Unlocking the Onboarding Journey

I served as Chief People Officer at Nmbrs for over six years, a successful tech company that thrives without conventional management structures and rigid rules, steered strategically by a four-person board. Throughout our journey, we needed to consistently challenge the conventional norms, constantly pushing the boundaries of how a company should be led. This article delves into the realm of onboarding, an area that's receiving heightened attention and investment across nearly every organization. As I share my insights, my goal is to make a meaningful contribution to this pivotal topic.

Now, let's delve into the numbers:

• Glassdoor underscores that a robust onboarding process yields a remarkable 82% higher employee retention rate.
• Gallup showcases a significant 70% boost in new hire productivity attributed to effective onboarding.
• Bamboo HR brings forth the insight that employees experiencing effective onboarding are a staggering 18 times more committed.
• Gallup reinforces the importance of a positive first 90-day experience, making employees 10 times more likely to stay.

In most traditional organizations, onboarding responsibilities are typically shared between management and HR. However, at Nmbrs, where we functioned without conventional managers, we embarked on a journey to reinvent onboarding. One crucial takeaway was the realization that onboarding couldn't rest solely on the shoulders of a single person or the HR department. Instead, it became abundantly clear that onboarding is a collective responsibility, shared by every individual within the organization. The most welcoming atmosphere is cultivated when each member is dedicated to going the extra mile to make newcomers feel at home.

In this article, I will explore all stages of the onboarding journey, offering insights from our experience at Nmbrs and the inspiration we've drawn from other pioneering companies.?

Pre-boarding: Crafting the Prelude to Success

Before a new team member formally steps into your organization, a vital period known as pre-boarding unfolds. Extending from the moment the job offer is accepted to the inaugural workday, this phase represents a pivotal juncture. During this time, your prospective employee is teeming with curiosity, excitement, and a genuine aspiration to make a positive mark. Their innate motivation to immerse themselves in knowledge about your company, its culture, and values is at its peak. It's a moment you should not let slip away.

This moment presents a unique opportunity to introduce the new employee to your organization. At Nmbrs, the Employee Experience Specialist would take charge from the moment the new employee signs their contract until they walk through the doors on their first workday. They play a pivotal role during the pre-boarding phase, maintaining open lines of communication, being a go-to resource for questions, and delivering timely, captivating content. This content encompasses engaging office videos, highlights from previous events, and, notably, a culture book (which is highly inspired by the Valve corporation Valve Handbook). This culture book is a lighthearted yet insightful exploration of various aspects of your company's culture and values, while casting a spotlight on the employee's journey within the organization.

In cases involving employee relocation and immigration, the EE Specialist takes charge of all inquiries and relocation logistics. This means that, as an employee, you have a single point of contact during a period that can be riddled with worries and insecurities. The EE Specialist will help you navigate it all.

In the wake of the pandemic, setting up a functional home office has become an integral part of pre-boarding. This too falls under the purview of your designated EE Specialist. As for where everyone else (the most important part to create a welcoming, including environment) comes into the picture, stay with me for just two more points before we dive into the broader team's role!

The journey into a new company all begins with signing a contract, and I draw inspiration from companies like Tony's Chocolonely Tony Chocolonely contract and Pathé Cinémas Pathe contract for their innovative approach to this document. Their contracts serve as dynamic representations of their organization's spirit, making them far more engaging to read than traditional, lengthy legal documents and also give a far more welcoming feeling than those lengthy documents with articles and fines.

To complement these efforts, we've found that a thoughtfully designed welcome package, tailored to your company's culture, can be incredibly motivating. You can either put it on the desk for the first day or send it to their home address. While I see some remote companies offer cozy socks and sweaters for remote work, others send their own products to new employees or have recognizable notepads, stickers or mugs. It's essential that this package makes sense, rather than just following the crowd – aim to find your unique sweet spot and create a welcome package that reflects the distinct identity of your company.

As the first day approaches, the EE Specialist ensures that the broader team is in the loop. First, around a week before the start, a warm welcoming email from the team is sent, which includes a team picture to make the first day less daunting. A few days later, each squad member sends a personal email, extending a friendly hand to the new team member.

