All Aboard!

Connect because you can.

Intro

Turnover is a challenge that all great organizations face, and quite often some of the best talent leave shortly after both the financial investment and time commitment have been made. To get a sense of why using our onboarding resources is so important, check out what the research says below.

20% of staff turnover occurs within the first 45 days of employment.
Organizations that create a meaningful onboarding experience improve new hire retention by 82 percent, and increase productivity by over 70 percent.
A great onboarding experience ensures 69% of employees stick with a company for three years.
Only 12% of employees feel that their company has a good onboarding experience.
72% of employees report that meaningful 1:1 time with their direct manager is crucial to good onboarding.

Did those stats grab your attention?

There are many factors organizations should consider when planning an unforgettable onboarding experience, and research shows that one of the most important is being able to establish a sense of belonging. Let us help you make that happen! Below, you will find 5 onboarding experiences that can be implemented with little effort that will help your new hires feel a true sense of belonging. Try those that best fit your infrastructure, and keep the talent where it belongs!

5 All Aboard

5 Onboarding Experiences

LUNCH AND LAUGH

Follow these simple steps, and before long you and a colleague will be connecting over the timeless resource of laughter. Who knew that lunch could be so fun?

GET PROFESSIONALLY PERSONAL

Our careers play such a crucial role in our lives, and yet people rarely understand how others truly feel about their professional past, present and future. Let’s talk about work from a completely new angle.

THE MIGHTY MENTOR

Mentors can play a major role in establishing meaningful human connections with new hires, and this resource will help you do just that!

THE BUDDY PROGRAM

Mentors can play a major role in establishing meaningful human connections with new hires, and this resource will help you do just that!

FIRST DAY FESTIVUS

Try out this buddy matching resource to give your new hires a person to lean on during the first few weeks on the job!

Lunch & Laugh

Introduction

Everyone has to eat lunch, so why not take advantage of that break in the day to create a stronger sense of connection? And why not go even further by throwing a little humour into the mix? Creating a connection that is centered around laughter isn’t that hard to pull off if you know how to do it. Follow these steps, and your new hires will be feeling a sense of belonging in no time.

Ask the people within your group or department to commit to having a one hour lunch break with the new member of your time. If you have a large team, or many new hires break up those lunches however you see fit.
Communicate as clearly as possible your reasons for initiating this program in order to increase buy in from everyone, and not just a few. Share some of the statistics above, tell them how this will positively impact their own life, and remind them how much this means to the new person on your team.
Encourage them to commit to at least a one hour “lunch and laugh”, and let them know they can do it virtually, but to remember that nothing beats the kind of connection that can happen in person.
In order for this to be a fun and light hearted experience, encourage them to follow the guidelines below.

STEP 1: START THINGS OFF WITH A CLEAN JOKE

Sure, it might feel a little forced, but who cares? Tell them it’s not about being a comedian, but rather choosing a fun way to break the ice at the beginning of their lunch. Mention that this is not just for those who have a deep repertoire of jokes in their back pocket. They can simply print out a clean joke from the internet, and read it. It’s just about making the effort of setting a tone for lunch.

STEP 2: BRING A FUNNY STORY TO THE TABLE

Everyone has a funny story from their past, but they don’t always get the chance to share it. This can be the perfect opportunity to make that happen. Tell the participants to think of something funny that happened to them as a kid, a hilarious moment from their college days, or a belly laugh they shared with a friend. It doesn’t matter when it happened, as long as it’s funny. Again, it’s about keeping things light, while getting the chance to learn a bit about each other’s lives.

STEP 3: WHEN DID YOU HAVE THE MOST FUN?

Whether it was bungee jumping from a bridge, a surprise getaway to another country, or the best day of your life, we all have memories that are super fun to share. Ask participants to bring those stories to their lunch by encouraging them to answer the question, “what was one of the most fun moments of your life?” We’re talking fun, not funny.

