New Hire Listening Sessions: Onboarding/First 30 Days

Summary:

While there is a lot of information to take in, new hires generally like being informed rather than having a manager “funnel” the information to them. Answers to questions (or at least where to find them) weren’t readily available and it wasn’t always clear who to reach out to.

The common themes we gathered from recent new hires:

  • An online, frequently updated organization chart is always highly requested

    • It would help new hires recognize new faces as well as learn the different departments and roles around External Affairs
    • Sometimes new hires are unsure what department they fall into (or what their department is called)
  • Having new hires join meetings and making sure they knew the purpose of the meeting and the other attendees had positive impacts on new hires

    • They were able to become familiar with faces and roles faster
    • Make it clear to new hires they may get a lot of invites (depending on the department) and that they should manage their time accordingly
    • Make clear to new hires which meetings are/aren’t mandatory
  • Having documentation as a guide is helpful, as long as everything is detailed (see more detailed onboarding doc suggestions here)

    • Some guides were vague and assumed the hires knew more than they did
    • Guides should be written as a 101 vs. a refresher and be updated frequently
    • Guides would hopefully include:
      • What the different departments are
      • What each department/branch does
      • Who some of the key people are in each department
      • Department-specific details, such as lists of programs used and how to use them
      • Passwords
      • Relevant contact information
      • Benchmarks (Ex: “by week one you should be able to do this or know this”)
    • New hires expressed frustration that people forget how new they are to the environment

      • They’re unsure of people (names), places, acronyms, and routines
  • Be aware that onboarding is often framed as “ask questions” vs. “here are the answers”

    • If someone is more introverted or not wired to ask as many questions, things might be missed or fall through the cracks when it’s assumed that if they don’t know something, they will ask
    • The assumption should be they know nothing, even if they don’t ask
  • Sometimes processes aren’t always clear before new hires arrive, and they find many people might do the same thing differently

    • Assess the processes you have in place and how malleable they are to creativity
  • Some new hires mentioned the workplace culture can be cold