onboarding, done right
Someone told me a story about how they started a new job as an intern, showed up their first day super excited and no one at the company knew he was starting. My first question - how is that possible? But then when I take a moment to reflect, its actually not the surprising, especially if we are talking about a company that doesn’t have a dedicated HR team or has an understaffed HR team.
Throughout this article, I will give you a step by step approach to creating an effective, yet simple, onboarding processes. If you take only one thing away from reading this, treat your new employee how you wish you were treated on your first day. Put yourself in their shoes and answer some of their questions before they even have to ask them.
I like to break onboarding up into 3 distinct sections:
Before Day 1
Week 1 & 2
First 90 days
This will help us reduce things down so it doesn’t feel as time consuming or overwhelming.
Before Day 1
You should focus on the basic’s:
Computer / Technology (bare minimum, you can order more once they start - I usually start with laptop, mouse & charging cord; then I tell them week 1 “Let me know what else you need like an external keyboard, 2nd monitor, 2nd charger, etc. and we can get that ordered for you”
Day 1 Plan
What time are they arriving & who is greeting them?
HR / Compliance docs out of the way
Who is taking them to lunch?
My typical schedule:
9am arrive
9-10; intros, tour & HR compliance docs
Show them where to find office supplies, the bathroom, kitchen supplies, coffee, fridge, etc.
10-11; computer log-Ins (we are JUST logging them in and making sure they have gotten the invites/can log into all the necessary website)
I also use this time to set expectations of their “regular” work hours and their upcoming schedule for the week
11-12; buffer time & time for them to go through some of their emails; spend time with their manager or onboarding buddy (we’ll talk about this later)
12-1:30; Lunch — take them somewhere or bring it in for the team.
Remainder of the day; team related meetings, shadowing, etc.
3:30/4; wrap up their day and head home
Identify an onboarding buddy
Call it whatever you want, but if you are the hiring manager, its likely you are going to be in meetings the new hire can’t attend or it wouldn’t make sense for them to attend. You will have things to do and you are their boss. So identify someone on the team who is in a similar role who can make time for the new hire
Great place to use your superstars who need a little mentorship/leadership opportunity
Great place to use your functional experts who don’t want to be a manager but are very good at their job
DO NOT assign them to someone who is overloaded and just needs someone to help them — this new hire is going to slow that team member down a little bit and distract them so assigning someone overloaded is going to create tension between the two people.
Thats all you need to do before they start. You can work ahead to make sure you are prepared, but this will give you the basics to hit the ground running.
Week 1 & 2
ON DAY 1 (or before); meet with the hiring manager and create a schedule for upcoming 2 weeks. Program their days as “meeting heavy” as the position’s ideal day looks like.
What I mean by this is do not schedule their day 9am - 5pm solid with meetings. Humans need several breaks throughout the day. Give them time to quietly work at their desk on things you’ee assigned them.
Meetings do not have to fall only on you and their buddy, you can utilize other people on the team for shadowing, but you and the buddy are the “go-to” question answerers (is that even a word??)
Schedule a lunch break so they know they can & should take time away away from their desk to have lunch.
If your business doesn’t allow for 2 weeks out of scheduling, try to at least do a week.
Create the schedule in outlook or whatever scheduling tool you use, those meetings can move around and they will get used to managing a dynamic calendar based on your culture.
Make sure your new hire has access to this so they can see it and plan for it.
Create a list of milestones/goals for the new hire to complete in their first 90 days AND WRITE IT DOWN
Put these somewhere that you, new hire, and onboarding buddy can see them (the entire team is even better). It can be electronic (preferred because then it can be updated) or on paper.
Empower your new hire to “own” it — they know what is expected from you and they should partner with you, onboarding buddy, and the rest of the team to accomplish those tasks.
Meet with your new hire at the end of their first week for a pulse check
15 minutes — what’s going well, what can we adjust for next week, are you bored, overloaded, or just right, etc.
Meet with the onboarding buddy with the same questions as above
Determine changes needed for the upcoming week & then do it all over again week 2
90 days
3 months in, you should be regularly meeting with your new hire (at least once a week) to check on their progress, their milestones, and see how they are doing (are they happy?).
Ask someone who is on the outside but still adjacent to their work (HR person, VP, director, owner, etc.) to have a 30 minute sit down with this person. It should NOT be their first time meeting the person, but they don’t need to have a long standing relationship with them. Create a safe environment that allows the new hire to share about their experience with this selected person. You shouldn’t attend this meeting — its about creating more relationships & giving them an unbiased support person.
Based on what they hear, adjust as needed.
It seems simple and it should be, but it takes dedication to the new hire to make sure it happens. Think back to your first day, week and months, what could someone have done to helped you feel more secure/excited about the position? If they did a perfect job — duplicate it! You hired that person because you saw something in them, make sure they have the tools to meet your expectations.