Preparing these three things in advance is more than enough to create an amazing lunch where your new hires get to connect with other members of your tribe. It’s just about getting the conversation started. From there, it will organically take its own twists and turns. Remember, a “lunch and laugh” is easy to do, it only takes an hour, and the impact is lasting.

Conclusion

For millennia, human beings of all backgrounds have been connecting over food. Unfortunately, we live in a fast paced world where more and more people don’t take the time to sit still and eat together. It’s amazing what can happen when two people choose to “break bread”, so make a sandwich, hang out with a colleague and share a laugh!

Lunch & Laugh

Ge Proff Pesonal

Get Professionally Personal

Introduction

Whether it’s during the initial interview, or within a few days of the job, new hires are accustomed to the experience of answering questions that offer a snapshot into their professional life past, present and future. But what if they were given the chance to discuss the topic of career from an angle that increased the chances of connecting in a meaningful way?

For example, instead of talking about their professional goals, what if they talked about some of their professional gripes? One question often leads to predictable answers, while others can increase the chances of them experiencing moments that are a little more real. If that sounds like a meaningful moment you would like to create for those in the process of onboarding to your organization, check out the questions below.

Like the Lunch And Laugh resource, you will match new employees with tenured colleagues to enjoy a non traditional conversation. As usual, don’t forget to tell them the importance of doing this, and the benefits that will be experienced by those involved.

Professionally Personal Questions:

If you could snap your fingers and have a skill you do not currently possess that would help you succeed professionally, what would it be?
When colleagues speak about you, what do you hope they will say?
If your parents were to speak about your professional accomplishments, what would they say they are most proud of?
When you think about your career, what is one mistake you never want to make?
With respect to creating an equal work/life balance, how would you define success?
What is one lesson you have learned from a family member that has helped you succeed professionally?
What is one skill you possess that you wish more people possessed as well?
What is something that people sometimes get wrong about you?
What is something that you want your new colleagues to know about you?
If you could spend a year working anywhere in the world, where would you choose and why?
What does a perfect work day look like for you?
Name something difficult you had to experience that made you a stronger person today. What did you learn from that experience?
If you could eliminate one thing from your current job what would it be?
How do you expect to grow professionally from this current position?
If you were to speak to someone with more experience at your job than yourself, what would you ask them?

Conclusion

Any one of the questions above can lead into a meaningful conversation as long as both people are willing to actively listen, and apply the lessons they learned in the Tribe Certified Program. Remember, it’s all about being intentional with the connections we create with others, knowing they won’t just happen by themselves. However, if we have the courage to make them happen by asking uncommon questions, the results can be profound.

The Mighty Mentor

* 87% of organizations that assigned a mentor to a new employee during onboarding reported increases in the efficiency of new hires.

Introduction

Assigning a mentor to those that are new to an organization goes a long way in decreasing feelings of loneliness, while increasing a sense of belonging. Below, you will find our best tips to help you mix and match new hires with more tenured employees to ensure they feel like they are part of the family from day one!

The benefits from having a robust mentorship program are endless. From increased collaboration, innovation and engagement to decreased conflict and absenteeism, mentorship is a proven strategy for success. However, like anything in life, some do it better than others. Consider these guidelines when looking to establish mentoring programs that positively impact onboarding experiences.

Step 1:

Get ahead of the game by matching a mentor with a new hire in advance of their first day of work. Within a couple of weeks of day one on the job, make an introduction between the mentor and the new hire. Encourage them to set up a monthly thirty minute meeting in their calendars that will repeat ideally over the course of one year. During these meetings, the new employee should be told that they can ask for professional advice, but to not shy away from asking for personal advice too if they think their mentor can help.

Step 2:

Consider matching the new employee with a second mentor who they meet less frequently that may not be as obvious a choice as the first. This person could be someone within a different department or may even have a completely different job. Jumping out of the daily box we work in can introduce us to new ideas, fresh approaches and even better outcomes. With that in mind, create an even stronger sense of belonging for new hires, by matching them with an extra person outside of their department to enjoy quarterly meetings that will expand their growth.