First Day: The Grand Welcome

The first day of a new employee is a monumental occasion, brimming with warmth and guidance. The dedicated Employee Experience (EE) Specialist orchestrates a welcoming introduction, ensuring essential information is shared. Topics covered include sick leave, working hours, vacation policies, parental leave, and more. The atmosphere is cultivated to be safe and inclusive, encouraging questions and open dialogue.

As the employee receives their laptop and sets foot into their decorated workspace, it signifies their initiation into the company's vibrant culture.

Upon logging into their laptop, an interactive starter bingo awaits on the desktop. This bingo comprises ten engaging tasks to be completed within the employee's first month at Nmbrs (no-one will check though!). The challenges embedded within the bingo are culture-driven, encompassing activities like taking one of the company's means of transportation for a spin and counting specific words in Michiel's (the CEO) monthly speech. This playful approach is designed to acquaint employees with the company's culture and inside jokes.

Beyond the introduction to the company, its services, and culture, expressing appreciation for the employee's decision to join is paramount. The team and the squad unite to make the employee's arrival a celebratory occasion, demonstrating their enthusiasm and gratitude.

In addition to the warm welcome from the EE Specialist, it's essential for the recruiter who initially connected with the newcomer to check in on the first day. The rest of the initiatives are led by the squads. These may include thoughtful gestures like picking up new colleagues from the airport or train station, providing food survival packages stocked with Dutch Cheese and Stroopwafels (a delightful treat for relocators), arranging special lunches, or decorating desks. These initiatives thrive solely when colleagues actively participate and feel it is their responsibility to go all out to make newcomers feel welcome.?

At Nmbrs, we believe that the first day is just the beginning of an employee's journey. That's why we provide every newcomer with a coach and a mentor to support their growth and integration into our company.

Your coach is your trusted confidant, dedicated to your personal growth and development. They're there to listen and guide you through any challenges or concerns you may encounter during your time at Nmbrs. Whether it's addressing anxieties or insecurities, your coach is a supportive figure who helps you navigate your professional journey.

On the other hand, your mentor is focused on helping you succeed in your role. Each specialization at Nmbrs has a tailored onboarding guide, outlining the best way to immerse yourself in your new position. This guide includes milestones and accomplishments, all designed to ensure you're on the right path from day one. Moreover, each mentor actively contributes to refining the program, incorporating feedback and insights gained from the new employees they guide. This continuous improvement process ensures that each subsequent new employee in that specialization has an even more exceptional onboarding experience.

Your mentor and coach are vital pillars of your journey at Nmbrs, and you'll have the opportunity to meet and connect with them on your very first day. They'll be there to help you embark on a successful and fulfilling career with us.

First Month: Immersion and Exploration

The first month of a new employee's journey is pivotal in ensuring they gain an in-depth understanding of the inner workings of your company. It provides ample time for newcomers to familiarize themselves with various departments and how they interrelate. They can explore essential questions: What do these different departments do? Why are they essential to the organization? What is the product, and how does it address specific problems for our customers? What objectives do we aim to achieve in the coming period, and how can they actively contribute to these goals?

This initial month is also an ideal opportunity to immerse new employees in your company's culture. It's a chance to share inside jokes, stories from the past, reference memorable movies, and instill the core values and guiding principles. Blogs and documents that shed light on your company's standard practices, methods of interaction, and meeting protocols can also be introduced. Topics like the frequency of meetings, whether cameras are typically on or off, and meeting times should be covered, ensuring newcomers understand how your company collaborates. Furthermore, it's essential to direct them to the relevant sources of information, helping them navigate the company's resources and network.

This comprehensive onboarding approach in the first month sets the stage for new employees to not only understand their roles but also feel integrated into the company culture and ethos, becoming valuable contributors to the organization's collective success.

These invaluable insights are primarily conveyed through our culture book, distributed before an employee's start date, our onboarding week, which I will delve into in the next section, and a meticulously crafted journey outlined in the Nmbrs book, replete with navigational links that new employees can follow to explore and acclimate themselves to the company's vibrant culture and operational intricacies.

