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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella: Strong, Caring Managers Are the Secret to Remote Onboarding

Since the pandemic helped propel remote work into an everyday reality, companies are discovering new challenges brought about by the hybrid office. For focused work, the remote office is ideal, but creative collaboration and company communication are limited by a lack of shared spaces. As CEO of Microsoft, which hired roughly 50,000 employees during the first two years of the pandemic, Satya Nadella has gleaned some wisdom on tackling these onboarding obstacles.

One major takeaway was the importance of establishing a direct connection between the new hire and their direct manager, who Nadella sees as something like a “full-service concierge.” These managers should closely guide each employee through the entire onboarding process to properly build trust, cultural understanding, and personal connections. That includes introducing them to everyone they need to know, inside and outside the company.

The human element may be hard to replicate through even the most modern technology, so Nadella recommends focusing on establishing close connections that emphasize their humanity. When a company has managers who care enough to maintain these connections, it makes remote work that much easier, the CEO believes.