Your onboarding sucks

For most people, the thought of joining a new team evokes feelings of panic and anxiety. Everything is new. New people, new code, new technologies. There’s a million things to learn, large and small. Pretty much the definition of overwhelm. It can take months to really feel at ease and to properly know the team.

As a contractor, I’m used to joining new teams frequently. In this world, 3- or 6-month projects are not uncommon. Now, I recognise that I’m shy and sensitive, and it takes me a long time to be comfortable around new people, but I’m continuously surprised at how bad companies tend to be at bringing new team members into the fold.

Don’t get me wrong, people are generally friendly, polite and helpful. But, it’s rare that anybody has taken the time and trouble to think about the onboarding experience from a new team member’s perspective. And why would they? It’s often not clear who is responsible for ensuring a new hire has a good onboarding experience. Is it the hiring manager, or the colleagues in your new team, or perhaps HR? It’s very common for each to assume that someone else will take care of it. There’s no system. Everything is left to chance.

A new team member will undoubtedly figure out everything they need to do, but it’s a painful, stumbling process. With a bit of thought, you can make it much more smooth and pleasant.

There are some things that anyone joining your team is going to need to know. Why not make a list of these common, basic questions and answer them? It’s one of the few things you can do to orient new team members, make them feel secure, and give them some control in what is a completely new environment.

Here’s a list to get you going…

FAQs

• what time should I be in?
• what time do people normally leave?
• when/where do people normally go for lunch?
• where can I get water/snacks?
• where are the toilets?
• when/how do I get paid?
• what systems do I need access to?
• when will the accounts be setup, and by whom?
• what are the expectations around getting up-to-speed and delivering value?
• who are the team members, and what do they do? (I’m so nervous that I’m going to forget this when I’m first introduced)

They’re all common sense, but answering these can be very reassuring, and it’s surprising how many companies fail to cover these basics.

Some more advice

Refine the process. Pay attention to questions that new hires have and add them to the FAQs as they arise. The other benefit to this, other than making the new team member feel secure, is that you help them get up-to-speed faster, and avoid wasting the team’s time with trivialities.

Measure and improve. It doesn’t hurt to get some feedback: ask the new hire how they found the onboarding process. Really stress that you want their honest, brutal feedback because you’re serious about improving the process, otherwise they’ll likely just say it was fine. A few questions with ratings out of 10 is probably all you need, but also ask for suggestions of how the process can be improved.

Think about your onboarding pipeline. The questions above don’t all have to be dealt with once a person arrives on their first day. Some can be built into the pre-joining hiring process — perhaps in emails confirming the start date or even final interview. Repetition can be used to build security and trust. When key information is repeated in interviews, hiring emails and in the FAQs, it helps the new hire feel that things are consistent and familiar, with no hidden surprises.

Make someone responsible. It’s often unclear who is supposed to do what to help a new hire join. Why not make this explicit? You could even assign an existing team member to help the new starter and point them in the right direction for anything they can’t personally answer. This is a nice way to start to integrate the new hire into the culture — they start by developing at least one friendship (or at least person they can count on.)

Do lunch. It’s such a simple way to shortcut the process of making someone new feel part of the team that I’m continually surprised at how many companies don’t do this. It doesn’t have to be lunch — any non-work activity where the team can connect on a more social level will do.

In conclusion

Your hiring and onboarding process says a lot about you as an organisation. If it’s smooth and a new hire feels they were really looked after — doesn’t that speak volumes about how your organisation operates and views its team? If you do it well it sets the tone for their entire career or working relationship with your company.

Taking some time out to explicitly think through your onboarding process will pay dividends. The organisation benefits because new team members will add value more quickly, and be more motivated if they feel valued. From a new hire’s perspective, the smoother the onboarding process the less stressful their first weeks are, and the more respect they’ll have for the company. It’s win-win.

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