Why onboarding is one of the most crucial moments during employee-employer relationships

Most of the time, starting a new job is exciting and crucial for the employee journey. It has been a little bit more than a month since I joined Growe, and I would like to share my onboarding experience and elaborate on two questions: what should a good onboarding look like and what are the most common mistakes IT companies make during the onboarding period?

Employee onboarding in IT companies typically involves several key activities to ensure new hires are integrated smoothly into the organization and are set up for success. Some of the most important onboarding activities include:

🔹 𝗢𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Providing an overview of the company, its culture, mission, and values, as well as introducing new hires to their team members and key stakeholders.

🔹 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: Offering training sessions to familiarize new hires with the company’s systems, tools, and processes, as well as providing opportunities for ongoing skill development and learning.

🔹 𝗦𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: Clearly outlining job responsibilities, performance expectations, and goals to ensure new hires understand what is expected of them.

🔹 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗽: Providing new hires with the necessary access to systems, software, and equipment to perform their roles effectively.

🔹 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁: Assigning a mentor or buddy to help new hires navigate their roles and the organization, providing guidance and support.

🔹 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸-𝗶𝗻𝘀: Regularly check in with new hires to provide feedback, address any concerns, and ensure they are adjusting well to their new roles.

🔹 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲: Encouraging new hires to participate in team activities and social events to help them feel part of the team and the company culture.

🔹 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀: Conduct regular performance reviews to assess new hires’ progress, provide constructive feedback, and identify areas for improvement or further development. Sometimes this item might be delayed due to not having performance-driven goals.

🔹 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: Seeking feedback from new hires about their onboarding experience and using this feedback to continuously improve the onboarding process for future hires.

By implementing these key activities, IT companies can effectively onboard new employees, setting them up for long-term success within the organization.

Let’s talk about mistakes that are usually made during the onboarding flow.

𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗢𝗻𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗱:
🔺 𝗟𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴: Not having a structured onboarding plan leads to confusion and inefficiency.

🔺 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴: New hires may feel lost without adequate training on the company’s systems, tools, and processes.

🔺 𝗣𝗼𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Unclear communication about expectations, company culture, and other important information may cause misunderstandings.

🔺 𝗡𝗲𝗴𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗮 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗿 𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗱𝘆: Without a mentor, new hires can feel isolated and unsupported.

🔺 𝗜𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸: Not seeking or acting on feedback misses opportunities for improvement.

🔺 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Bombarding new hires with too much information can overwhelm them.

🔺 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲: Failure to integrate new hires into the team and culture can make them feel alienated.

🔺 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗦𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗚𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀: Without clear goals, new hires don’t know what’s expected of them.

🔺 𝗜𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀: Overlooking legalities can lead to future complications.

🔺 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗨𝗽: Lack of follow-up after onboarding leaves new hires feeling unsupported and disengaged.

By avoiding these mistakes and implementing best practices, IT companies can improve the effectiveness of their employee onboarding process and set new hires up for long-term success within the organization.

𝗦𝗼, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗲? Let me share it more in a storytelling way… I consider my onboarding to be smooth, but at the same time, so much has already happened. For context, the Country Head’s role is to establish and succeed with the brand in the specific region.

On my first day, I got 2 main contacts, so-called go-to people — the Business Partner and the regional COO. The first two weeks were quite active in terms of introductions — I had intro calls with all the departments and their responsible managers. It was quite an intensive dive-in, as I was mostly asking questions to learn how they work and better understand the industry better. After all these calls, my biggest challenge was remembering all faces/ names/ roles and to which departments they belonged as I met about 25 colleagues in a short period.

In parallel, I was doing an online onboarding course, which I found to be very convenient — it is structured, and you can read it a few times to memorize or return to a certain topic later. Another interesting thing was the part about gambling history. Did you know that dice were invented around 3000 Before the Common Era?

Of course, the first month was not only about meeting people and throwing back to the school time for learning history but also a bunch of business topics. On top of that, I have visited 2 new countries as a part of field research and started to learn a new language.

Do you think my onboarding was good or could be improved? What was the most interesting onboarding experience you ever had?