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Migrating to another country is an uprooting experience. Once you’re there, you have to get used to the climate, the time difference, the language barrier, the public transport system, the people, the culture, and so much more. In a nutshell, you’re training your entire existence for a life totally foreign to it.
Likewise, a company’s newly hired employees have to fit themselves into brand new working conditions and ethics. They have to retrain themselves to flawlessly move around the new culture. As an employer or a startup founder, it’s your job to ensure that your employees fit in perfectly within the system. Regardless of whether you’re in an established company or a fledgling startup, employee onboarding is essential to your company’s longevity.
No to constant twiddling of thumbs.
A new employee will never know what to do immediately. Even if she was briefed during the offer negotiation, employees don’t come installed with all the necessary software they need to produce extraordinary work. It’s your job to train them. An untrained employee will start off the first week (or month!) mostly idle, not knowing what to do or who to report to.
Before an employee starts, you have to prepare for their arrival. As early as the offer, tell him or her when to report, who to report to, what to bring, and what to do. A welcome banner isn’t too farfetched as well. Global video-on-demand service Netflix even sets up their employees’ workstations before they start, according to engineer Poorna Udupi. Preparing for your employees’ arrival shortens their unproductive time.
This is an excellent time to introduce the new hire to the more technical aspects of the job. If you don’t have anything for her to do just yet, she can learn the ins and outs of the job in the meantime, including the details you may not have been at liberty to disclose prior to her hiring. It will also minimize the time they spend fiddling around and potentially causing damage to the code.
Finding a sense of purpose.
The onboarding process isn’t limited to setting up your new hire’s amenities. It also involves an introduction to your company’s mission, vision, workflow, and systems. By now, you should have already briefed him on this. Still, a refresher course is always good so you can make sure you’re on the same page.
This is especially true for startups. Most bigger companies already have substantial information on their organization online through their website or employee reviews. If you’re a startup founder, finding the same level of information about your company online isn’t as simple as a quick Google search. This has to be communicated in a meaningful and readable way for your new hires.
Making sure that all employees are on the same page is an absolute must, especially for new companies. For bigger companies, the onboarding process will ensure the new hire’s acclimation to your system and thus, her productivity in the long run. Regardless, a big company’s mission and vision lives on irrespective of an employee’s acclimation. The converse is true for startups. As a founder, the mission and vision of your startup live and die with you. If you aren’t able to communicate this properly, your employees will have as much direction as headless chickens. Take the example of Apple’s welcome note for its new employees where they are immediately briefed to the world-changing nature of their work.
Having a measurable metric for success.
Building that sense of purpose from the get-go also instills a way to measure success in the future. Adequately communicating how things work around your company and what they should do will help employees gauge if they’re doing the right thing months down the road. This includes both telling them their individual goals and valuing their early works.
A hardworking but aimless employee will fire blindly without any measure of success. Employees who don’t know if their work actually means something will end up leaving after a few years at most. Looking again at Netflix, Udupi found that his early projects were already being used by thousands of people. Having that kind of recognition as an early employee shows just how much companies like Netflix values quality in their work.
Creating a blossoming in-office culture.
A proper onboarding process increases camaraderie and culture within the company. You have to introduce the new hire to her new co-workers. If a working environment has to be something, it’s to be a friendly one.
Having a close-knit, friendly environment is essential to productivity. A small startup often works as a team, not as a full-blown organization. Thus, camaraderie creates an everlasting bond that transcends a simple job. As a startup founder, that’s exactly what you need.
Other employees are as much involved in the onboarding process as you especially for smaller companies. Gaming company Valve even had its employees craft a crazy “handbook” for its new employees, complete with amusing illustrations and captions like “don’t freak out.” As early as the first week, you might want to organize a get-together after work for dinner or drinks. You may also want to pair your new hire with a veteran member of your team as a mentor. Having someone more experienced in teaching him the technical aspects of the job will create a more personalized training program for him. It will also ensure that the new hire is well accommodated for any questions he may have.
Also, even if you’re already a CEO who doesn’t interact with new hires often, take the time to meet them and ensure that they’re fitting in nicely. SaaS company Medallia does this with co-founders Borge Hald and Amy Pressman.
Onboarding isn’t just about going through the legal requirements every hiree should go through. It’s about introducing the culture that will make both your work lives easier and more comfortable.
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