MBA1046 Simple Steps to Onboarding a New Employee

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You will want to set them up for success and having an effective but simple onboarding system is really going to help you. I'm not going to give you this detailed over the top big corporation HR type of onboarding system. I'm going to give you some simple things you can do to welcome your new employee and get them all set up. I'm also going to show you how to set up the system so you can just repeat it easily every time you bring in a new teammate, a new employee. So this is going to save you a lot of time, but at the same time it's going to allow your new employees to be ready to rock and roll and hit the ground running. It's also going to give them a great impression of your business, that you have things together and you're organized. So let's get those new employees ready to go. Let's get into it. Let's get down to business. Hiring a new employee can be really exciting for both them and for you. It's great to get new people on your team, but you want to make sure that they're set up and they're ready to go as soon as possible. When somebody joins your team, there's a lot of admin that you have to go through that's not super fun or sexy, but it's essential for them to be able to be organized and be able to work effectively on your team. So today I'm going to share some simple things you can do to simplify your onboarding process for your new teammates or new employees. I'm going to share with you the tools that we use to help us big time in this process and how it can help you as well. So, number one, once your new employee is all agreed, all hired, all signed on the dotted line, you, you want to make sure they're all set up so when they start on the start date, they're ready to hit the ground running. So before they even start, you can start doing things to help welcome them and get them ready. Let's start with the welcoming. Number one, if you run a team online, if you have players around the world, you're running a remote team. You definitely want a project management system. We love Basecamp. Basecamp is the tool that we use, and that's how we really communicate across different time zones with every team member. And in Basecamp, you can make announcements. Now, either I or Nicole, the co founders of the company, make the announcement when a new teammate is joining us. So we like to do our welcoming there. And of course, we'll do a personal welcome in our first all Hands meeting, when the new employees joined and they're in that meeting. But before they get started, we want to give them a nice, warm welcome. So I make an announcement. I tell the team, you know, this is the new employee. This is their name, this is where they're from, this is where they're based. I usually include a fun fact about them that I learned through the interviewing process. It could be something cool, something fun. It could be like a personal interest. And then I ask the rest of the team to introduce themselves and share a fun fact about them. And I usually try to prompt that with something that's interesting. It could be maybe their favorite meal, or it could be, you know, their favorite music album or how they like to spend their weekends. Just something personal, just so people can get to know each other. And what happens is that all our team members will respond to that announcement, welcoming the new employee, talking a little bit about where they're based, what they do on the team, and their little fun fact. This gives the new employee a great overview and a nice warm welcome from everybody. Now, one of the things that we do is we have our own little avatars, a little photos in Basecamp so you know, the new employee can put the face to the name. This builds rapport and teamwork and trust so that when they do get on a video call or maybe when they do meet each other in a physical meeting, it's not the first time they've seen them. And it's a familiar face. Now, I would recommend doing this online, like with a tool like Basecamp. Even if you're in a physical office, it's just nice for people to be able to chime in and give their welcome in their nice way. They can add funny gifs, they can add little animations, emojis or whatever. And it's more enjoyable and more memorable for the employee than just having an all hands kind of meeting in a physical space. And it's not as intimidating as having to stand up and talk about yourself for a few minutes to welcome the new teammate. Doing it online, it's simple, it's easy, it's fun. So once we've welcomed them, we have a list of to do's that every employee has to go through. Now, I highly recommend you document this either with your team handbook, like we mentioned in an earlier episode this week, episode 1044, or in your Google Docs or wherever you keep all your procedures. Now, if you haven't done this already, you may want to do this the next time you have a new employee. Just document everything that you do, everything that you give them, everything so you can know what is required every time somebody joins your team. This could be like access to basecamp like I just mentioned, or access to your Slack channel, or setting up their work email or getting them to fill out like a basic information form, like their name, their email address, their physical address, their phone number, emergency contact, you know, their banking information so you'll be able to pay them properly. It's good to have this information on file because, hey, maybe one day you want to send them a little gift. You want to send them a company T shirt or something like that. And it's good to have that information right there so you're Going to have to make a list of every single thing you need to give or give access to your employees so they can get started. If they're a developer, they may need access to the code base. If they're a customer service agent, they're going to need access to the customer service software like Intercom or Zendesk. If they're a copywriter or a salesperson, you may have to give them access to your website, design your website, you know, cms. So write down everything they may or may not need