49: Onboarding Tips and Tricks for your Team
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Transcript:
How you navigate workplace transitions and how well you embed leaving well principles can be judged based on how well (or how terribly) you onboard your new hires. While you may feel relieved to have found an incredible new team member, and may feel a bit weary from the search process, don’t rest too easy just yet. It is important that you prioritize onboarding to keep connected with the new hire, and promote your organization’s culture by using this valuable time to set up your new hire for success and trust building.
“Fruitful organizations pay attention to your season of entry. They don’t push you through a careless hiring and orientation process. They initiate you into the culture.” -Jaiya John
Before we get to the orientation, I’d like to share a bit of my thoughts on the hiring process.
First, it’s imperative that you create an equitable job description and job posting. Here are a few ways to inject anti-bias and equity in your job description and job posting, from Melissa DellaBartolomea on the Inclusion Hub website. She recommends that you understand which of the “everyday” language choices can leave others feeling excluded or discriminated against. From her article:
Gender Coding—the decision to rely on words, phrases, or traits that have historically been associated with either the male or female gender—can result in a false impression about who the ideal candidate for the position may be.
A study published by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggests that if a job description is coded too heavily to either gender, it is more likely to result in the exclusion of certain applicants—regardless of the actual skills or qualifications those candidates may have.
She recommends a Gender-Bias Decoder by Totaljobs, which can help you balance or minimize gender coding in your job descriptions by identifying gendered words in your copy.
It’s also recommended that you scan your job descriptions and job postings for age and experience bias, commonly a problem when using terms like “digital native” or referencing social media prowess. As well as age and experience bias, also beware of cultural and racial bias such as requirements around dress or language abilities.
We’ve all seen that phrase “must be able to lift 50 lbs” on job descriptions, but that is exclusionary for potential candidates who are disabled. Consider this swap of language: the person in this role frequently is required to move equipment weighing up to 50 lbs. And if that doesn’t seem like a big difference, know that it is for the person who might be looking specifically for physical requirements. And … does that role REALLY need to be able to lift 50 lbs?
Clearly state the salary or salary band in your job posting, and share transparently your organization’s mission statement and any relevant diversity and inclusion statements, as well as sharing what your benefits policies look like.
As you close the job posting and begin interviews, consider these ideas:
Create a hiring matrix (I’ve borrowed this from Brooke Richie Babbage) - in that matrix be sure to identify the main competencies you’re looking to hire for, as well as crafting questions that will help you seek out those competencies in each candidate
Send the questions to each candidate ahead of time
Stick to ONLY the questions you’ve pre-sent the candidate, and track the answers on your matrix document
Promptly communicate with candidates who will not be invited for an interview
Share with the candidates what the timeline will be, and when they will next hear from you
Promptly communicate with candidates who will not be invited for a second interview
Once you get to the stage where you’ve hired someone and you are approaching their first day, consider the following.
This is an exciting day for new employees, and they are likely feeling a few mixed emotions from excitement to nervousness. This is your chance to ease those nerves and leave a lasting good impression. Onboarding goes beyond simply providing a list of things for their first day. Onboarding offers crucial support as your new hire will be navigating new waters, and while you may think onboarding only lasts for the first few days, the first month (I’d even argue, the first 90 days) are crucial for relationship building and development.
To take a deeper dive into establishing an onboarding program, let’s talk through some recommended actions you can take:
Send an email officially welcoming them to the team. In the email, highlight their start time and date clearly. Share what the tentative agenda will be on day one. Be sure to remind them of what documents they need to bring (or provide ahead of time) to ensure a smooth first day.
In that same email, let them know what details might be important about arriving and parking, or if they are remote, provide any login details or password access that will be needed.
Let them know what the expectations are when it comes to workplace attire.
For an added bit of engagement, ask them for a few fun facts about themselves that you can later share with existing employees.
If you do not use a platform to manage your HR and performance management processes, be sure to manually send your organization’s employee handbook for them to read through.
If you don’t yet have an employee handbook, that’s something we can assist with! Send me an email at Naomi@8thandHome.com for a list of our resources and recommendations.
Send an email to the team introducing new hires. Share their name, title, department, and the fun facts they’ve previously shared with you.
If you plan any type of welcome event for new hires, be sure to share the details of that event with both the new hire(s) and the existing team.
Prepare the new employee’s desk or office. You’ll need to requisition a computer for the employee loaded with programs that they might need as well as any standard software. Set up their accounts, email, business cards, access cards/keys, etc.
Have the employee’s manager set up a team lunch for the first day to welcome the new person to the team. Reach out beforehand if you have it ordered in or ask where they would like to go.
Have a swag bag waiting for each employee on day one. This can include t-shirts, mugs, pens, candy, etc. It’s little touches like these that make employees feel welcome.
On that first day:
Collect necessary paperwork first thing. This will clear the administrative part out of the way for the fun things happening later in the day. This is when you can also discuss the employee handbook more in depth, talk about safety and security, and go over your code of conduct.
Give an office tour if you are an in person organization. Show them around and introduce them to team members along the way. Show them where the supply closet, bathrooms, and break areas are.
Help employees set up their workstations. Retrieve any other supplies they might need. Assist them in setting up their email, voicemail, signature, etc. If needed, give them an access card, code, or key.
Make sure managers followed through and that the employee has lunch plans. If not, find someone from their team to treat them to lunch.
Review the schedule for the week, pointing out what time to come in every day, when to expect to leave, and any important meetings.
Before they leave for the day, have them meet with their manager for a check-in. They can discuss job duties, the day’s events, what to expect the next day, or ask any other questions.
Organizing their onboarding:
Schedule meetings with different teams on different days. This allows for the new hire to get to the know the company and its many moving pieces. They also get to meet others they may or may not work with or otherwise encounter.
Schedule any software training that is needed to complete their job. Introduce them to the process for submitting a help ticket for any troubles.
Set up group meetings with C-suite leaders. This will help new hires feel connected immediately and show that upper management is indeed accessible.
Discuss the probationary period. Share what the expectations will be during that time and what possible outcomes are.
I have a great Expectations document that I’d love to share with you! Email me at Naomi@8thandHome.com and I’ll send it right over to you
Send them on a scavenger hunt that has them search out other employees’ fun facts. This will get them up and moving around the office, introduce them to new people, and help break the ice.
Conduct an onboarding survey to gauge new employees’ experience. Ask insightful questions about what they found helpful and what they thought could be tweaked.
Have managers provide feedback on performance so far.
Schedule any additional training employees feel they may need.
If there wasn’t time in the first week, have the new hire meet with or shadow each person on the team. This will help them build relationships and develop an understanding of what each person’s role is.
Assign each employee a mentor. This person can be an invaluable resource for a new hire. They can provide help and answer questions that arise throughout their time at the company.
Depending on your probationary period, keep in close contact with new hires. It can take months for them to truly be acclimated to their new role.
Ensure new employees are still checking in with their managers and mentors on a regular basis. This is an important aspect of their continual growth and success as an employee in your organization.
When thinking about onboarding new team members, the one thing you should make sure to focus on is sharing your company values, explaining your organization’s culture, and sharing what those expectations are. I recommend creating a Reading Guide that shares relevant information about your organization, and sending that to your new employee for their first day. List your mission and values, and if you are really up for the task, create a set of statements that let your employees know how they will know that the values are being lived out.
Include podcast episodes that relate to the mission of your organization, and news articles featuring your work. If there are any books that your team has recently read together, either send them a copy to their home address or have one waiting for them on their first day. If you’d like a copy of my Reading Guide template, send me an email at Naomi@8thandhome.com and I’ll send it right away.