During the first month, new employees embark on their work in earnest, collaborating closely with their mentor. This period offers a unique opportunity to work side by side with their mentor, allowing them to ask questions as necessary and contributing actively to the company's objectives.

In this early phase, new employees meet their coach and undergo a personality test which helps engaging in a profound conversation with their coach about the outcomes. These steps mark the beginning of their personal development journey. Working closely with their coach, they begin shaping their individual growth and development goals, setting the stage for their ongoing professional and personal evolution.

Onboarding Week: A Bonding Experience

As we began onboarding larger groups of employees, it became evident that a dedicated onboarding week was essential. During this week, all incoming employees gathered in our Amsterdam office, creating a unique opportunity for them to connect with one another, learn about different departments, and delve into the intricacies of our products, all while enjoying a variety of enjoyable activities.

Initially, we scheduled this week at the beginning of the month to offer a warm welcome to most newcomers. However, we soon recognized that this timing was overwhelming. For some junior employees, it was not just their first working day but also the first flight in their lives and their initial international trip, intensifying the stress. We quickly realized that the onboarding week should serve as a source of enjoyment, not a source of anxiety, and that it was vital to create an environment where information could be comfortably assimilated. Feedback underscored the need for an adjustment, making it possible to build on a foundation which was created in the first weeks and it became evident that shifting the week to the third or fourth week of their journey allowed our newcomers to process the substantial amount of information more effectively.

The onboarding week served not only to educate but also to foster connections within our organization. It offered a sense of belonging, akin to a family. The group you start with will always be some kind of special and the fact that this is a random group, working in all areas of your organization makes it an opportunity for your company to build cross departmental connections at a low cost. My personal experience with those groups is that they stay with you throughout your career in that particular company. You will keep an eye out for each other and have an extra familiar face on every all-staff and retreat.

During the onboarding week, we conducted various meetings and presentations about Nmbrs, its departments, and the product. An engaging Agile training session shed light on our approach to Agile practices. Fun activities with your squad, including enjoyable team-building fun and group dinners or drinks. One standout experience was a boat trip along the Amsterdam canals, where employees had the chance to interact with the board members and other colleagues who wanted to join. We believe the active participation of the board is pivotal in onboarding. It is a way to show your new staff how important they are. Next to the boat trip each board member at Nmbrs delivered a presentation during this week, sharing the company's strategy.

The onboarding week has been highly valued by our new employees. It not only made them feel welcomed but also provided them with a deep understanding of our company's strategy, work methods, products, and various departments. It was the crowning jewel of their onboarding journey, a testament to our commitment to ensuring they not only find their place in the organization but also feel a part of the Nmbrs family.

Conclusion: Fostering Success Through Comprehensive Onboarding

In wrapping up our exploration of the onboarding journey, it is clear that the process of welcoming new employees extends far beyond administrative tasks. At its core, onboarding is a deeply human endeavor, a concerted effort to create lasting connections, cultivate a vibrant culture, and inspire unwavering commitment.

The first day brings a grand welcome, emphasizing the importance of integration and community building. The first month is a period of immersion and exploration, providing new employees with not only the knowledge they need to excel but also the cultural foundation upon which they can thrive.

This comprehensive approach to onboarding, embracing culture books, interactive activities, and engagement throughout the first month, serves as a roadmap for success. It nurtures a sense of belonging and empowers newcomers to become valuable contributors to the collective achievement of the organization. Such efforts, bolstered by an onboarding week that brings the entire onboarding group together and fosters connections, culminate in a harmonious blend of understanding, community, and appreciation.

In conclusion, onboarding is more than just a process; it's the cornerstone of a successful journey for both the organization and its new employees. By fostering a welcoming environment, providing guidance, and inspiring a sense of belonging, we ensure that every addition to our team embarks on their new adventure with confidence, enthusiasm, and the conviction that they have found a place where they can truly thrive.

Part Two Remote Onboarding

Stay tuned for the second part, which will delve into Remote Onboarding, catering to companies that either lack the option or intentionally choose to welcome their new employees in the virtual realm