access to and then you can cross it off if they don't need access. And if they do need access, you gotta make sure you tick that box. It's literally just a checklist, but it's so handy because you can just go through the checklist every time you hire somebody new. That way you can get them to do all these things. You can send them like a quick email saying, hey, here's all the information we need from you, or this is all the steps we need you to go through. Once you get that done, before your start date. That way when they start, they can hit the ground running and start working. They've been welcomed, they have access to everything. They have accounts or anything and they can get working. Now remember, don't leave off things off the list. You may need to give them access to documentation of your product so they can read up on, you know, the history of what you did and how you built your product. You may need to give them access to the actual product, the course, the software or whatever you're selling. So make sure you add that to the list. So, so once you welcome them, you have that whole list of things that they have to do before they get started. They've done them. It's the first day of work, you definitely want to meet with them. You want to have a meeting whether it's with you or their line manager, but you want to make sure that they are supported. So if you are a remote team, make sure you get on a video call. If you're in a physical office, meet up and let them know how their first week is going to go. This is the expectation, this is what we want you to work on. This first week. You meet up with them, you give them a goal, you give them a task. Again, depending on what their position is, if they're customer support, they may have to go through some training, read through some previous tickets, learn the software you're using. If they're a developer, they may have to read up on the code. Maybe you want Them to dive right away and start working on a project. Give them a task to sink their teeth in so they have some focus so they know what they're working on. I think it's kind of a good idea to have people start on your team and in the middle of the week, like on a Wednesday. I like this idea because it allows them to have a short week so they don't get too overwhelmed. There's a lot to take in when you start in a new company. It's a lot of pressure. You're trying to make a good impression. You're meeting all these new people, you're trying to remember names, you're using all these new accounts. So it's good for them to have a short week, have a good weekend, relax, and start fresh on Monday as well. So if they're starting on a Wednesday, I like to give them something that they can accomplish by Friday. So we can circle back on Friday and say, hey, how did the week go? You have three days to work on this small little project to get your feet wet in your new position. You can evaluate, you can give feedback, you can answer any questions that they have. And then come Monday, you can give them a larger project or a larger task. And usually I like to give them a week or two to complete this task. And within the first two weeks of their employment, they're pretty much ready to go. Now, another great tip, and this is one I learned from a recent conference we attended, running remote is is getting your new employee to buddy up with somebody that's already in your company. Now, a buddy is just somebody that they can just call upon to ask any questions. Somebody that can show them ropes. Ideally, this buddy is not their supervisor. It's just somebody who's a colleague. It doesn't even have to be in the same department. But it might be helpful if it is because they might have some department related questions. But the buddy system is a good one. Oh, could this vintage store be any cuter? Right? And the best part. Except Discover. Except Discover in a little place like this? I don't think so, Jennifer. Oh, yeah, huh? Discover's accepted where I like to shop. Come on, baby, get with the times. Right? So we shouldn't get the parachute pants. These are making a comeback, I think. 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You only have one chance to make a first impression, but you have chances of making first impressions every single time you hire an employee. So I look at our recent hire and we've done a great job with their onboarding, a whole lot better than our first hire. And I'm sure we're going to get better and better. And that's the whole point. You get another chance every single time. So if you're still small, this is a good time to get organized and have an onboarding system for your new employees. So you're set to go when you're ready to make that next hire. Thank you so much for listening to the $100 MBA Show. If you love this show, leave us an iTunes rating and review. We'd love to hear what you love about the show, maybe share what your favorite episode is. We read every single review. And remember, everybody who leaves us an itunes rating and review enters our weekly random draw we call free ride Friday. Every Friday, somebody wins a free ride to one of our programs. We do a weekly random draw with anybody who's left us a rating and review. It's our way to say thank you for leaving us a review. Alright, thank you so much for listening. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. I know onboarding is kind of boring. It's an admin thing, but it makes your job and your life so much easier and you feel good about yourself because, hey, you got it all together and you're organized. When you have a procedure in place, procedures are actually a lifesaver and it's something I learned the hard way. So save yourself time and take on this onboarding procedure so your new employees can thank you and feel welcomed on your team and feel like, hey, they made the right decision by joining you. All right, I'll check you in. Tomorrow's episode, freeride. Friday. I'll see you then. Take care. Of. With Sylvania, seeing better while driving at night starts with you because headlight bulbs dim over time and can lose up to 50ft of visibility before burnout. 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