Employee Onboarding

I want to talk about employee onboarding.

I heard a quote a number of years ago, I think it was attributed to Jeffrey Gitomer that when someone leaves a company, we give them cake. But when they arrive, we give them paperwork.

And it's so true.

When you onboard a new employee, think about your first day on the job. That's such an important, memorable experience. And we blow it when someone's with the company for five years, 10 years, and they leave, we give them cake, we give them a party, we celebrate them.

But we've all heard the horror stories of how people are welcomed in to companies and one of my clients very recently, there was someone who was an executive level on the leadership team, who arrived and she had no laptop. Then she finally got her laptop, and her internet wasn't working. And then her email wasn't working.

And I was in one her first meetings. And she wasn't able to be productive through part of the meeting, because she couldn't get on and use the tools that we were using in the meeting.

I've heard other stories where they don't a company doesn't really synchronize the date someone starts with when their leader or their supervisor is around, and someone starts work only to find out their supervisor who they report to, is on vacation for a few days, or week.

So they're left to read an employee manual and go through some, you know, BS, welcome videos, or whatever they have. And that's a horrible way to start within an organization.

There's a great book by Chip and Dan Heath that I recommend you all read, called "The Power of Moments", and they talk about the importance of creating memorable moments for people. What's more important to you than the day you start a new job your whole world is changing.

So how can we take that first day and take that moment and rise it up to be an incredibly memorable moment where you feel welcome, you feel grateful, you feel productive, you feel a part of something.

And in this book, "The Power of Moments", they talk about John Deere, the tractor company, and what they put in place, which is nothing crazy spectacular, but it shows you how easy it is to put a memorable, beautiful set of moments together when someone is onboarding.

So at John Deere before someone starts work. They have what they call a texting buddy. And the texting buddy is there to answer any questions, direct them on that first day where to park they welcome them in, you know, any questions they have and any information they need. They get through that texting buddy, so there's no confusion. So people could feel at ease as they lead up to and begin that first day of work. When the person arrives that first day, they're welcomed at the reception area by a screen that says Welcome to names. So they see their name kind of open lights on a screen, they're greeted with their favorite drink. That was gleaned from a questionnaire earlier in the onboarding process. They then get to their desk, where obviously their laptop and everything is set up for them. And they get their email and the first email is from the CEO. The CEO welcomes them. And there's a link to a video which shows the CEO talking about the company and the importance of John Deere throughout, you know, the decades, and it makes this new person feel welcome, feel a part of something. They then have lunch with their peers, where they talk together and laugh together and get to know each other.

It's not rocket science, but it makes that person feel incredibly welcome the first day. So what do you need to change about your onboarding process?

Make a list.

What could you do to make sure people feel incredibly welcome on that first day?

What could you do to make sure people feel incredibly productive on that first day. What could you do to make sure people feel grateful on that first day, what can you do to make sure people feel like they're a part of something. And are there things you could do that are unexpected, things that are a little bit surprising, things that are memorable?

So, when people get back home after that first day and they're talking to their spouse, or their significant other, or their kids, or their mom, or dad, or their friends, they're saying, you can't believe what a cool day I had this first day at work.

This is not rocket science, but 95% of the companies just blow this first day. What could you do to improve your onboarding process?