Onboarding new product designers at Sky Bet
As a design team at Sky Bet we understand the value of a positive onboarding experience for our new starters.
This is the time which gives our designers their first insight into the business, the culture and how we treat people. It’s our chance to make you feel welcome and show how highly you are valued.
On the flip side a negative onboarding experience can sometimes cloud any positive experiences after that and can be hard to pull back.
Starting your new role should be exciting and feel rewarding for all the hard work you’ve put into your career so far. With this in mind we wanted to give you an insight into how we onboard new product designers.
Catch up before your first day
Whether it is enjoying a coffee over a zoom call or meeting in person for lunch, we always catch up with our new starter before your first day.
This allows us to start building personal relationships early and answer any questions you have. We also realise starting a new role can be daunting so we will give you a brief overview of what to expect in your first few weeks.
Welcome pack
One of our favourite things to do for a new starter is to prepare your welcome pack. This pack is filled with different goodies to get you ready for your new job along with a few extras for your evenings and weekends.
Inside your welcome pack you’ll find a personalised booklet which will include information about the team, the business and some examples of our work.
If you’ve always dreamed of being an astronaut then you’ll love the ‘Crew’ page where outputs from a recent innovation session mean we are all dressed as astronauts, including you!
The amount of chocolate and sweets you’ll receive in a welcome pack will depend on which one of our designers sends it out. If you’re one of the lucky ones then you can expect what would be described as a 2 week supply.
Your welcome pack will be sent to your home address or delivered in person if you’ll be attending our office during your first week.
Dedicated time during your first week
Your first day will be very relaxed and is all about getting you set up. In the morning you will be with a member of our tech team to set up your equipment and the afternoon will be spent with your line manager to welcome you into the team and discuss your week ahead.
Your line manager will set aside time every day during your first week to check in to see how you’re settling in and talk you through your 90 day onboarding plan.
We always make it clear to our new starters this period is about meeting people, learning about our culture and understanding business goals. We want you to take your time and enjoy it.
You will also have the option to visit and work in our incredible new office in Leeds which has fantastic spaces for collaboration, quiet zones for taking a break and game consoles for having fun.
90 day onboarding plan
We introduced a 90 day onboarding plan for all new starters in the design team. These plans give designers a guide for how we see your first few months going.
We introduced this to provide a guide of expectations and how we see a successful onboarding period for you.
We’ve really seen the benefit of our plans with the variation and exposure they offer our new starters. Tasks are put in priority order and given sizing to give you an idea of how long we expect each task to take.
An example of our 90 day plan is below;
- Have introductions with people from different areas of the business, learn about what they do and how they work with design (Large)
- Complete your e-learning courses (Medium)
- Complete and present your Digital Desk to the design team (Small)
- Complete and present your Superhero card back to the design team (Small)
- Learn about business goals for the year ahead (Small)
- Complete and present your product audit to the design team (Large)
- Join a squad and have introduction conversations with everybody in that squad (Medium)
- Make a start on project work within your squad and present back to the design team in a feedback workshop (Medium)
- Complete your learning and development focus for one month and present back to the team during the next available share out session (Large)
- Work with your line manager to make a start on your personal development plan (Small)
Fun exercises such as Digital Desks and Superhero Cards are for learning more about you and building personal relationships within our team.
Making a start on your development plan is about giving your line manager insights into your strengths, drivers and discussing your long term goals.
Completing your product audit is about getting you familiar with our products and working on your presentation skills.
Above all that we think you’ll enjoy meeting and speaking to people the most. Having time to learn about their journey, what their role is and how you can collaborate with them.
Onboarding retro
Upon completion of your 90 day plan It’s important we get your feedback on how you found your first few months. We will plan a mini retro around your 3–4 month mark to understand what went well and what can be improved for future new starters.
What our new starters say
We’d love for you to hear from one of our recent starters…
Callum Smith started as a Senior Product Designer in July 2021 and has already had a big influence on driving our design system forward along with facilitating workshops on our Market Layouts project.
I’m not just saying this but my onboarding experience at SBG is the best I’ve ever experienced…
From the surprise of a pre-starting ‘welcome pack’ — complete with a new starter guide, sharpies & post-its (obvs) and plenty of chocolate — through to the perfect balance of check-ins (to see how I was getting on) against time to explore and meet new people/learn about the culture, it was a very seamless start to my life at SBG.
I found the team and the atmosphere very welcoming + the “getting to know the team” activities (Digital Desks & Superhero Cards) that we did in my first few weeks were an extremely intuitive way to learn about the nuances within the team. The ‘Leads’ and ‘Head of…’ made what can be quite a cold, dry process of getting up-to-speed at a company feel engaging, relaxed and human.
Join the team
If our onboarding sounds great and you are interested in becoming the latest Designer to join our fantastic team, read about how we hire product designers and view vacancies on our Careers Page.
