‘What happens in the head of a newly hired person - that is, various nuances of onboarding.’

Let’s not touch the obvious, warm welcome email or the first day packed with training and filling papers in. I’ve got this awesome topic from a friend of mine and I am excited to cast some light on it. Every newly hired employee has a different approach to the new challenges that they have chosen to come over with your company. They have made a choice: You! Wow. What’s next… You should be really proud! - and aware, on the other hand, that your new employees are full of fears as well as hopes at the same time.

Kill Bill

So here he is, your new hire. He finds himself in a theater that mainly shows low-budget horror from the very first day. HR running around the office trying to make it work for the new hire. H&S training, company values training, company standards, etc. It really stands out. And then, those couple of hours end. Your new hire is not even close in his head to the conclusion that he has made the right choice. Why not? Cause in most cases there is no human touch. Empathy in business is a top catchy slogan these days without management showing a piece of it. Not because all managers are bad, do not get me wrong. They just go back to their daily tasks and fall into their daily routines forgetting that there he is - the newcomer in his own scary world and left alone.

Advice: Grab that ‘the best coffee in town’ slogan and take your new hire for a chat. Ask him how he is doing. Whether he likes the office. Build that relationship that will last and help you both on his new journey.

13th Warrior

‘Another ship arrived during the night. There is a boy standing out there on the bow like he's a statue. The boy is letting them see him. He's in plain sight! They do not know if what they see is real. Something to do with the mist. Apparently, they find dangerous things, spirits in the mist. The boy was being polite, giving them time to decide if he’s real.

*Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=13th-warrior-the

Let’s put it this way:

Another new hire arrived. First, he’s standing out there in front of the company being introduced to the team. He is letting everybody see him .. well he is forced to be seen and the power is not with him ;) They do not know if what they see is a ‘cultural fit’ and will be fun to have around. The very moment they make assumptions in their heads and keep themselves away as the new hire is the unknown territory that they do not want to bother. The new hire is being polite then, giving them time to accept him. 

Advice: Whether you have a Yoda / Buddy Program in place or not, encourage yourself, your team to come over and ask the newcomer to join you for lunch. Do not leave him alone by his desk and go to have your own by yourself. 

Up in the Air

Do you recall George Clooney, a corporate ‘downsizer’? Well, he was a perfect example of a psychopathic comedy-drama scenario. You want it or not your new hire is verifying in his head whether he is going to be fired and by whom from the very first moment he agreed to work for you. Well, imagine that HR had terminated the newcomer’s predecessor before he arrived. Your new hire is full of drama stories in his head right now, listening to the gossip on the circumstances behind the termination, wondering whether the same will happen to him. The worst scenario to imagine is when you need to downsize the company because you’re shifting your business. Firing a group of your employees to replace with new ones creates the most challenging environment a new hire can find himself in. Comedy-drama-tragedy all happening at one time.

Advice: This state of mind is the most challenging one. What you can do is, to be honest, and humble while having this difficult conversation with your newcomer. Such business-like decisions are not easy but there are times they need to be made. HR are the ones to make the landing of the newcomer as soft as possible and to make him feel calm and safe. (*stealing ‘soft landing’ from Int4 ;) ) 

Friends

As we spend most of our day in the office, starting a new job means making new long-lasting friendships in our newly hired employee’s head. He does want to experience ‘freakintastic’ work-related sitcom adventures. He has chosen our company as we were assuring him during the interview that we were like a family: close, open, and supportive. Is it really what he learns about us during the first three months? One may say, it depends on the company and culture and I say it depends on the people inside the company. HR may be clear and idealistic about the culture they want to create but it all is in the hands of employees whether they are going to create such a workplace or not.

Advice: What HR can do to support a new hire here is to monitor how the newcomer is doing during the whole first year. Do check up on him from time to time and have a chit chat to make sure your new hire is feeling all right, has found new friends, nobody is mobbing him and that his manager has properly introduced him to the team and duties for the new hire to do his work well.

Titanic

I would say this is the worst state of mind our new hire can find himself in. Having signed the contract, overwhelmed to have made this leap in his career our newcomer starts his onboarding at our company. He enjoys the parties and the great stories being told about the company and events held in the past. After a couple of days, it strikes him that something is not as he is being told. Sooner than later he realizes that in fact, this ship is sinking. Every single day he comes to the office with the words 'we're sinking, we're sinking' banging in his head. He finds himself stranded, cheated, helpless, and willing to support his new employer at the same time.

Advice: Do not lie to your candidates and make sure you fulfill your promises made during the interview. Be empathetic, he left his old job for you and risked his private life for you. Sure you may say that it was his mature decision, however, your financial statements were not that clear for you to share with him when you were offering him this job.

Many more titles may come to our minds and so many more scenarios may happen in a newly hired employee’s head as well. And this piece is not about movies, scenarios, or perfectly arranged onboarding processes. Even if you have all materials designed by your wonderful marketing team, you have thousands of emails introducing your new hire into your company if you miss that one most important factor… human touch… your perfectly planned onboarding plan will fail in the long run. Affecting your turnover, culture, and what is more your EB.