Are you starting a new job during the coronavirus pandemic? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Siobhan O’Mahony, a professor at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. In this bonus episode, they talk through what to do when you want to hit the ground running but your onboarding is not taking place in person as planned.

From Alison and Dan’s reading list:

HBR: A Guide to Managing Your (Newly) Remote Workers by Barbara Z. Larson, Susan R. Vroman, and Erin E. Makarius — “In response to the uncertainties presented by Covid-19, many companies and universities have asked their employees to work remotely. While close to a quarter of the U.S. workforce already works from home at least part of the time, the new policies leave many employees — and their managers — working out of the office and separated from each other for the first time.”

Book: The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter by Michael Watkins — “Why are transitions critical? When I surveyed more than thirteen hundred senior HR leaders, almost 90 percent agreed that ‘transitions into new roles are the most challenging times in the professional lives of leaders.’ And nearly three-quarters agreed that ‘success or failure during the first few months is a strong predictor of overall success or failure in the job.’ So even though a bad transition does not necessarily doom you to failure, it makes success a lot less likely.”

HBR: 15 Questions About Remote Work, Answered by Tsedal Neeley — “Organizations, teams, and people will experiment more with virtual work. Many of them have always wanted to test it as way of expanding their reach or labor force. It’s not that people are going to permanently adopt this new format of work, but this experience will expand everyone’s capacity. If there’s a tiny positive aspect to this mess we’re finding ourselves in, it’s that we’re developing certain skills that could helpful in the future.”

HBR: When You Start a New Job, Pay Attention to These 5 Aspects of Company Culture by Allan H. Church and Jay A. Conger — “When you start a new job, look at how people tend to communicate with one another. Is it through formal channels, like meetings that are always set in advance, and to which everyone comes well-prepared? Or do individuals more often communicate spontaneously with little or no documentation?”