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Why onboarding is one of the most crucial moments during employee-employer relationships

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Most of the time, starting a new job is exciting and crucial for the employee journey. It has been a little bit more than a month since I joinedย Growe, and I would like to share my onboarding experience and elaborate on two questions: what should a good onboarding look like and what are the most common mistakes IT companies make during the onboarding period?

Employee onboarding in IT companies typically involves several key activities to ensure new hires are integrated smoothly into the organization and are set up for success. Some of the most important onboarding activities include:

๐Ÿ”น ๐—ข๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—œ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป: Providing an overview of the company, its culture, mission, and values, as well as introducing new hires to their team members and key stakeholders.

๐Ÿ”น ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐——๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜: Offering training sessions to familiarize new hires with the companyโ€™s systems, tools, and processes, as well as providing opportunities for ongoing skill development and learning.

๐Ÿ”น ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—˜๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€: Clearly outlining job responsibilities, performance expectations, and goals to ensure new hires understand what is expected of them.

๐Ÿ”น ๐—”๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—˜๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—ฝ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฝ: Providing new hires with the necessary access to systems, software, and equipment to perform their roles effectively.

๐Ÿ”น ๐— ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฝ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฆ๐˜‚๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜: Assigning a mentor or buddy to help new hires navigate their roles and the organization, providing guidance and support.

๐Ÿ”น ๐—™๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—–๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ธ-๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜€: Regularly check in with new hires to provide feedback, address any concerns, and ensure they are adjusting well to their new roles.

๐Ÿ”น ๐—œ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ง๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—บ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—–๐˜‚๐—น๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ: Encouraging new hires to participate in team activities and social events to help them feel part of the team and the company culture.

๐Ÿ”น ๐—ฃ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜„๐˜€: Conduct regular performance reviews to assess new hiresโ€™ progress, provide constructive feedback, and identify areas for improvement or further development. Sometimes this item might be delayed due to not having performance-driven goals.

๐Ÿ”น ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜‚๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐—œ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜: Seeking feedback from new hires about their onboarding experience and using this feedback to continuously improve the onboarding process for future hires.

By implementing these key activities, IT companies can effectively onboard new employees, setting them up for long-term success within the organization.

Letโ€™s talk about mistakes that are usually made during the onboarding flow.

๐—–๐—ผ๐—บ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ข๐—ป๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐— ๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—”๐˜ƒ๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ฑ:
๐Ÿ”บ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ฃ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด: Not having a structured onboarding plan leads to confusion and inefficiency.

๐Ÿ”บ ๐—œ๐—ป๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด: New hires may feel lost without adequate training on the companyโ€™s systems, tools, and processes.

๐Ÿ”บ ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—บ๐—บ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป: Unclear communication about expectations, company culture, and other important information may cause misunderstandings.

๐Ÿ”บ ๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—”๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป ๐—ฎ ๐— ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—•๐˜‚๐—ฑ๐—ฑ๐˜†: Without a mentor, new hires can feel isolated and unsupported.

๐Ÿ”บ ๐—œ๐—ด๐—ป๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—™๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ: Not seeking or acting on feedback misses opportunities for improvement.

๐Ÿ”บ ๐—ข๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป: Bombarding new hires with too much information can overwhelm them.

๐Ÿ”บ ๐—ก๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—œ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ง๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—บ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—–๐˜‚๐—น๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ: Failure to integrate new hires into the team and culture can make them feel alienated.

๐Ÿ”บ ๐—ก๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—–๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ ๐—š๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜€: Without clear goals, new hires donโ€™t know whatโ€™s expected of them.

๐Ÿ”บ ๐—œ๐—ด๐—ป๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€: Overlooking legalities can lead to future complications.

๐Ÿ”บ ๐—ก๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—™๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—จ๐—ฝ: Lack of follow-up after onboarding leaves new hires feeling unsupported and disengaged.

By avoiding these mistakes and implementing best practices, IT companies can improve the effectiveness of their employee onboarding process and set new hires up for long-term success within the organization.

๐—ฆ๐—ผ, ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐—š๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ฒ? Let me share it more in a storytelling wayโ€ฆ I consider my onboarding to be smooth, but at the same time, so much has already happened. For context, the Country Headโ€™s role is to establish and succeed with the brand in the specific region.

On my first day, I got 2 main contacts, so-called go-to people โ€” the Business Partner and the regional COO. The first two weeks were quite active in terms of introductions โ€” I had intro calls with all the departments and their responsible managers. It was quite an intensive dive-in, as I was mostly asking questions to learn how they work and better understand the industry better. After all these calls, my biggest challenge was remembering all faces/ names/ roles and to which departments they belonged as I met about 25 colleagues in a short period.

In parallel, I was doing an online onboarding course, which I found to be very convenient โ€” it is structured, and you can read it a few times to memorize or return to a certain topic later. Another interesting thing was the part about gambling history. Did you know that dice were invented around 3000 Before the Common Era?

Of course, the first month was not only about meeting people and throwing back to the school time for learning history but also a bunch of business topics. On top of that, I have visited 2 new countries as a part of field research and started to learn a new language.

Do you think my onboarding was good or could be improved? What was the most interesting onboarding experience you ever had?

April 1, 2024

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