How we get new team members productive on their very first day.
When someone new starts at our company, we focus on getting the person to dive in on the very first day.
I’ll tell you why — because we are a big fan of throwing new team members into the cold water and letting them swim. We are there if they need help, but we are supporting them in trying it out by themselves.
So how do we onboard them so fast?
Our onboarding process is divided into 3 steps:
1- Our HR-Manager gives a detailed introduction to our company, talks about our different services and products, tells how we operate every day, and sets up hardware and software with the new team member. This takes about 1,5 hours.
2- The new team member sits down with the lead. The lead talks more about the project and product the person will be working on. They answer questions and brief the new team members. This takes about 2 hours.
3- The new team members get thrown into the cold water after the lunch break. They start working straight ahead, getting to know the project on their own, and figuring out how everything works.
Of course, the lead and the team are always there to provide more information or answer questions.
But the important thing is that the new team member already gets the responsibility on the first day. They start working.
You can’t imagine how great the feedback has been so far. Everyone on our team loved this onboarding — no wasting of time, diving in straight ahead.
