Get on Board

How great is your onboarding process for new hires? Now that it's all about remote employees, have you redesigned your process? Not just repurposed the old one! 

Whether you are doubling the size of your team or hiring just one new person, how you bring them on board and help them acclimate to your work culture and their role, matters. 

According to statistics shared by the Society for Human Resource Management, 69% of employees are more likely to stay with the companyt for three years if they experienced great onboarding. Companies with a standard onboarding process experience 50% greater new hire productivity. Retention and productivity = $$$

Roll Out the Welcoming Mat

You want a new team member to be excited to start work. From the minute they sign that offer letter, let the process begin. 

Turn those nerves into excited energy! Send a welcome email from the team - I am sure there are ways to make really crafty greeting cards or some companies are having teams do welcome videos. Make it personal and be creative. Make it something that reflects the actual vibe of the team. 

Send a welcome package. Box up some pens, notebooks, company swag, or gift card for lunch or coffee. Even though I am really picky about pens and notebooks, it's nice to know your employer is already thinking about you before you even start. 

Send a checklist and itinerary for the first day or few days. There is nothing worse than being left alone with no direction and nothing scheduled. 

Give them their new email so they can send it out to their existing contacts with an announcement (before their old email gets cut off)! Send emails and contact information for colleagues, particularly the people they will be working with or may need to contact in the first few weeks. Not just their project teams but also back office functions. 

Most importantly, share the mission and value system! Maybe have a leadership presentation that tells a story. Why this business? Why this problem? What are some great success stories? Get them committed and motivated early! 

Make the Right Introductions

If you want someone to feel like they belong you have to provide the opportunity to build professional and personal relationships. People need connection. Face-to-face interactions. 

There's a delicate balance in my opinion. 

You want to introduce them no only to team members individually, but also the team as a group. Host a virtual team lunch or happy hour. Use some icebreakers to get the conversation going and dedicate the time to nonwork-related topics. Just make sure it doesn't turn into a firing squad. 

Introduce them to colleagues across functions that they will be working with on projects. A member of senior management *(they can give a big picture perspective). 

Layout a plan for these one-to-one connections over a few weeks. Helping new hired network internally is important but be careful not to overload. 7 zoom introductory calls in a row is tough. Remember they are repeating their story! I would imagine (if it were me!) by the 4th you come across as flat! Bad first impression. 

Make sure they understand the business, -- the product or service you offer and how it's delivered; how you are differentiated - what the brand is and stands for; what the business goals are this year, over the next 3 years. Have departments share how they impact these growth goals. 

You may want to assign an onboarding mentor. Pair up the new hire with a veteran hire you can show them the ropes. A point person for questions about how the team functions or work gets done (more on that below), maybe a little insight into office politics or certain power dynamics if it is directly relevant to that job, a who's who really. 

Set New Hires Up for Success

Make sure they know what their job is actually. Hopefully, in the recruiting and interview process you were very specific about the role, the responsibilities and the expectations. Still, many new hires aren't sure at the beginning what their job is day-to-day. 

Sometimes with startups, founders hire in anticipation of increased demand. The role doesn't quite exist yet in its full form. Make sure new hires have specific goals. Tie those goals to business objectives so they understand where they fit into the success of the business. Set out milestones - check-in 1 week, 30, 60, 90 days. Onboarding is an ongoing process! 

These milestones give you an opportunity to assess performance and identify any issues early. Do they have the resources and support they need to do their job? Give and receive feedback early - don't just say oh we do reviews annually and it's March now. 

Give them a view into what the future could look like for them - list out some stretch goals. What could be the next role for them? Get them hungry (me)! Or, (for the less competitive) let them see how they can grow professionally. 

Share expectations about how the work gets done on your team. Every team has its own quirks and routines. So, make sure they know what hours they need to be on, what is the preferred method of communication, how often do team members check-in, or how do their managers like to be updated. 

The goal is to get them attuned to the role and the culture. 

Did you do your job well? Seek out feedback. We are all learning as we go here what works and what doesn't work. What could you have done better or different? What worked really well/helped you the most? Do they feel like they can reach out to people they are working on projects with? Any communication issues? What training do they still need or needed more of? Most frustrating part (and no not the paperwork!! It would be IT for me - make sure they get all the techie stuff, business tools, logins etc they need to do their job!)?