New hires will often feel many emotions surrounding their first day at a new role, often a mixture of joy and unnecessary trepidation on whether they will live up to perceived expectations. The hiring managers goal for onboarding new employees is to get them productive as soon as possible, using a repeatable process.
This can be achieved by setting clear expectations for the ramp-up period and regular meetups to openly evaluate the new hire against those expectations. This will ease any natural anxiety felt when taking on a new role and allow corrective actions to ensure a successful onboarding outcome.
Before they start, work with the information technology department to have their equipment and accesses prepared and in place. Arrange for training in the standard company tools, processes, and standards to occur during the employee's initial company orientation day. They will need to confirm their machine is connected up to the networks, accesses in place, standard tools installed and working, and that they know how to contact the help-desk for further assistance. The will need to be informed of where they will actually be located and the various facilities available to them.
Your own team should have an onboarding template prepared that brings the person through your team's specific accesses, processes and tools. Arrange deep dives into your ongoing projects and systems and check that they are occurring during your evaluation meetings.
It is really important that they meet the members of their own team and key people in teams they will regularly interact with to bootstrap their connections. Create a list of whom they should be introduced to by their manager and whom they should reach out and introduce themselves to.
Assign them a buddy from their own team to answer all the newbie questions. Arrange repeating 1-on-1 meetings between them and their manager. Add them to all their team meeting invites and email groups.
The manager should meet with them weekly and set out clear expectations with a 30-60-90 day plan. In some roles, the new hire can be up to speed within three months and each part of the plan represents that thirty-day target. For roles that have larger learning curves across many systems and interfaces, the 30-60-90 plan can cover a six months period. First thirty days, next sixty days and next ninety days. This matches the standard probation period in many companies.
Put together the 30-60-90 day plan by looking at the job description. I tend to utilise some variant of the below. You may additionally split it by function and time; capabilities, contribution and connections.
30-Day Plan/Next 30 days on the job: During the first 30 days on the job, time is spent
- Attend training, learning culture, understanding expectations, meeting team members
- Gain an understanding of existing processes, tools, and systems for your team.
- Learn the organisation’s systems and its products & services
- Learn any specific technology, process, and how it's applied
- Learn how the company HR and IT processes and how career progression is achieved.
- Learn how to prioritize current projects and tasks
- Identify key people to meet and have conversations with. Aim to gain more insight into your companies service or product
- Identify tasks to start working on or shadow a teammate to get hands-on experience
60-Day Plan/Next 60 days on the job: During the next period, time is spent
- Study best practices in the industry
- Meet with supervisor to gather feedback
- Build relationships with your colleagues
- Identify potential mentors
- Review the efficiency of company processes and procedures and discuss/propose improvements
- Visit other departments and continue to attend any further training
- Take on more difficult assignments, review expectations, set goals for the next 30 days
90-Day Plan/Next 90 days on the job: This period should be spent
- Obtain feedback on suggestions to processes and procedures
- Implement new strategies and procedures
- Actively participate and contribute to the team's strategy
The end goal of the plan is not only to transition a new hire smoothly into their new role, but to act as a primer to get them motivated to contribute at a greater level that allows them to progress their career.