First Impressions
Offers and onboarding
So you’ve nailed the interview process — found the perfect candidate, sold them on your company and the role, and had the verbal offer accepted — all the hard work’s done right?
Wrong.
Random internet “facts” state that up to 20% of employee turnover happens within the first 45 days, and nearly 33% of employees look for a new job within their first 6 months at a company. Whilst I’ve no idea whether these numbers are true, the insight from them certainly is. Mess up the onboarding and you’re throwing away all the effort (and money) spent sourcing the candidate in the first place.
So here’s a run through of the onboarding process I’ve put in place at Neverbland to ensure new team mates hit the ground running and can add real value from day one.
Before they start
Scott, our CEO, sends the official offer in an email. He meets all candidates during the recruitment process so it’s important to maintain that personal touch. We use HelloSign to get the contract sent and signed. We’re a digital agency so don’t send out old school paperwork (also, “Royal Fail”, amiright?!). I deal with all the admin and make myself available to answer any questions the new hire might have. The goal is to make them feel as welcome as possible — they are an important part of the team as soon as they accept the role.
Our onboarding takes inspiration from a great interview with Percolate on their thoughtfully designed process. Were not as big as them so we don’t follow all the steps, but it was a great starting point.
As soon as we have the signed contract we send out a welcome email with all the information we can think of that might be helpful, along with a full copy of our Company Handbook.
Practical instructions, including email login, arrival time and FAQs
They’ll also get an invitation to CharlieHR, where we gather and store all their information (we use it for booking holidays too). For the information we can’t capture in CharlieHR (such as their favourite Birthday cake, what size NEVERBLAND hoodie they’d like, and whether they’d like us to order them any particular hardware) we use a Google form. And if there are team events booked in the weeks before they start we invite them along. Everything is designed so that they can hit the ground running on their first day with minimum admin and paperwork.
We have a Trello board with a checklist of everything that needs to be set up before their arrival, from ordering their laptop to adding them to Slack and telling the accountant.
Day one
Their first day starts from 11am and is completely booked up. There’s nothing worse than sitting around twiddling your thumbs on your first day. It generally looks something like this:
11:00–11.30: Hello
Have a coffee with me, get a tour of the office, run through health and safety, get introduced to everyone, and then get settled at your desk. I make sure everyone has all the stationary they need to hand — fresh pens, a notebook, etc. Much like you’re first day of school….
11.30–12.00: Introduce Yourself
We give new hires 30 minutes to write and send out an email introducing themselves to their colleagues. To take the pressure off and give everyone some conversational prompts, we’ve created an email template which the new hire can fill in. It just includes a bit of background and some “fun facts” (everyone loves a fun fact). We also ask that they include a .gif somewhere in the email.
12.00–13:00: Welcome Presentation
I take the new hire through of the history of NEVERBLAND, our vision and values, and where they fit in, as well as any HR or admin bits (working hours, benefits, etc). It’s all in the Company Handbook but it’s an important opportunity for them to ask any questions or discuss any worries.
13:00–14:00: Lunch
We book this into everyone’s calendars and then order in Deliveroo (pretty much the same thing we do everyday but we like to make it “formal” on people’s first days).
14:00–15:00 — Team Introduction
This hour is reserved for sitting down with their team leader, and anyone else on the team who is available. It’s a chance to run through how we work and for the new hire to ask any initial questions about the team setup.
15:00–16:00 — Project Introduction
We will usually have decided in advance what the new hire will be working on when they join. During this hour the Project Manager and any other relevant people will take them through the project team, background, any Partner considerations, and an overview of what the future holds. It’s not a breakdown of tasks or a briefing session — that will come the next morning.
16:00–16:30 — Time with the CEO
We’re a small team and Scott likes to personally sit down with each new hire as he might not have seen/spoken to them since their interview and offer email. It’s just a quick catch up to make sure they’re happy and settling in ok. It’s also a chance for Scott to reiterate the NEVERBLAND vision and values in his own words.
16:30 — School’s Out
First days can be pretty tiring so we like to send new starters home early to rest up and recuperate, ready to get stuck in to chargeable work on their second day.
Simples.
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