Step 3:

The number one factor making mentor/mentee relationships successful are the quality of the questions being asked. It's not enough to simply set dates in the calendar and hope for the best. The mentee should be instructed to show up to each meeting with specific questions for their mentor. Ideally, these questions are sent to their mentor one or two days in advance to give them time to formulate their answers. Remind them that the quality of their questions will influence the quality of their experience.

Conclusion

Having someone with greater experience than ourselves that is willing to help us navigate unchartered territory is invaluable in creating a sense of belonging for new hires. And it won’t happen by itself, which is why it is so important to create mentoring programs that actively match people with those people who will help maximize the success of the onboarding experience.

Buddy Program

* 70% of employees say having deeper relationships with colleagues was the most important factor to a happy work life.

Introduction

When we say buddy, we aren’t implying that these two people have to become best friends, but instead encourage you to make this match as a way of giving your new hires someone they can turn to if needed. Would you believe that 90% of the help people receive at work happens only when a person actively asks for it? Unfortunately, new employees often worry about looking incompetent, so instead of asking they will try to figure it out on their own. Having a buddy assigned to them from the beginning will help circumvent this frustration all organizations face. To establish a buddy system that offers moral support, improved communication and greater productivity, follow these steps to success.

Step 1:

Set a time limit to the buddy relationship. Our recommendation is that you choose a time that is not less than two weeks, and shouldn’t need to be longer than a month. The buddy is meant to act as someone who orientates the new hire, so establishing a timeframe informs the new employee to know when to pull back on the questions being asked.

Step 2:

Ask the person playing the role of buddy to do their best in answering questions or concerns within twenty-four hours after receiving them. This helps ensure the new hire isn’t stuck during the process of assimilating within the organization.

Step 3:

Clearly communicate to your new hire the role their buddy will play during their onboarding process, by telling them the support they are there to offer. Whether it’s finding the closest place to get coffee, how best to communicate to HR, or navigating the internal messaging board of the organization, tell the new employee that no question is too big or small.

Conclusion

As The Beatles famously said, “We get by with a little help from our friends”, and while we’re pretty sure they weren’t talking about the onboarding experience, those words still ring true. Being new to an organization can be a daunting experience for many, and using the Buddy Program resource can make a big difference as they make this transition.

Buddy Program

First Day Festivus

There is no reason to wait until it’s someone's birthday, or the end of the year holiday party to arrive in order to do something fun! Bringing new talent into the organization is a perfectly fine excuse to celebrate! And there are so many ways you can do it without it distracting from work, or breaking the bank. Here’s the secret. All you have to do is find out what that new employee likes, and from there, surprise and delight!

Things to consider:

Do they love sushi? How about sending sushi to everyone’s home for a shared virtual lunch to celebrate the arrival of that new employee?

Do they play video games in their down time? Why not find out what game they don’t have and send it to them in the mail?

Are they huge fans of classical music? Is there someone in your network who will come into the office to play a couple of songs on the violin for $100?

Is there a charity close to their heart? Why not make a small donation in their name?

Remember, making a new hire feel welcomed and special doesn’t require a major investment of time or money. It just takes a little thought. You could even throw together a simple questionnaire that asks them the basics about their life, with questions like, “What do you like to do when you’re not at work”, “What is one of your guilty pleasures”, or “What’s your favourite food”. These types of questions will lead you to discovering the many ways you can celebrate their first day on the job in a way that is unique to them and makes them feel a deep sense of belonging.

1st Day Festivs

Wrapping up

Onboarding is a skill, and one that anyone can possess with the right amount of intention. It does require extra effort, but when made it makes all the difference to the new employee. Make that investment now, and you will see it paying off tenfold in the future.

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