

A 2023 survey of 500 remote‑first firms reported that 84 % have a formal onboarding program. That sounds like a solid investment in new hires. Yet only 19 % of those programs include structured mentorship beyond the first week, and just 12 % allocate budget for ongoing skill‑building during the first three months. In other words, the headline figure masks a quiet transfer of onboarding costs from the employer to the employee.  

Remote‑first companies treat onboarding as a one‑off event rather than an ongoing process, and the financial incentive to skimp is clear: firm pays a fixed salary while the employee bears the hidden penalty of slower skill acquisition and a thin professional network. In a traditional office, a manager can pair a new analyst with a senior colleague and walk them through key procedures, checking their work in real time. When everyone is distributed, those informal touchpoints disappear unless the company deliberately invests in them. Data from the same survey shows that only one in five remote‑first firms assigns a dedicated mentor for the first ninety days, and fewer still schedule regular check‑ins beyond HR paperwork. The result is a silent gap: junior staff learn by trial and error, often repeating mistakes that a brief intro session would have prevented.  

If you’re a recent graduate stepping into your first remote role, the implication is straightforward: don’t assume the company’s onboarding will equip you for success. Ask upfront who your point of contact is for the first month, request a written skill‑development plan, and proactively seek virtual coffee chats with peers a year ahead of you. The burden of building your own network is real, but you can shift it by asking. Companies that underinvest rarely volunteer assistance, so the responsibility falls to you—to demand support that accelerates your growth.