"Onboarding is an art; each new employee brings with them a potential to achieve and succeed. To lose the energy of a new hire through poor onboarding is an opportunity lost."
In this episode, Mallory and Shawn sit down with Trainual’s people ops manager Tara Montoya about how to create an amazing and fun onboarding experience for new employees that is infused with your company culture.
Tara emphasizes the importance of connections, presentations, training content, and checklists in onboarding. She explains Trainual's unique four-week process, which gradually introduces company culture and role-specific content to avoid overwhelming new employees. Tara also highlights the significance of leadership involvement and the value of personalized onboarding experiences, including pre-onboarding surveys and the Cheerios buddy system.
Listeners will learn about the benefits of regular check-ins, feedback mechanisms, and project-based hiring assessments. Tara discusses how to handle potential cultural mismatches and the necessity of continuous improvement in onboarding practices. Additionally, the episode addresses remote onboarding strategies, ensuring remote employees receive the same level of care and connection as those in-office.
Key Takeaways:
- It’s crucial to have a a structured and engaging onboarding process — one that uses checklists, interactive presentations, and staggered content delivery over four weeks to avoid overwhelming new hires.
- Leaders play a crucial role in onboarding by ensuring clarity of expectations, creating a supportive environment, and maintaining regular check-ins with new employees. The process should reflect company culture and core values from day one.
- For remote employees, the onboarding process should be adjusted to ensure they feel equally valued and integrated. This includes scheduling meetings and interactions that fit their time zones and work schedules.
- Continually update and refine your onboarding process based on feedback and changing needs. Each new onboarding experience is slightly different to adapt to the evolving work environment and specific roles.
- Rely on feedback and metrics, such as engagement surveys and regular check-ins, to assess the effectiveness of the onboarding process. This helps identify areas for improvement and ensure new hires feel supported and aligned with the company's goals.
Chapter Markers:
[1:38] Tara's career history and coming to Trainual.
[04:14] The significance of onboarding in setting up employees for success.
[05:33] Using consistent and customizable onboarding processes and pre-onboarding surveys to personalize the experience.
[09:18] The four main components of onboarding: connections, presentations, training content, and checklists.
[10:39] A breakdown of weekly onboarding focus areas and why it’s important to avoid overwhelming new hires with too much content.
[13:04] Supporting busy leaders in onboarding by assigning tasks and providing tools.
[14:49] Creating a strong onboarding culture.
[16:29] Strategies for remote onboarding.
[18:10] Handling cultural fit and core values.
[21:46] Project-based hiring and 30-60-90 day plans.
[25:07] Addressing performance issues (25:07 - 29:15)
[29:15] Customizing onboarding schedules and meetings for various roles.
[31:06] Feedback and continuous improvement.
[33:59] Measuring success with regular pulse checks, sentiment analysis, leader feedback, and employee engagement metrics.
[40:40] Checklist importance and creating process documentation.
[45:09] Core values and culture reinforcement.
Resources:
Want more resources from this episode? We’ve got an episode recap, replay and every template, process, and resource we covered right here: https://trainual.com/insidetheprocess
