slow, it might be time for a full system reboot to clear glitches and restore your speeds. Here’s the right way to do it:

Turn off everything. That’s your modem and router, or yours may be one combined unit.
Wait a full minute. Seriously, count it out!
Turn on the modem first. Give it time to boot completely, then power up the router. Restart your computer and you should be blazin’.

🤖 Have a kid who plays Roblox? Keep them safe from creeps. Go to Account Settings, select the Privacy tab and toggle the voice chat selector to Off. The toggle will go from green to gray, indicating voice chat has been disabled.