14 Aug The importance of onboarding
We all look forward to our first day of work, much like we look forward to the first day of school. We may set aside a new outfit, purchase a new notebook, or even treat ourselves to breakfast on the way in. We get excited about setting up our new o!ce space, meeting our new colleagues and touring the organization … that is before COVID-19.
Now, starting a new job feels a bit different. We look forward to the mailman dropping off our new equipment — and hold our breath that it all works— and connect with our new colleagues virtually. In many ways, we dive right into the work and lose parts of the welcoming committee that help make our transitions more seamless.
Since March, I’ve started not one but two jobs.
From March to July 2020, I was deployed to the Public Health Agency of Canada on a micro- mission to lead the project management of a joint border application with the Canada Border Services Agency — ArriveCAN. Transitioning to this team was rather seamless as I was able to keep all my existing equipment, retain my email, and quickly be onboarded to collaborative tools like Slack and Google Drive for document sharing. My immediate team met regularly each morning to feel connected and assess the workload ahead, but also weekly with the broader team to establish additional means of connection.
In July, I started my new substantive position with Shared Services Canada as the Manager of Implementation and Engagement under the Enterprise Transformation Directorate. Unlike my micro-mission, this was a permanent move within government — which, for those of you outside the public service, is a lot more work. More so because it involves a bit more paperwork, and a few more transfers behind the scenes that ultimately can lead to delays.
While the federal public service hasn’t nailed down a better way for employees to transfer between departments just yet, I have to admit this transition wasn’t all that bad either.
I was lucky to have all my new equipment mailed to me days before my start date, in addition to my new security pass (for my eventual in-person return). I had immediate access to MSTeams to connect with my colleagues, and my email was turned on and working right away. While there were still a few hiccups — transferring my MyKey and connecting to VPN — these are all related to equipment and network connectivity, and not necessarily onboarding to the team. In that respect, similar to my old team, my team found ways to connect virtually even more frequently. While I wasn’t a huge fan of MSTeams in my past life, it has made onboarding a lot easier especially in a virtual team.
Throughout my government career, I’ve worked in six different teams, and I have to admit onboarding has gotten easier with each new team — for the most part. My first ever onboarding into public sector was arguably the hardest. Trying to navigate new rules, an abundance of acronyms, and the bigger picture within which my organization operated in was di!cult. Overtime, however, onboarding became less nerve wracking, partly because I now know what to ask for to help guide my own transitions.
Here are a few key things to keep in mind as you plan your next transition or welcome the next person to your team. It’s important to:
- share the organization’s mission, vision and values, and how this translates to your team
- ensure access to the right tools and technologies to avoid delays in connection
- create introductions to build necessary bridges within your team and broadly in the organization
- develop an onboarding package with key contacts, policies, resources (e.g organizational charts), reference materials, etc.; and,
- check-in — the first week can feel lonesome whether in-person or remote, employees are still trying to situate themselves so be sure to check-in and let them know they have your support.
While onboarding improvements certainly remain a major “to-do” in most organizations, many organizations already realize the benefits it brings. Google, for example, is notorious for not only its work in the tech space, but also in the workplace. Other great examples include Twitter’s “Yes to Desk” policy, which includes more than 75 steps and handoffs between HR, IT and facilities to support new hires. Zappos’ four week onboarding process for all new hires, regardless of their job title, also “aims to grow company culture, build a strong team, and create strong internal bonds”.
The reality is that a good onboarding experience ultimately translates into good employee engagement, and good employee engagement must be inherent from the start.
“I truly believe that onboarding is an art. Each new employee brings with them a potential to achieve and succeed. To lose the energy of a new hire through poor onboarding is an opportunity lost.” — Sarah Wetzel
So, be sure to set the right stage. While your employees may have worried about first impressions at their interview, it’s important that you now set the right first impression with your onboarding. In doing so, you’ll start your employees off on the right foot to ensure a multitude of long-term benefits – trust, alignment, engagement, communication, retention, and much more!
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