One of the most important factors for setting up your team members up for success is to have a cohesive and comprehensive onboarding. In order to setup our new hires for success, we have put together a guide and template to build out a personalized onboarding experience for new hires. A personalized onboarding gives new hires all the information they need to succeed in their role and sets expectations on what’s to come. We hope these templates, tips, and tricks help you build your own unique onboarding experience.

When the team extends an offer, the recruiting team and all interviewers should "love bomb." What is a love bomb? This is an opportunity to either welcome them as your new team member or to reinforce your relationship with our new hire. It is also an opportunity for them to experience our culture and values one last time!

Examples:

💛 Congrats on the offer! Looking forward to working with you and having you on the team! Such an exciting time to join.

🤩 Excited to work with you on a [project]. We're going to have a blast. Let me know if you have any questions.

New hires are usually nervous and excited about their new opportunity. A couple of things to help them get started before their first day are:

Welcome Email - An email to include the following

Emphasize the team's excitement

Schedule for the first day - this does not need to be accurate but more so what they can expect their start time to be and what kinds of meetings will happen on the first day.

Laptop/Equipment - will the company send a laptop to them, or will they need to purchase their own laptop ahead of time

Benefits

PTO Policy

We are here to answer any questions

The People Ops team + new hires’s Lead collaborate to create each new hire’s onboarding experience. This includes items like:

First-week schedule

This lists out some of the main meetings this new hire will be attending in their first week

Scope of work - New hire’s lead to fill out what their first day, first 30 days, and beyond their 30 days will look like. Add information or various projects this new hire will be working

New Hire checklist - what are some to do items they new hire needs to complete from a People Ops perspective?

A letter from their lead

A nice personal touch for the new hires has been for leads to create a letter or loom (video) to welcome them to the team, set some expectations, and let the new hire know they are here to be a resource for them.

The first day can be nerve-wracking for anyone and we try to give as much information beforehand as possible, so they feel more comfortable going into their first day. As part of their first day, we include:

A slack message to the team introducing the new hire and their role

Sample Message: Hello! Pumped to welcome to the team [Name]. [Add Custom Emoji] is our new [Title]. We’re all super grateful to have you on the team 💛and we can't wait to see what’s coming 🚀

Welcome Call

A 15 minute welcome meeting with the new hire, co-founders, their team lead, buddy, and people ops team.

👩‍🏫 New Hire Orientation - A 30-minute presentation with the People Ops team to cover the following

Ice Breaker

About the company

Meet the team

Culture

Tools we use

Vacation & Time Off

Payday

Referrals

Questions

1:1 with their Lead - Dedicated time to chat with their lead on the scope of work, what things to start digging into first

📹 Intro Calls One unique meeting you can do is new hires x function intro calls. Within the first week, set up 30-minute calls for new hires to meet each function. During this time, have each person introduce themselves and answer an icebreaker question. While this may seem repetitive to be asked lots of ice breaker questions, it’s a way to get to know each other and find common likes or dislikes.

🎲 Set up Bi-Weekly Team activities Set aside an hour every couple of weeks where all team members have the option to join, play a game, and get to know each other better. Games can range from guessing the baby picture to jeopardy, to show & tell.

✔️ Check-In Schedule check-ins with the new hire aside from the 30 & 90-day check-in. Use this time to get to know the new hire better, figure out what can be improved in the new hire process, and more.